It’s Okay to Drink Tap Water, Right?

July 31, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

When someone tells me about an ailment they’re having, one of the first questions I ask is: “How much water are you drinking each day?” Most people even admit to me that they’re probably not drinking enough. But I hear this question a lot as well, “It’s Okay to drink tap water, right?”

The human body is the world’s most amazing machine. With more than 600 different muscles, more than 200 bones, and more than 70 organs all working in conjunction with one another each day, it’s fascinating to think about how the human body functions. And even though your body contains all of these muscles, bones, and organs, they still don’t even account for the majority of what’s inside you. The human body consists primarily of water. Drinking water throughout the day is essential for overall health. Water helps us to perform at high levels, and we need to make sure we replenish our supply each day. We literally can’t live without water.

A deficit of water in your body can cause immediate and serious health problems, and if not addressed quickly, it will eventually result in death. To keep your body feeling fluid and performing at optimal levels, you should be drinking no less than one half ounce of water for every pound you weigh. For those of you who think water tastes too plain, I recommend trying The Right Cup.

According to recent studies, about 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. The first signs of dehydration include headaches, sluggishness, and loss of appetite. Severe dehydration leads to far more serious ailments such as chronic pain, organ failure, degenerative diseases, and death. If you’re reading this and are realizing you might be dehydrated, there’s a good chance you’re thinking about going to the kitchen sink and getting a glass of tap water. Don’t.

They type of water we drink is extremely important.

In my book How to Live Until You Die I stated “The truth is that tap water is the worst kind of water to drink because it’s full of chemicals.” There are hundreds of studies that will show you the dangerous chemicals that tap water contains, and many case histories done in the past few years that prove the deadliness of those chemicals. According to a report in Scientific American, “Traces of 18 unregulated chemicals were found in drinking water from more than one-third of U.S. water utilities in a nationwide sampling…”

Drinking tap water is simply not a safe way to sustain necessary levels of hydration in your body. The movie A Civil Action which dramatizes the true story of Erin Brockovich, profiles the inclusion of Chromium-6 in the tap water of more than 218 million Americans. Chromium-6 is known to be responsible for cancer, liver damage, reproductive problems, and developmental harm. You may also remember the crisis of 2014 in Flint, Michigan, when it was discovered that the tap water was contaminated with high levels of lead.

We need to drink water to stay hydrated, but drinking tap water will probably do us more harm than good. So what do we do? You have a few options. Bottled water is better than tap water, and so is filtering water through either a pitcher or a device attached directly to the tap. Water filtration will remove some of the chemicals, however, it is inconsistent and the lifespan of filters can weaken their effectiveness over time.

My favorite type of water is alkaline ionized water, which you can get through a Kangen machine. Alkaline water helps counteract any acidic things that we put in our bodies. It also contains electrolyte nutrients that help your body function the way it should. To learn more about proper hydration, safe and unsafe water sources, and my top recommendations for staying healthy by drinking the right kind of water, get a copy of my book How to Live Until You Die. (more blogs on water)

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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How to Live Happy, Healthy, and Whole

July 31, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Many people understand that having a diet focused on clean, whole, organic foods will increase their health and well-being significantly. A good diet helps control your weight, provides the energy you need to thrive, and uses the nutrients in that food to fight against harmful toxins and diseases. What a large number of people aren’t as familiar with is to be truly happy, healthy, and whole in all aspects and to sincerely enjoy the life you live, there are six additional components that are just as important as nutrition.

My book, How to Live Until You Die, provides an in-depth look at each of these critical areas (I call them The Seven Keys to Living Happy, Healthy, and Whole) and explains the importance and uniqueness of each. This information is imperative to anyone who is seeking a complete life, full of vitality and joy. When your mind, body, and spirit are all well-taken care of, you can really live a happy and abundant life.

