You’ve heard the age-old advice: Drink 8 glasses of water a day. But is that really the best way to hydrate your body? The authors of Quench: Beat Fatigue, Drop Weight, and Heal Your Body Through the New Science of Optimum Hydration, Dana Cohen and Gina Bria argue no.
Even if you’re drinking all that water it may not be actually hydrating you. Quench is packed with novel techniques for getting that water to where it’s actually needed in the body - inside your cells.
This book was recommended to me during a visit with one of our go-to wellness partners, Sandra Lanshin Chiu, Founder of Treatment by Lanshin. My chronically dry skin and occasional headaches were signals that my body wasn’t getting hydrated from just drinking water - an idea I’ve explored before but never had the resources all in one place. Quench covers all the bases from diet to lifestyle to increase your body’s hydration.
Here are my key takeaways:
Water exists in a state beyond liquid, ice, or vapor - as something called gel water (also known as structured water). The liquid crystalline structure of gel water facilitates the essential electrical currents within the body and is deeply hydrating.
Balancing electrolytes like sodium and potassium are also critical to maintaining your body’s internal electrical charge. Skip the sports drinks and start your day with a tall glass of water, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sea salt.
Eat your water. Fruits and veggies contain gel water, electrolytes, and the fiber helps your body absorb gel water. In the summer this means hydrating fruits and vegetables like melons and cucumber. In fall, quince and apples are hydrating powerhouses. Other great sources include coconut and bone broth.
Incorporate chia seeds into your day. Think of it as time-release hydration. Grinding the seeds and adding them to water increases the surface area and the amount of gel water that forms around them. A Provenance staple and client favorite, our chefs share these chia fresca recipes for those missing out on our meal delivery programs and wanting to recreate the beverage at home.
Eat your healthy fats, they make cellular hydration possible. Your cell membranes are actually made of fatty acids, and a healthy cell membrane is essential for transporting water into each cell.
Gel water is largely what makes up your fascia - that interconnected layer below the skin that wraps around your organs and more. Fascia acts like a hydraulic system, pumping water around your body. Maximize this amazing function with movement throughout the day (in the book they prescribe specific micro-movements like gentle twists) as well as dry brushing (which has the added bonus of moving your lymph for a detox boost).
Perhaps counterintuitively, light (both visible and infrared) can actually increase hydration by helping gel water form within the body. Quench recommends infrared light therapy.
Properly hydrating your body can address a plethora of health issues - from headaches, headaches, brain fog, and fatigue to weight gain, gut issues, and autoimmune conditions. If you suffer from any of these it’s worth looking into better ways to hydrate your body on a daily basis. I’ve started to implement many of the ideas in the book and can already feel a difference.
Sarah Hebbel-Stone, CNE - Head of Client Wellness
Sarah is a certified Culinary Nutrition Expert and yoga instructor with a passion for holistic health and cooking. She is our resident health counselor and assists our chefs in developing the weekly menu. When she's not answering our client's health and wellness questions, she can be found planning her next travel adventure or exploring Brooklyn with her hound dog, Remi.
