Dr. B: Gatorade is possibly okay, but Gatorade has sugar in it, and it's not particularly good for people who might even get hypoglycemic, or might induce insulin secretion, and that insulin secretion will produce more hunger and they overeat. But as a temporary sport drink, it's okay when you're in the middle of a golf game to drink a Gatorade. It immediately gives you a bit of the minerals that you probably will have lost sweating.
But nothing substitutes for water -- not a thing. No drink -- no coffee, no tea, no alcoholic beverages. Not even fruit juices. Each one of them has its own agenda. Your body is used to a fluid that has no agenda, because the body depends on the freedom of that fluid, water, because there are two kinds of water in the body. There is already occupied and engaged water, which is no good for new function. The body needs new water, or free water, to perform new functions. Now, when you give them sugar containing beverages, or caffeine containing beverages, both sugar and caffeine have their own chemical agenda in the body. They defeat the purpose of the need for water.
Mike: You're also talking about soft drinks here…
Dr. B: I'm talking about soft drinks, I'm talking about sodas, I'm talking about caffeine containing coffee or tea. I'm also talking about alcohol, because alcohol actually stops the emergency water supply systems to the important cells, such as the brain cells. In the reverse osmosis process your body filters and injects water into the cells, and this is what I call reverse osmosis. And it has to raise the blood pressure for that in order to overcome the osmotic pull of water out of the cells, and reinject water into the cells. That's why we develop high-blood pressure in dehydration. And this process of reverse osmosis is stopped by alcohol. It stops the filter system.
You've been reading from an exclusive interview with Dr. Batmanghelidj, author of Water For Health, For Healing, For Life. Dr. B. is also the founder of the National Association for Honesty in Medicine and author or, Your Body's Many Cries For Water. Look for his new, upcoming book, "Obesity, Cancer and Depression: Their Common Cause and Actual Cure." Learn more about Dr. B. at www.WaterCure.com.