Good nutrition is very important to your overall well-being, and brings enormous rewards to your life in conjunction with the other six keys. To receive proper nutrition and manage your diet effectively you need to make sure you are avoiding products that contain deadly toxins. Target non-processed whole foods and try to consume a protein, a carbohydrate, and a good fat as part of every meal. In addition to proper nutrition through natural foods, I always recommend adding certain supplements to your diet in order to increase your daily nutrient intake. The most important supplements to take include multivitamins, CoQ10, fish oil, probiotics, and Vitamin D. (more blogs on nutrition)

Along with proper nutrition, two other things that go hand-in-hand with your physical health are exercise and water. Daily exercise is essential for feeling good and avoiding obesity. Most of the highly-promoted exercise programs today tout outlandish promises and extremely rigorous routines that can discourage many people from even getting started on the exercise plan. The best thing to do is start simple. Incorporate more movement into your day today than you did yesterday. When you exercise regularly, it’s important to drink plenty of water. Our bodies are comprised mainly of water and it’s crucial to consume the amount of water necessary to maintain your natural levels. Dehydration will cause you to be sluggish and can be the root of serious negative effects on your mood and your health. You should be drinking a half ounce of water for every pound you weigh, everyday. (more blogs on water)

Once you’ve covered nutrition, exercise, and water, you need to make sure you’re getting enough sleep. In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote an essay titled Sleep and Sleeplessness to promote the importance of sleep. He did a great job of detailing the ways that proper sleep benefits the body, and the points he made are all still true today. One thing that has changed since Aristotle’s essay is the exposure to blue light people receive from devices like smartphones, tablets, and TV screens. This light interferes with your natural melatonin production and can prohibit restfulness. I recommend not using these devices in your bed, and shutting them off about one hour before you want to fall asleep. Are you getting enough sleep at night? According to the National Sleep Foundation, you should be targeting between seven and nine hours per night. (more blogs on sleep)

Sleep can provide tremendous physical and mental health benefits, rejuvenating your body and your mind. Brain health is just as important to your vitality as physical health. Two other areas of equal importance are your spirit and your soul. In How to Live Until You Die, I devote one chapter to each of these, explaining why your spirit and soul are critical to your overall well-being. Using positivity, prayer, and meditation can greatly reduce the impact of stress in your life. When you invest in the health of your spirit and soul you can live peacefully without anxiety and truly enjoy your happy, healthy, and whole life.

To live a happy, healthy, and whole life until the day you die, make sure you balance the seven keys to living and keep your focus on establishing good habits in each area. For more tips on proper nutrition, building your own food and exercise plans, the importance of water, sleep, supplements, and effectively balancing your mind, body, spirit, and soul—get your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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Is Sleep Really That Important?

July 31, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

The songs played on the radio today often glorify passing up sleep to participate in other activities, questioning sleep importance. You’ve probably even read stories about your favorite entrepreneurs pulling all-nighters in their quest to rise to the top of the business world. With all this emphasis on sacrificing sleep for other things, it may seem like sleep importance isn’t necessary—or that sleep could even be an obstacle—to achieve long-lived success. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Perhaps Benjamin Franklin said it best with the now famous phrase “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute published an article in June of 2017 that emphasises the sleep importance and explains the benefits that the correct amount of sleep provides to all different parts of the body, as well as performance, brain function, and emotional well-being.

The American Psychological Association, National Sleep Foundation, and Health.com all plead with their audiences not to dismiss the importance of sleep, and caution them against sleep deprivation and the negative effect it has on physical health, cognitive performance, and general mood. The American Psychological Association’s website states that more than 40% of adults routinely battle with daytime drowsiness that significantly impacts their performance and that the drowsiness is caused by improper sleep patterns.

In the book How to Live Until You Die Dr. Phil Carson identifies sleep deficit as a performance killer, and explains how to avoid the consequences of sleep deprivation by getting good, quality sleep. Using his three guidelines for getting ideal sleep, he shows readers how to create their own sleep plan and overcome common obstacles that prohibit millions of people from getting proper sleep each night.

Dr. Phil uses several examples of well-researched studies to explain the importance of quality sleep, with sources including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harvard Business Review, European Society of Cardiology, the Mayo Clinic, and the National Sleep Foundation. He also points out that the Bible references sleep several times, and that it even tells a story that begins with Jesus sleeping. (Mark 4:35-41)

How to Live Until You Die covers the many aspects of sleep, answering many frequently-asked questions and

explaining the intricacies of REM and NREM sleep cycles. In addition to helping you build your own sleep plan, Dr. Phil offers insight on the body’s natural melatonin production, why it’s important to us, and how the blue light from the devices we constantly use is causing us to sleep poorly. He tells readers that “By structuring your evenings to take advantage of your body’s natural melatonin production and the circadian rhythms, you will put yourself in a position to fall asleep more easily and stay asleep for the right amount of time.”

