Sip

If you circled any of the symptoms in Check Your Symptoms, sip hot water.

Why hot?

Hot water allows deep hydration, which flushes out inflammation faster than cold water. When we are already chronically inflamed, we need to detox through hydration. Hot water aids digestion and is more easily absorbed. Cold, iced is even worse, inhibits digestion, including the digestion of inflammation. Cells that aren't hydrated cannot release toxins.

Sip hot water throughout the day to quickly hydrate your microbiomes, to purify your blood, sweat, urine, and adipose tissue (fat: see Adipose).

Test it yourself.

Hot Water Recipe

• Pour 1 liter of boiled water into a thermos. Distilled or spring is much better than tap water (it's chlorinated).
• A thermos is handy, you'll want to sip hot water every 20 minutes to reverse chronic inflammation.

Some people sip for a few days and are then overwhelmed by intense thirst. This is quite normal: it takes days, sometimes weeks, to quench a thirst that's been deprived for so long. Don't be alarmed, and don't give up. Just keep sipping.

Dehydration can be system-wide and goes much deeper than you may think. The Ayurvedic lens is helpful in thinking and feeling in terms of tissue systems. There are seven levels: blood plasma; red blood cells; muscle; fat; bone; bone marrow or nerve; and reproductive.

Think of hydration permeating these levels of tissue, from superficial tissue like blood plasma to deep tissue like your bone marrow. Your pee thickens. Your mouth gets dry. Your GI tract (which requires fluid to stay supple and mobile) slows down and may even halt, causing bloating, gas, and constipation. Eventually, dehydration affects your bone and nerve tissue.

Your cells and microbial communities prefer hydrated-and-dynamic to dry-and-static. Notably, when dysbiotic, these microbiota become anaerobic, acidic, and thrive in dehydrated environments (see Microbiome: Biofilms).

Heated water regularly sipped, to the tune of every 20 minutes, hydrates the microbiome into mobility. The good guys reclaim their dominion and get back to running the ship.

In a hydrated state, appetite decreases along with cravings.

If you can't stand the taste of hot water, then add a slice of fresh lemon or raw ginger root.

Fancy Hot Water Recipe

Add a squeeze of fresh lemon, some seeds or spices. Try coriander, fennel, cardamom, cumin, mustard, ginger, anise stars, cinnamon sticks, or peppercorns.

So, track down a thermos. Get out the kettle. Start sipping. Drink it as hot as is comfortable (without burning your mouth). If you get thirsty, it's working. Sip more. Usually, people don't chew the seeds, but sometimes I do.

Do you get bloated? Sip spice water before your meals. Steep some seeds in hot water for a few minutes. Chew the seeds if you like.

A favorite digestive from Ayurveda is CCF powder:

• Take cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds in equal proportions: 1/4 cup (59ml) each will give you a good supply.
• Roast the seeds gently by heating them dry in a frying pan: 2-3 mins will do it.
• Grind into a powder: I use a coffee grinder.
• Drop a teaspoon into hot water 20 minutes before eating.

CCF gets your digestion ready to roll.

Once hydration has worked its magic, once it's got all the way into the system, then things really start happening. Weight loss becomes easier, fasting is a doddle, your mind and mood settles. People find that sipping hot water keeps joints flexible, muscles hydrated, and the mind focused. Perhaps if we weren't inundated with modern distress (see Stressors) we wouldn't need to heat our water.

But we are. So sip.

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