All Things Herbal

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Festival of Independent Writers & Publishers

Motivational Day at the Gold Cost

Thinking about self publishing? This is the festival (IndieAuthorsFestival.com) to check out for information, motivation and the inspiration to take up the challenge! There were many interesting writers who have written really appealing books who told their stories about their successes and the trials and tribulations of self publishing. It was fascinating listening to the experts in printing and publishing and hearing about their opinions about the future of traditional publishing.

All writers who attended were able to display their books and the first two of my series released, Lemon Balm: The Neglected Herb and Lavender: The First Aromatherapy Herb ,were included in the display. I also sold a couple of the books on the day!

The festival also allowed me to acknowledge the illustator for my books Vanessa Johnson from Cookoo Design & Photography because I was able to sponsor her for a session.

I found it helped to find that I wasn’t alone on my journey and it gave me the motivation to continue publishing my herbal handbooks. I hope this becomes an annual event!

                                                        Why it is Important to Drink Water … 

Drinking water has always been a problem for me. I would rather drink tea, coffee or flavoured water. But nothing survives without water, and virtually nothing takes place in the body without water playing a vital role.  Almost all of the body’s cells need and depend on water. This information has helped me to increase my water intake so it may be helpful to others as well.  

 Digestion

 Water in the digestive secretions softens, dilutes and liquefies food. It also helps move food along the gastrointestinal tract. Water is a vital part of the digestion process, it dissolves nutritive material in the process of digestion so that the nutrients can be absorbed by the blood and carried to the cells and tissues of the body where they are needed.

 Absorption

 Differences in the fluid concentration on either side of the intestinal wall enhance the absorption.

  Circulation

 When water is drunk, some of it is absorbed through the intestines into the bloodstream increasing its volume. This increases the circulation by making the blood more fluid. When blood volume is increased, more water comes into contact with the body’s waste material in every part of the body. This results in more waste being removed; this is illustrated by the increase in urinary output and perspiration.

 Excretion

Water is also excreted as urine by the kidneys along with waste materials carried from the cells. The amount of urine reflects to some extent, the amount of fluid intake of the individual, although no matter how much one consumes, the kidneys will always excrete a certain amount each day to eliminate waste products generated by the body’s metabolic actions. About 4-6 cups a day are excreted as urine.

 Transporting Nutrients

 The most important functions of water are, to help the body use essential nutrients and to move nutrients and oxygen from the blood to the cells and to get waste material from the cells back to the blood so that they can be removed from the body.

 Maintaining Temperature

 Other functions for water within the body are to regulate body temperature, to give cell shape and form, to protect certain body organs, lubricate joints and other areas and to maintain performance.

 Building Tissue

 Water also cleanses the blood from its toxic waste which leaves the blood cleaner to build tissues. In this way water both helps with repair and elimination.

 Some key points about water …  

• It is important not to ignore feelings of thirst. The sensation of thirst is one of the mechanisms that operate to keep body – water content within narrow limits. You feel thirsty when the blood starts to become concentrated.
• The average urine output for adults is about 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) a day. You lose close to an additional liter of water a day through breathing, sweating and bowel movements.
• We also make about a third of a litre of water per day when glucose is burnt for energy.
• Therefore our minimum intake from food and drink needs to be more than 1 litre per day.
• Vegetables & fruit consist of around 90% water and about 1kg of these foods can provide a litre of water. This leaves 1 litre a day to be taken as water or diluted juices, herb or fruit teas.
• Alcohol, tea and coffee cause the body to lose water so are not recommended as sources of fluid intake. They also rob the body of valuable minerals.
• The average adult’s body weight is generally 50% – 60% water; however there are variations to this generalization.
• Human blood is about 92% water while the muscle and the brain about 75% and bone 22%.

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