Unless you’re Jack Bauer from the hit TV show 24, you need proper sleep in order to function to the best of your ability. To learn more about how to get the right amount of restful sleep, and to discover the seven keys to living happy, healthy, and whole, order your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

Check out Dr. Phil’s free resources to download his Simple Sleep Plan and more FREE resources! You can also check out more blogs about sleep!

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The Most Important Part of Any Diet is Water

June 30, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever felt motivated to improve your health, you’ve probably realized that eating right is crucial to success. Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or just feel more alive, having the right diet is critical. Most people cringe when they hear the word “diet” because their first thought is that they have to undertake an extreme regimen of eating far less, far more, or much different food than they are used to. However, the word “diet” in its simplest form is more accurately defined as the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

Everybody has a diet. For some people, a diet can include fast food, sugary drinks, and daily desserts. Others may consider their diet to be Paleo, Mediterranean, vegetarian, or one of the other well-known, well-defined mainstream diets. Your diet is what you eat regularly. If you want to improve your overall quality of life, take a long look at your diet. Are you consuming too many harmful foods? Could you add more fruits and vegetables to your daily intake? What exactly is the ideal diet?

No two people are exactly the same, and no two diets need be exactly the same either. The best diet is what works best for your body. However, there is one thing that is essential across all diets, for all humans, regardless of shape, size, age, or any other variable: The number one most important thing to consume every day is water. Our bodies are made primarily of water. In fact, our composition is 60-70% water. The bottom line is: We can’t live without water. According to Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, an authority in the medical community, more than 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. This astounding statistic may very well explain the root cause of many ailments suffered by individuals across the country.

When a new patient comes to Dr. Phil Carson with a complaint about their health, he says, “Water is so important that no matter what ailment the person is asking about, one of the first questions I ask is how much water they’re drinking a day.” In his book, How to Live Until You Die, he asserts that “Water can be an important part of any plan to burn fat, lose weight, and speed up your metabolism.”

To truly live happy, healthy, and whole, you need to drink at least .5 ounces of water for each pound that you weigh, each day. Water plays a major part in flushing out deadly toxins and allowing us to feel fluid, flexible, and energized. Several scientific studies have found significant correlations between water intake and reduced risk of bladder cancer, rectal cancer, colorectal cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer. The collective conclusion of the studies mentioned is that “Water is undoubtedly the most important nutrient and the only one whose absence will be lethal within days.” Dr. Phil gives an overview of these studies in How to Live Until You Die, along with recommendations on the best water sources and types of water, the best times to drink water, healthy ways to make water more flavorful, and warnings against drinking tap water.

Daily consumption of water is one of Dr. Phil’s seven keys to living right. As he says in How to Live Until You Die “Getting enough water is a critically important part of a balanced plan to be more happy, healthy, and whole.”

You have probably heard Dr. Phil say, “You may not be drinking enough water, but you need to be! Stay hydrated, my friends!” But there are so many options, how do you know what type of water to drink to make sure you’re getting the most benefits and great taste, while keeping it simple and consistent with your lifestyle? Dr. Phil recently shared a video on his Facebook page, where people have tested the Ph Balance levels on popular brands of bottled water. It’s shocking to see these results. Dr. Phil highly recommends drinking high quality bottled spring water or mineralized water for that reason.

Two of the most common reasons people give for not drinking enough water are that is tastes too plain or it’s too boring. Water doesn’t have to be boring or plain! Have you tried adding fresh squeezed lemons, limes or oranges? Adding fresh fruit to your water can taste even better than the chemical-infused elixirs marketed as sports drinks or enhanced waters. Experiment today with adding fruit to your water. Your kids and grandkids will love it too!

To learn more about the health benefits of water, how to get the right amount of water in your diet, and to discover the other six keys to living happy, healthy, and whole, order your copy of How to Live Until You Die today. You can also listen to a recent episode of the Feeling Good Podcast, where Dr. Phil discusses the importance of water in your diet on our website or in iTunes.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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Cinco de Mayo Feeling Good Friday Fiesta

May 5, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

It’s Cinco de Mayo, and at Carson Natural, we are celebrating! One year ago today, we started our Feeling Good Friday Facebook Live broadcasts. Can you believe it has been a whole year? We haven’t missed a single Friday yet, and we are planning on keeping it going! Check out some of our fun photos on instagram!

