Have you ever felt like Cinderella’s stepsister as you try to force your feet into a pair of shoes that you positively know are your own? Then most likely you are familiar with the subject of fluid balance. It tends to affect women more than men, although bloat doesn't discriminate between the sexes.
Drink More Water
Paradoxically, the cause for water retention is oftentimes the under consumption of water and other fluids. The body needs the right balance of water to function, and if you take in less than required, it holds on to practically every drop that it can—even more than necessary. It’s as if your body instinctively knows that you won’t provide enough for it, so it will store as much as possible. Additionally, if you don’t drink water, your body can’t flush waste from its cells. So a primary key to relieving a puffy-looking face is drinking more water on a consistent basis. Follow the 8 glasses per day rule. Another excellent way to consume more water is by eating fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s a mistake to think that just because a vegetable is 95% water, it offers nothing beneficial to the body. Water is life sustaining and the form of water found in raw fruits and vegetables is ideal! Eat an apple or crunch on a few celery stalks when you’re bloated. Remember, too, that while alcohol, coffee and soda technically are considered fluids, they exacerbate the problem by dehydrating the body. Water is the fluid of choice.
Pull the Plug with 4 Key Herbs
For even more power in draining the excess fluid from your body, try a few key herbs. The supplement Swanson Water Pills is a combination formula of parsley, uva ursi, juniper berries and buchu.
- Parsley—Two constituents in parsley, apiol and myristicin, help maintain a healthy balance of fluids.
- Uva Ursi—Also known as bearberry, this herb promotes healthy urinary tract function.
- Juniper Berries—Traditionally used by herbalists for centuries to promote water balance in the body.
- Yellow Sweet Clover—The trademarked formula LymphaSelect is an extract of yellow sweet clover, and it works great for ridding the body of excess water by stimulating lymph flow with its high concentration of coumarin compounds.
Choose Your Salt Carefully
Unfortunately, the Western diet is loaded with sodium. Although salty foods sometimes hit the spot, too much is definitely a bad thing. Thankfully, we have alternatives. Sea salt and Himalayan Crystal Salt are not processed to remove all the trace minerals naturally found in salt. The best practice is to eat salty processed foods only on rare occasions, and always opt for Himalayan Crystal Salt when possible. |
