As work on my MA in Holistic Nutrition, I continue to be amazed at the simple things in life we overlook. We must take charge our our health beginning with our water intake. Dr. Elson M. Haas, MD in his book Staying Healthy With Nutrition reminds us, "Water is essential to life. On average we need 10 - 12 cups of water each day to stay hydrated. These cups don't necessarily have to come from the water we drink. It can come from our food. Without enough water, we can dry ourselves out. In otherwords, we can become dehydrated. In medical research it is linked to a long list of chronic health problems, including adult onset diabetes, arthritis, asthma, back pain cataracts, chronic fatigue syndrome, colitis, depression, heartburn, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, kidney stones, lupus, migraines, multiple sclerosis, and muscular dystrophy. We need to increase our water intake!"