I decided to revisit the interview on hydration because it is the one area in which we can all see real results. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. K during a UPS Employee Health Fair in 2018. It was a breath of fresh air to meet someone speaking the same language and forging ahead with educating the community on holistic health and wellness practices. After attending her first session on Hydration, I was hooked. Her seminar and teaching style went above and beyond anything I ever experienced. Her knowledge and presentation were realistic and easy to apply. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to work with her. I am only touching the surface, but she compliments my mission with first-hand experience and knowledge from conventional and natural medicine. After shooting our first video together, I could not wait to share what I learned. Below is the interview on why water/hydration is so essential in our daily lives. I hope you get some takeaways you can apply today. Why did you choose the medical field? Dr. K: My family is from Nigeria, so I grew up with a lot of natural remedies, herbs, and healing products. I grew up knowing these methods worked, and I knew I wanted to be a doctor. In medical school, I was confronted about how heavily the curriculum was driven by drugs, pharmacology, disease pathology, surgeries, invasive procedures, and pharmaceutical intervention, but I was not hearing a lot of the things I grew up using. When I inquired about it, I was silenced and told that it’s not real medicine or it doesn't really work. This worked for my classmates, but it didn't work for me based on my experience. After medical school, I did extensive training on more natural remedies, like acupuncture and nutrient IV, for any case and every condition, from cold to cancer. Inquiring the knowledge was so fun for me, and it became my passion. There is a time and place for both, a time and place for conventional medicine, just as there is a time and a place for natural medicine. Knowing the dance between the two is where the magic happens. How long have you been in business? Dr. K: In 2013, Returning to Nature started as a movement that graduated to a platform for me to provide wellness education on natural healing, mind, body, and spirit balancing where people wanted more. Webinars, seminars, and blogs have become great resources for many. I love writing, so it complemented my practice. The Mind, Body Spirit Wellness Center based in the heart of Atlanta offers integrative medicine services to people who want to treat real-time conditions naturally. Why do we need water? Dr. K: Water is my favorite beverage on the planet to drink. Knowing its importance, I could not choose anything else. Water is essential because every cell, organ, and organ system needs water to function optimally. No cell or organ doesn’t use water. The immune system is a heavy hitter and requires a lot of water. When you are dehydrated, what happens? Dr. K: You are robbing your organs of the fuel to perform, so they will not work optimally. What are the benefits of being hydrated? Dr. K: There are head-to-toe benefits to being hydrated. A lot of people forget the brain for some reason. People always do colon cleanses, liver cleanses, and heart detoxes. The brain uses a significant amount of water to process. Just a few moments of dehydration decreases your mental clarity significantly. You want to be able to have brain clarity at all times. Forgetfulness, where you put things, and brain fog, where you can’t concentrate, is due to hydration. Water enhances your immune system, and you get sick fewer times yearly. In the face of sickness, you can increase your recovery time. Cardiovascular issues are claiming the most lives today, #1 for women and everyone. For women especially, our incidents of cardiovascular disease are increasing at earlier ages. You gave a formula for how much water you should drink per day. Please share this with our audience. Dr. K: This is more customized for the individual. The 6-8 cups of water we were taught only works for some, but it is a good starting point. I should not drink the same amount as NBA Star Lebron James because we are not the same weight, and his physical exertions far exceed mine. Even my family in Nigeria requires a different amount. Someone in sub-Saharan Africa needs more water under the sun than in the States. Here’s the formula: Take your own body weight and divide that number in half - that is the number of ounces of water you should drink daily. For example, a 200 lbs person should drink at least 100 oz of water per day. What is the best time of day to consume water? Dr. K: First - drink throughout the day. Some people will go an entire workday without drinking water and come home and consume 1/2 their weight. You don’t want to chug the water all at once - it's dangerous. It is not a good feeling and is medically dangerous. It throws off your sodium/water balance internally. so you want to drink throughout the day. The benefits of drinking in the early morning are you kick start your metabolism, so you’re getting things going and organ systems processing before you have a meal and start moving physically. It’s a great detox and energy and enhances brain clarity within 30 minutes of waking up. Every hour or 2 hours, set an alert on your smartphone to Drink Water and have a cup or two - (8) 16 ounces. We need to Schedule Wellness like we Schedule Appointments.

Back to Basics