Drinking adequate water is so easy to forget. The recommended amount of water we should intake per day is 50% of our body weight in ounces. If you weigh 180 pounds, you should consume 90 ounces of water per day. If you sweat excessively due to work or exercise, drink even more. This recommendation is for pure water, not any liquid such as juice or tea. Adding electrolytes to your water, in the form of sports drinks, can be beneficial during heavy exercise. When we don’t hydrate enough, we can suffer from dehydration. The symptoms of dehydration include: headaches, brain fog or unclear thinking, fatigue, chills and heart palpitations. Be aware that dehydration can be life threatening if untreated.

What do you do when your car dashboard is showing you a warning light? Do you ignore it and continue driving or do you fix the problem? If the gas tank is empty, do you fill the tank or wait for the inevitable and eventually run out of gas? If your oil light comes on, do you dig deeper to fix the problem or just keep putting more oil in? If the answers seem obvious, then ask yourself this, why are you treating your car better than your body?

I see this happen all the time with my patients. They get many warning signs, or what I call “check engine signs”. Unfortunately, many just don’t do anything about them and consider them to be normal or part of aging. Whether it be back pain, joint stiffness, headaches, indigestion, constipation, weight gain or high blood pressure, these are all warning signs that something is out of balance. These are NOT normal symptoms. Look at these as yellow lights warning you before the red light comes on. These symptoms can be key to making life saving changes. Many of these signs   simply mean eat better, balance your poor choices with nutritional supplements, drink more water or spend a few short moments per day exercising or doing   breathing and relaxation techniques. I’ve witnessed even the smallest changes making huge life improvements.

It’s already back to school time! Here are a few tips to keep kids’ backs safer and brains working.

• Breakfast of Champions: Most kids tend to grab a quick bowl of cereal with milk for breakfast, but even complex grains with low fat milk just break down to sugar. In the morning, our bodies need protein!   Protein is the fuel of our muscles and brain. Eggs, meat and vegetables are truly the best sources of protein. For a quick morning meal, try rolled, sliced meats, hard boiled eggs or sliced tomatoes with cheeses. Nuts, especially walnuts, are also great. My personal favorite is protein smoothies. Use any combination of leafy greens, fruit (berries are best) and liquid such as water, coconut water or milk, cow’s milk or almond milk. I love adding Standard Process Complete protein powder for an extra boost of protein. Standard Process’ vitamins are not synthetic, like most protein powders, but rather come from food sources, making it easier for our bodies to digest and use the benefits. Kids love adding peanut butter, or even a little chocolate to their smoothies. Avoid protein bars. If you look at the nutritional label, many times they are loaded with nothing but sugar, carbohydrates and artificial preservatives.

• Back Packs: Keep as light as possible. Instead of swinging the pack on one shoulder, use both shoulder straps to balance the weight evenly. Use the chest or belly strap to wrap the pack tightly against your spine and avoid it bouncing up and down against your back.