Do You Like To Drink? Are You Open To Advice From An Iranian?

Last Sunday we met, or re-met, former Bush Surgeon General Richard Carmona, one of Jordan Rubin's "Health Legends" from his new book, The Raw Truth. This week, let's look at another of Rubin's Legends and his work, one whose research was done while he was a prisoner of the Khomeini regime in revolutionary Iran. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, born in 1931, died in 2004, was a British-educated Iranian gastroenterologist, author of many studies and two important book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water and You're Not Sick, You're Thirsty.

Because he lived in Britain for so many years, when Khomeini took power Batmanghelidj found himself in the former Shah's notorious Evin Prison, scheduled for execution. He was kept alive so he could treat sick prisoners... although with no tools or medications.

One day, he was asked to see a prisoner complaining of excruciating stomach pain, so much so that two friends had to help him to his feet as he doubled over in pain.

The only thing Dr. Batmanghelidj could give the poor soul was a couple of glasses of water. Within minutes, his stomach pain subsided and eventually disappeared after drinking additional water. This prisoner was severely dehydrated.

More hurting prisoners asked to see Dr. Batmanghelidj. In fact, over the next two and a half years, he treated hundreds, if not thousands of prisoners suffering from stomach pains caused by the stress of being falsely imprisoned with a regimen of water drinking. As he noted their physical recuperation after hydrating themselves with plenty of water, Dr. Batmanghelidj began writing his clinical observations on the effect of water as a treatment for various stress-induced health problems.

Here’s where the story takes another twist: after nearly two years in prison, the warden told Dr. Batmanghelidj that he was free to go. The Iranian physician, instead of walking out the front gate, asked the warden if he could stay in prison a while longer to complete his scientific study of the link between drinking water and prisoners’ health.

I’m sure a guard had to pick the warden off the floor, but he granted Dr. Batmanghelidj’s request. The Iranian doctor stayed four extra months and finished his study, which he announced in the Iranian Medical Association Journal.

The rest is history, and Dr. Batmanghelidj’s clarion call to drink more water was eventually heard by health-minded readers of his books, Your Body’s Many Cries for Water and You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty!

...How much water does the body need to stay hydrated? The most oft-quoted advice in health books is to “drink eight glasses of water a day,” which is easy to write and hard to do. Many think that if they drink that much water, they’ll be running to the bathroom every twenty minutes. Others sense they need to drink something, but instead of water, they ply their bodies with mocha coffees, flavored sodas, and sport drinks.

Yes, you do go to the bathroom more often when you’re well hydrated, but is that so bad? Our bodies need water. “Every twenty-four hours, the body recycles the equivalent of forty thousand glasses of water to maintain its normal physiological functions,” said Dr. Batman, which is what many call him. “If you think you are different and your body does not need eight to ten glasses of water each day, you are making a major mistake.” ... [P]roper hydration plays a key role in regulating body temperature, carrying nutrients and oxygen to the cells, cushioning joints, protecting organs and tissues, and removing toxins from the body.

Rubin goes on to describe the necessity of drinking plenty of water that is clean, uncooked, untreated, unadulterated and unchlorinated-- spring water. He's also a big proponent of raw (unpasteurized) dairy products from grass-fed cows, especially kefir, yogurt, and hard, aged cheese, as well as of fresh veggie and fruit juices, raw nut milk, and coconut water and coconut kefir.

Raw fruit juices and raw veggie juices shouldn’t be a breakfast-only item. After these juices are made in a juicer, you can drink them any time of day, but they are best consumed on an empty stomach at least twenty minutes before eating other foods. When you consume the whole fruits and vegetables found in a juice, you receive easily absorbable nutrients, along with enzyme co-factors. Since the nutrients and enzymes have been liberated, so to speak, from the fiber pulp-- and without any heat, I might add-- the cells of your body can take in the nutrition quickly and easily. Keep in mind that the body’s cells are made up mostly of water, which is why good hydration is essential for proper cellular nutrition.

Batmanghelidj's books assert that chronic dehydration is the root cause of most diseases, and they endeavor to explain the damaging effects of dehydration. Among the diseases he claims are the result of dehydration are high blood pressure, premature aging, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, obesity, heart disease, cancer, sleep disorders, diabetes, hypertension, kidney stones and even attention-deficit disorder.

If you'd like a free copy of Rubin's book The Raw Truth today, make a contribution to the Blue America PAC, which fights to elect conscientious, progressive legislators.