God's secret for Divine health pt1

Don Colbert MD

You don't have to live with constant sickness. If you follow God’s principles of diet and health, abundant life can be yours.
The Bible tells us that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit and that we are to glorify God in them as well as in our spirits (see 1 Cor. 6:19-20). But many Christians don't look as if they are following this scriptural mandate.
Rather than being fit and beautiful places for God to dwell, as a physical temple would be, their bodies are overweight, out of shape and diseased. As a result, they are hindered from accomplishing all God has for them to do, and many times their lives are cut short by disease.

My goal is to change this picture by showing believers how they can become strong, healthy, disease-resistant, younger-looking, and more energetic and have improved mental clarity. It is not difficult to develop a consistently healthy lifestyle and to be set free once and for all from poor health, bad habits and disease. All you need is some basic information about your body and how it works, and an understanding of the seven pillars of health.

Pillar 1: Water

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters."
Isaiah 55:1

I start our study of the seven pillars of health with water because it is the most foundational aspect of health. Water is the single most important nutrient for our bodies because it is involved in every bodily function. You can live five to seven weeks without food, but the average adult can last no more than five days without water.

In my medical practice I see people all the time whose bodies are starved for clean, pure water and are dehydrated to some degree. They often suffer from headaches, back pain, arthritis, skin problems, digestion problems and other ailments. When they take my advice and start drinking water, these symptoms usually go away.
If it sounds like a miracle cure, that's because it is! God created us to rely on water for our very lives.

I treat every patient I see in my practice first with water. Most of my patients get better when they simply drink as much water as their body is asking for. Drinking sufficient amounts of the right kind of water (such as filtered water or pure spring water bottled in glass or bioplastic containers) will do more to improve your health than anything else you can do.
How much is enough? To determine how much water your body needs, take your body weight (in pounds) and divide it by two. That's how many ounces of water you need every day.

But you don't have to consume it all in liquid form. Simply by eating lots of fruits and vegetables—as you should—you will get about a quart or more a day. Here's a typical timetable for healthy water consumption:

Start with an 8-ounce glass half an hour before breakfast. If you usually have juice, coffee or tea with breakfast, you don't have to eliminate them.

But limit coffee to one or two cups a day if you can, as caffeinated beverages tend to steal water from your body. Organic green tea and organic black tea have only a small amount of caffeine, 30 and 50 milligrams per 8-ounce serving, respectively. So you can have a few glasses a day, though not late in the evening because it may interfere with your sleep.

A couple hours after breakfast drink another 8-ounce to 16-ounce glass of water. Near lunchtime, repeat your breakfast schedule. If your goal is to lose weight, try drinking 16 to 24 ounces of water before your largest meal to give yourself a "full" feeling and lessen your appetite.

Two hours after lunch have another 8-ounce to 16-ounce glass of water. Then 30 minutes before your evening meal drink your next glass.

Finally, two hours after dinner have another 8-ounce glass and another before bedtime, unless you have a hiatal hernia, reflux disease or an enlarged prostate. In those cases, do not drink anything after dinner.