With it being Cinco de Mayo, many people would like to celebrate with a little Mexican style food today! If you are going out to eat at your favorite Mexican restaurant tonight and are trying to eat healthier, you can! Maybe you are on some kind of special diet like I have been over the past few weeks. I’ve been doing a 21 day cleanse and purification diet. Tortilla chips and flower tortillas are not on the menu for me, but that’s alright because I have found an awesome alternative to corn tortilla chips . . . Beanitos.

Have you tried these healthier chips yet? You’ve heard of BYOB restaurants where you can bring your own beverage, right? We need a BYOC restaurant . . . Bring Your Own CHIPS! I LOVE these chips. They are a healthier alternative to the tortilla chips. They have twice as much protein, potassium, and they don’t increase your blood sugar as fast as the corn chips do. If you are a diabetic, that is really important.

Another thing you can do in place of eating tortillas, is to eat just the vegetables and the meat that comes with the fajitas. A lot of people order fajitas, and you can still do that without eating the tortillas. You CAN eat healthy at a Mexican restaurant. It might not be the easiest thing to do, but YOU CAN DO IT!

If you aren’t planning on going out to eat tonight, you can still celebrate at home with an easy to make healthy Mexican style meal. My friend and client, Corie Jones, recently blogged about a really fun way to celebrate at home and stay healthy with her family. She even provides a fun DIY craft for the kids. Check out her Cinco de Mayo blog post! Corie made this statement, “We have to remember that eating healthy is not about depriving ourselves but finding healthy substitutes. This can still be accomplished while supporting our fiesta taste buds today.” Corie, I love it and couldn’t agree more.

Remember what I always say. I’ll say it in Spanish first today. Mantente hidratada, amigos. Es posible que no estar bebiendo suficiente agua, pero usted necesita ser! Stay hydrated, my friends. You might not be drinking enough water, but you need to be!

Keep on Fiesta-ing!

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

Protect Your Heart This Valentines Day

February 6, 2016 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

It’s February and Valentines day is coming soon! Appropriately enough, February is also designated as heart health month. Although everyone may not be celebrating Valentines day, everyone should be concerned about their heart, not only in February but every month of the year. Think about it, if your heart stops, your valentines day celebrations are over!

valentines

The heart muscle is the most important muscle in your body and your care for it is of upmost importance and should not be neglected. If you want to make sure you keep your heart healthy, strictly follow these three recommendations.

First, you must drink sufficient amounts of pure water every day. I had someone ask me recently, “what can I do to keep my cholesterol in check?” They told me that their doctor had placed them on a statin drug, but she could not take it because it hurt their muscles and made them weak. I explained that was a side effect of the medication because the statin drugs deplete the body of an essential nutrient, CoQ10, which is essential for the energy cycle in every cell in our body and especially the muscle cells. I told them the absolute best thing they could take to help keep their cholesterol in check was water. Of course they looked at me funny not understanding. I explained to them that water was essential to our health in general, and that in many cases it can do wonders for keeping cholesterol in check. Our bodies are 60-70% water, and without drinking the suggested amount of water for your body weight (which is half your body weight in ounces a day) your body will become dehydrated. Their are numerous studies that show a direct correlation between your hydration levels and your cholesterol levels. So for a healthy heart, drink your water.

Secondly, you must maintain your proper body weight. If you are overweight, or even worse obese, you are putting unnecessary stress on your heart and other vital organs in your body. Often with excess weight you will have an increase in blood pressure because the heart is having to work harder. Numerous studies have shown that just losing a few pounds can make a dramatic difference in your blood pressure and the health of you heart.

My third recommendation is to get consistent exercise, and by consistent I mean at least five days a week. Again there are numerous medical studies showing the benefits of consistent exercise on our heart. This will also help you achieve my second recommendation of maintaining a proper weight. Simply walking every day can make a world of difference in your heart health. The type of exercise that I recommend most for a healthy heart is pace or interval type exercises. Interval exercise is simply taking a physical activity and alternating between high intensity and low intensity. If you are just starting out that could be jogging for 30 seconds and walking for 30 seconds. This type of exercise is excellent for fat burning, and if done properly you can achieve the same calorie burn in less than half the time. In fact the most effective interval style of exercise is called Tabata and it only takes 4 minutes! Pick an exercise such as running, jumping jacks, pushups, sit ups, or whatever you want and do it as hard as you can for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest, then repeat 7 more times. When done properly you will be absolutely exhausted! Check out this great graphic from this even better article about interval training.

Interval-Training

All three of these recommendations are things that you can easily do and require no expensive medications or supplements for you to keep your heart healthy and strong for years to come.