Under Water

     Another issue that Ken Jennings addresses in his book Because I Said So is the 8x8 rule.  This came primarily from those well meaning junior high teachers in health class.  It went something like this:

"Drink 8 Eight ounce glasses of water a day."

 

And that carried with it another rule:  not milk, not juice, it had to be water.  In 2002, a kidney specialist named Heinz Valtin, M.D., concluded that this rule was an accident.  Back in the 1940s, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council recommended "one milliliter of water for each calorie of food."  Thus, a 1,900 calorie diet would indeed work out to about 64 ounces of water daily.  But everyone seems to have forgotten the next sentence:  "Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods."

 

     That's right.  Most of our water gets to us in non-water form.  In fact, a National Institutes of Health doctor tole the Los Angeles Times that a healthy adult in a temperate climate could replace his or her body's daily water loss with food alone.

 

     So now what do I do with all those nalgene water containers I have at home?