Stay Well Hydrated (and electrolytes): Tips for Surviving COVID

In everyday life, we want to drink so that we stay hydrated.

When we are dealing with COVID, we must put water and hydration on the top of the list!

I mentioned in my post yesterday (Let Food Be Thy Medicine) that I have completely stopped drinking alcohol during the pandemic. Alcohol can not only be hard on your liver and tax your immune system, it can dehydrate you.

When the body is needing to eliminate toxins (including bacteria, viruses, and other microbes), staying hydrated is of utmost importance.

Viruses like COVID use the mucous membranes to enter the body (membranes that line the nasal passages, the mouth, throat, and digestive tract.

Many people believe that dairy products thicken the mucus membranes (not good when fighting COVID), so I’ve given up dairy products for now, and I would not count milk as a source of hydration during this period.

It is so, so important to drink water. Even when we are not dealing with a virus, dehydration causes headaches, hunger, upset stomach, crabbiness, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating.

Remember that our bodies are over 60% water. Water regulates body temperature, helps transport nutrients to our cells, and protects our organs and tissues.

Although actual survival statistics depend on conditions, a guideline you can take into consideration is that humans can live for about two weeks without food but only about two days without water.

One of the most frequent questions I hear is: “Is tap water okay?” Well, I don’t know the specifics about your tap water, but I have read many reports that have raised concerns for me. We have a water filter on our main line, and we also drink frequently from our Berkey container that we keep in the kitchen.

(OMG my kitchen is such a mess. That is all the stuff going into the compost bin after a big juicing fest. Cleaning up during COVID has not been easy).

Another question I get on drinking plain water, especially when you are drinking TONS of water, is: Do we need to load up on electrolytes?

During this time of COVID, the answer is yes for me. I was excited to have received some fun electrolytes in my Biohacking Box from Dave Asprey’s Biohacking Conference. When you are drinking tons of water or sweating in excess of one hour, electrolytes are amazing.

I also love Dr. Anna Cabeca’s Better Brain and Sleep, which has great magnesium in it. Americans are woefully deficient in magnesium. Other minerals such as potassium, calcium, and sodium all have benefits.

There is a wonderful company in Idaho called CellCore Sciences that offers a set of products they fondly refer to as “the 3 amigos”. These include minerals, hydrogen/oxygen, and an ATP booster.

To replenish electrolytes without fancy supplementation (yes, some people just do not like taking supplements), you can add a pinch of salt to your water and a squeeze of orange juice. You can also drink mineral water or electrolytes-enhanced water such as Smart Water (no sports drinks, please!).

What if you are drinking water all day and get tired of it? Occasionally it is fun to dazzle the taste buds (mine are back!). For this, I’d suggest “Wuice”. Wuice is just water with a little bit of juice from any fruit or veggie added. Some favorite versions in our house include water with cucumber slices, water with a squeeze of lime, and….our all-time favorite: water with cubes of watermelon!

Okay, now for a final biohack… there is another way to hydrate if you are a full-out advanced biohacker. IV therapy gets a ton of hydration into your body in a short period of time. Sun Valley Hydration offers immunity-boosting Vitamin C, the Myers Cocktail, and a straight Immunity Booster. I was doing another round of NAD+, which I’ve talked about on a previous post.