Quenching my thirst

     Mark Twain said, "My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine - everybody drinks water."
     First of all, I love this quotation for a couple of reasons. I love to read, Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors (probably my Southern upbringing and my proclivity for humor), and right now I am trying to be one of the "everybody" who drinks the literal and figurative water of which Twain speaks.
     As I wrote in my last entry, I have the actual reading down as I am riding on the bike. I am curious to see how many books I will read in this manner on my journey of many miles.
     Ironically, in today's bulletin at school the quotation for the day is, "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." Hmmmm.
     Moving onto the water . . . I KNOW we all know the double eight rule. Drink eight eight-ounce glasses a day.
     Recently my friend Kathleen gave me an article her chiropractor had given her (thanks to both of you), which sparked my interest in researching the benefits of water.
     I have learned all sorts of intriguing facts. Water naturally suppresses the appetite, makes you feel full - that I knew.
     However, I did not know that the overweight person actually needs more water than the thin one because he/she has a larger metabolic load. On several medical sites I found that a person should add an extra eight-ounce glass for every 25 pounds that he/she is overweight. So, that's four more for me!
     I knew that water helps us to rid the waste from our bodies. But, I didn't know that when you are losing weight you have a lot more waste.
     This is what is fascinating me most about water: Because it helps to maintain muscle tone, water also helps to prevent the sagging skin that many people encounter after losing weight.
     The bottom line is that our kidneys work hard, and if they don't have enough water in the system, then they pass off some of that work to the liver, which keeps it from functioning to its potential.
     This is especially important to people trying to lose weight because we know that the liver metabolizes stored fat into energy.
     Of course, water has many more benefits, enough that I probably could write a book.
     The major drawback of all of this water consumption is the incessant need to use the bathroom, which can be a big deal if you have a job where you can't just run to go whenever you want.
     The really great thing is that as I sat here writing this entry, I drank my entire water bottle!