By: Mark Hyman, MD

This article was originally published in The UltraMind Solution.

Good hydration is essential for good health. Your body is 92 percent water, so if you don’t get enough you’re going to be in trouble!

You should drink a minimum of six to eight 8-ounce glasses of clean filtered water every day you are on The Daniel Plan (and every day for the rest of your life for that matter). One among many reasons drinking this much water every day is important has to do with detoxification.

Toxins are ultimately excreted through your stool and urine. When you don’t drink enough water, you become constipated and have darker urine and urinate less frequently. These are signs that your detoxification system is not operating optimally and your heath and mind will suffer as a consequence.

Drinking water will also help you reduce withdrawal symptoms from addictive substances in your diet (like sugar and caffeine) and food allergens you may experience on the program.

Unfortunately much of our water supply is contaminated with microbes, pesticides, plastics, metals, chlorine, fluoride (yes fluoride) and other toxins. So drinking water out of the tap is less than ideal.

The best water to drink is water that has been passed through a filtering process. Common and inexpensive filters are available such as carbon filters like the ones Brita makes. However, the best filter is a reverse osmosis filter that puts the water through a multi-step process to remove these microbes, pesticides, metals, and other toxins. This can be installed under the sink. It’s a great filtering system (and it’s cheaper over the long run). I recommend you look into getting a filter like this and filtering all of your water before drinking it.

If you purchase bottled water, you need to be a bit careful. Water in plastic bottles contains phthalates or bisphenol A which are toxic petrochemicals. So avoid them if you can. Mineral water or still water in glass bottles is acceptable to drink.

Remember the only way toxins have to get out of your body is through urine, stool, and sweat. So drink plenty of filtered water every day.

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