Staying hydrated is an important part of any balanced and healthy lifestyle. However, it’s a simple one that is often neglected. I am particularly bad at keeping track of how much I drank, and how much more I need to drink to fill my daily quota. It can also be confusing about what beverages count towards these goals, and why these goals need to be met in the first place. Hopefully, this article will aide you on your health and wellness journey, and help you achieve your hydration goals.

First, it’s a good idea to set your hydration goals. According to the Hormone Diet by Natasha Turner, “To calculate how much water you need, multiply your body weight in pounds by .55. Divide the result by 8 to determine the number of cups you need to drink each day” (Turner 379).  Sue Hitzmann, author of the MELT method is recommends you, “take your body weight in pounds and divide it in half to get the number of ounces you should drink” (Hitzmann 149).

Secondly, factor in beverages other than water. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends roughly three liters of fluid for men, and 2.2 liters for women. Fluid being the key word. Coffee and tea can still count towards your goals. According to Web MD, the diuretic effect does not offset the hydration benefits. However, alcohol is very dehydrating and you should drink one glass of water for every glass of alcohol you consume. Fruit and vegetables also contain water, so include your smoothies and juices on this list of hydrating beverages. Soups and bone broth are also great sources of hydrating fluid and should be counted toward your daily total as well.

Lastly, here are some tips and tricks I’ve used in the past to meet my daily hydration goals. There is a free app called Water Your Body Lite, which helps you keep track of how much you’ve drank. JewelPie has a great DIY water bottle project that helps you keep track of how much water you should drink each hour. This is perfect if you want to drink consistently throughout the day. Or you could buy the Zing Anything Water Bottle which is BPA free, and has a filter on the bottom makes great flavored water at only $15. This is a great option for people who prefer sugar drinks over the taste of water. The Bobble Water Bottle is another great option that comes with it’s own water filter, so you can always have filtered water wherever you happen to refill your bottle.  Hope these awesome tools, will help you drink more water! Now go achieve your hydration goals.

Sources:

• Dehydration Myths: 7 Things You Should Know About Staying Hydrated
• Water: How much should you drink every day?
• What Counts as Water? Stay Hydrated and Healthy
• The Melt Method by Sue Hitzmann, MS, CST, NMT
• The Hormone Diet by Natasha Turner, ND

For our honeymoon, we visited as many vineyards as possible that made organic and sustainable wines. Plus, I had no problem finding dairy free and paleo options everywhere I went. I was in foodie heaven with all the fresh local ingredients, accommodating restaurants, and gourmet grocery stores. Even the grocery store had their own vineyard (I’m not kidding) as well as their own jellies and jams. I had their caramelized red onion and fig jam that I ate with some gluten-free dairy-free crackers.

Our favorite organic winery was Frog’s Leap Winery, which had a lovely outdoor patio, a lily pod with frogs, and beautiful organic garden and winery. When we mentioned it was our honeymoon, they gave us a small jar of their own citrus marmalade, although we did buy two bottles and two tastings.  In fact, I’m drinking their 2012 Zinfandel as I type this. It’s just as good as I remember, not that I’m a wine expert, but I want to remember what I liked. I mentioned that we were trying to taste all the organic and sustainable wines in the area and they gave us a nice printed list. So be sure to ask for that when you go. We also purchased a 2013 Sauvignon Blac. Shameer and I usually purchased one or two bottles when we visited a winery, but we opted for the less expensive bottles. Since we’re not winos, we just got what we liked, at the price we liked.

Another winery we loved was Mumm Napa Winery. Seriously, we went there twice. Although they are not organic, they are certified under the Napa Green Winery Program that requires certain sustainable practices such as recycling, water and energy conservation, and pollution prevention. Plus, they had a beautiful outdoor patio, where you can relax and drink your champagne. They even told me they were going to renovate and improve it, if that’s even possible. You can order a snack plate with your champagne, which was one of the few things I could eat while wine (or champagne) tasting. It had dried fruit and nuts, which was awesome since most wineries serve bread and cheese. Arghh!!! You can also take your champagne to their photography gallery, which includes an Ansel Adams exhibit. Seriously, it was awesome, but I love landscapes. Notice the lack of selfies on my blog.

We also went to a tasting at Robert Sinskey Vineyards, which is another great organic winery. The tasting was indoors at a bar, but it was still lots of fun and we got two bottles. One bottle was the Abraxas 2012, and the other POV 2010. They had a nice little gift shop too with all my favorite cookbooks. Although, we decided to wait and go to the Culinary Institute for a crazy large selection.

