Years ago I came across a fantastic book called "Your Body's Many Cries for Water", subtitled, "You are not sick, you are thirsty!" This is the truest statement ever made.

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj (Batman-ge-lij) is an Iranian doctor who had been educated in the West. He returned to Iran and started to practice there. After the regime change in the '70's he was arrested, all his assets confiscated, and thrown into prison (mostly for the crime of having been educated in the West). He was scheduled for execution. While he awaited his sentence to be carried out he started treating the prisoners for various diseases. The guards saw the amazing good he was doing and so they managed to have his execution delayed, which was really only for state drama anyway.

He had no medications so he used the only thing available in abundance - water. He eased 80-90% of all the diseases of the prisoners. That is an astounding number. He significantly reduced ulcers, chronic back pain, asthma, alergies, high blood pressure, just to name a few. The list goes on and on.

I can say from first-hand experience that proper hydration of the body does indeed work. I followed the methods he outlines in his book - drinking so many ounces of water per pound of body weight. I end up drinking about 80 ounces of water a day - more if I have anything with caffeine (which is naturally dehydrating). As a result I've lowered my blood pressure, lowered my blood cholesterol, eased a significant lower back pain, gotten rid of all those annoying aches and pains, sleep more soundly and feel more rested as a result, have more energy, and for all you ladies - now have a glowing and youthfully dewey complexion (no small feat after 50 - all my friends ask me how I do it and I tell them but they don't seem to believe I get that from just water).

You may think 80 ounces (a half gallon plus another 16 oz. glass) is a lot of water to get into your body in one day, everyday. Well yeah, you have to work at it. But the results are well worth it. Just to not have that lower back pain is enough to keep me at it. If you're bigger than me (not hard to do, I'm rather small) you'd have to drink more. My husband, 6 ft. tall, drinks a gallon a day. But after a while it's easy, and you feel more thirsty because your body doesn't want to give up the delicious ease it feels by being well-hydrated.

I've added a link to Amazon where you can get the book. It's only around $10. He also has a website and sells DVDs directly on various ailments - back pain in particular.

I'm not a doctor and I do not represent Dr. Batmanghelidj in any way. I just found something that works - so I use it.

Oh, and one last, very important note. I bought a water filtration system that makes my drinking and cooking water alkaline. Taking the acidity out of your water is immensly beneficial, but that is another subject that I won't elaborate on here. I would recommend, at the very least, drinking water that it ph balanced. You can get a water-testing kit at almost any health-food store, or a water store. I used to buy water from a water store and I felt more and more thirsty and couldn't figure out why. So I tested it and it was very acidic. As soon as I changed over to an alkiline water my thirst went back to a normal level.

"As his controversial book quietly gathers support worldwide, the doctor behind one of medicine's most extraordinary theories explains why he has turned his back on conventional wisdom to treat his patients with water, not drugs." - Daily Mail, London