If you have seen me in clinic then you will hear me bang on repetitively about hydration and wet food. Hydration is one of the most basic, simple lifestyle changes that you can make, that also has one of the biggest positive impacts’ on your health.
I have seen such incredible healing take place by just making this simple change to your lifestyle.
Like breathing, water is imperative for life and for the proper functioning of the body. Our blood is mainly water, all our cells are filled with water. We need water to receive and absorb from the world and to eradicate waste, pathogens (disease causing agents such as virus/bacteria/ fungi) and toxins. If we are dehydrated we cannot effectively evacuate and release from the body, nor can we receieve sensory information effectively.
In Chinese medicine we use different terms and ideas when we talk about the body and illness. It is its own paradigm and conceptualises the body in a different way with different language.
So in Chinese medicine we see the body as made up of various types of energy. Similar to the concept of the different states of water- that it can be solid ice, liquid water and vapour- so energy can take on various densities- giving rise to the solid aspects of our physical body; our skeleton, our organs, blood etc and the more subtle such as our thoughts, emotions and consciousness.
All of these varieties of energy (qi) have names and functions and are poetically and precisely defined within Chinese medicine theory.
When we talk about the immune system, the main type of energy that mediates our responses to the world is Wei Qi often translated as Defensive Qi. But wei qi does so much more than just defends us, it also welcomes in and absorbs what is nourishing to us. It’s function is to mediate our inner and outer worlds. Determine what is us, what isn’t us. What is welcome and what is not.
This wei qi is generated by the larger subset of Yang qi which comes from the kidneys and adrenal glands. In the west they talk about cortisol and how it produces the immune response. In Chinese medicine its very similar, we must have adequate kidney qi to create wei qi.
Kidney qi is restored through stillness and deep rest. So sleep and meditation are also a vital aspect of immune system maintenance.
So the kidneys generate this Yang qi, some of which is used to create wei qi, and the wei qi is warm and circulates through all the muscle channels of body. It also invigorates all the smooth muscles such the gut, uterus and heart.
We can see that wei qi creates our movement through the world and creates autonomic functions that keep us alive- such as the heart rate and peristalsis. It is involved in the fight/flight response, sending more wei qi to the heart to beat faster, more wei qi flooding the large muscle groups so you can run away etc. Our expression, mannerisms, body language are all run on wei qi.
When wei qi gathers, it creates inflammation and heat. The heat burns up and kills unwanted pathogens. If wei qi becomes obstructed it creates immense heat that can actually damage our tissues.
Now Wei qi is not just an energy it is also a fluid. It is both really. It needs to be, as if we encounter a pathogen or a danger, we need to have those fluids right there, available in that moment.
So that we can generate a sweat and push off a virus, or purge our gut if we eat something rotten.
Adequate hydration is needed to moderate the heat of the inflammatory response and carry away or help clear out debris and infection.
Our western lifestyles are incredibly dehydrating. We drink way too much coffee and black tea, we eat sugar, salt, fried foods, icecream, dairy and bread; drink alcohol, smoke, take party drugs and don’t sleep enough. All of these factors deplete our fluids.
You can see how problematic it can be if those fluids are not available to help our immune system push something toxic or unwanted out of the body.
So what happened if we are unable to deal with a pathogen in the moment we encounter it? Say we we have inadequate hydration, or our adrenals are exhausted? We have to contain and store this bundle of muck- the stuck wei qi from failed inflammation plus the pathogen. The bundle of muck can end up being managed by a set of channels called the Divergents' and thus begins a whole other process in the body of storing and managing pathology. It is in this system of channels that we see the creation of autoimmune disease symptoms.
If you are a patient of mine with autoimmune disease, I hope this article explains to you the importance of re-hydration as a vital aspect of healing your condition. If you are free of chronic illness, I hope this explains to you the importance of hydrating effectively as part of your daily lifestyle to prevent serious illness.
How do we Hydrate effectively?
Nowadays many of us have been raised to drink 2L of water a day and this is important. Drinking water has an important role in cleansing our bodies, but, we do pee most of it out. Not a lot of the water we drink, we actually hold onto as hydration.
This is why it is preferable to eat you hydration. To include wet meals into your diet. Wet meals would meals that are sloppy like soup or stew, but also steamed food is more wet and foods that absorb a lot of water such as chia seed pudding.
When we eat food mixed with water it is directed through the gut. This is a much longer pathway and we absorb most of that fluid as part of the digestion and elimination process in the gut.
Overnight we lose about a litre of water from breathing and sweating, hence we are most dehydrated first thing in the morning and this is the time we most need to hydrate, but also the digestion is most open and energised to receive fluids.
My daily recommendation is to begin the day with a large glass of water- make it the first thing you put in your mouth for the day and then follow it up with a warm wet meal such as soup or congee (rice porridge). This will replenish much hydration first thing. You can then continue to drink your 2L of water during the day.
If you have autoimmune disease I would recommend having at least 2 wet meals a day.
If you have cancer then you need to have every meal a wet meal in order to combat the incredible amount of heat that cancer generates in the body.
Please see other blog posts for delicious congee and soup recipes.
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