We also visited the Heller Estate on our way to Napa Valley, which was in Carmel Valley. We purchased a 2012 Chenin Blanc, and red one that I can’t remember because we drank it right away by the pool at our B&B in Napa Valley. Anyway, this was definitely one of my favorite vacation spots. We went sight-seeing (which in Napa means visiting wineries) and we still had plenty of time to relax in the sun. We went the first week in June and the weather was absolutely perfect! Good thing too because Carmel was on the chilly side.

If you liked this post, you might like Honeymoon Part: 1 Monterey (which includes Carmel) and Honeymoon Part 2: Big Basin. We drove up the Pacific Coast highway, but our last stop was Napa Valley.

I wanted to share with you guys more of the awesome, and healthy activities we did on our honeymoon. When we left Monterey Bay to go to Sonoma Valley, we stopped at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

When we were there, we hiked two easy trails. First, we did the Sequoia Trail Route A to Sempervirens Falls and Slippery Rock, which was considered easy to moderate at 3.5 miles. Then we did the Redwood Loop Trail, which is considered easy and contains the biggest redwoods at the State Park. This trail was only a half a mile. The trails took longer than you would expect since I was busy snapping photos. The two trails were the perfect length, so we got in a good workout,  and still had time to drive to Sonoma Valley before it got dark. This was definitely worth the stop, even if it made for a crazy long travel day.

If you missed it check out my first honeymoon post on Monterey.

Hey guys! I just wanted to let everyone know about a cool event that I’m planning on attending. It’s FREE! How awesome is that? Here are the details:

I wanted to share with everyone some of the fun and healthy tourist stuff Shameer and I did on our honeymoon. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway, and stopped in Santa Barbara for breakfast, then we continued on to Monterey Bay. When we were there, we went to the Aquarium, and did the Jellyfish tour.

The food court at the aquarium had some healthy options. I got a vegan salad from their salad bar and a bunless grass-fed burger, then I put the burger on top of the salad. I also got my own container of water, that was packaged like a small milk carton, instead of plastic, which I thought was pretty cool.

Then on Cannery Row, located right next to the aquarium, we went to Monterey’s Tasty Olive Bar, where you can sample different olive oils and balsamic vinegars infused with herbs. We got a garlic infused olive oil for easy salad dressings and an organic olive oil that tastes like butter. There’s no dairy in it, it’s just herbs, and since I miss butter, I was crazy excited about this. You can buy their stuff online if you like. I think it would make a nice gift for a fellow foodie.

When we were staying in Monterey, we stayed at a cute B&B called the Old St. Angela Inn. They were very accommodating about my dairy allergy, and made a different breakfast for me in the morning. Plus, it was walking distance to the stores and restaurants down the street.

While we were in Monterey, we drove up to Carmel Valley to taste to the organic wine from Heller Estate.

Then, we stopped at the Earthbound Farms Organic Farm Stand for lunch. They were small, but they had a lot of good specialty food items, fresh produce, and plenty of outdoor seating.

To be continued …

When you’re in chronic pain, any supplement that aids in regeneration and recovery is helpful. Chlorella contains a property called “Chlorella Growth Factor” (CGF), which helps rebuild and heal tissues, especially nerve tissue damage and is excellent for treating brain and nerve disorders (Wolf 234). Chlorella also has the ability to detox heavy metals, pesticides, and radiation poisoning from your body. Heavy metals can be a cause of many debilitating diseases such as neuropathy, carpal tunnel, arthritis, and diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s and migraines (Rogers 158).

Chlorella also aids in digestion and liver support, making it an ideal supplement for helping your body utilize nutrients and eliminate waste. Another great benefit, is that it aids the growth of good bacteria in your digestive system and if your chlorella source is unpasteurized it will also contain enzymes, which help digest your food (Wolf 235). Your liver with thank you for any help you give it in eliminating chemical additives and pesticides. It has a heavy workload with all chemicals in our environment we are exposed to on a daily basis.

The enviornmental toxins not only affect our body, but also our mind. Heavy metals can also be responsible for mood disorders such as ADHD and depression (Rogers 158). Instead of reaching for a prescription, try the natural way first. Start your dosage small, and add more if your body tolerates it. People react differently to detoxification, so more is not necessarily better, especially in the beginning.

Sources: (1) Superfoods by David Wolfe, (2) Pain-free in Six Weeks by Sherry A. Rogers, MD, (3) Is Chlorella a Powerful Natural Detoxification Tool? by Dr. Mercola

Photo Credit: tastyhealthproducts.com