Please note that the information included in this section is adapted from what Russell Mariani sends to his clients. We have included it because we feel it is beneficial. Who is Russell Mariani? Russell Mariani is a Health Educator, a Nutrition Counselor, and a pioneering digestive wellness expert. He lives in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He has been in private practice since 1980. He published his book Healing Digestive Illness in 2006. The watercure recipe outlined below is excerpted from this book, starting on page 121. Russell helps people with digestive health challenges all around the world, through his website www.healingdigestiveillness.com (where you can purchase his book) and via the telephone. Russell has been an active Simplexity Health Business Associate and frequent product speaker and trainer since he joined the company in 1987. He is also the author of the The Journey to Better Nutrition!

This is the basic recipe as taught by F. Batmanghelidj, M.D., in his book Your Body's Many Cries for Water (and his other books) and on his website: www.watercure.com (and his companion site www.watercure2.com). We urge you to go to these sites for additional information about the role of proper daily hydration and health, and for in-depth scientific analysis and explanations that are beyond the scope of this book. All bowel types (1, 2, and 3) need to do the watercure exactly as described below. If you find any discrepancies or contradictions in any information you find outside of this book, please go to Russell's website and check out the FAQ section. If you do not find your answers there, by all means post your question or concern on his website (www.healingdigestiveillness.com).

1. The water we drink must be free of all impurities, and you should research an effective water purification system. I do not recommend bottled water in general, because it is difficult to know how long the water has been in the plastic and how many temperature fluctuations it has been subject to. Plastic residue can leach into the water and bacterial infestations are possible. If you must drink bottled water, contact the company and insist on seeing their testing data. Compare it to the testing data provided by whatever water purification system you are considering. It will not compare favorably, but at least it may be better than tap water. If you must drink tap water (heaven forbid), make sure you boil it to kill bacteria (but boiling will not eliminate any chemical contamination), and then let it stand out in a wide pan to let the chlorine (if present) dissipate. The best choice is a point-of-use home water purifier.

2. The water you drink must be warm. Not hot, not cold, warm. The best temperature varies from person to person based on body type, metabolism, and current state of health. Room temperature may be too cool because water, standing alone, will always want to return to its original temperature. Something between 65 and 85 degrees is probably ideal. Just warm up some water on your stove. You will have to experiment to find out what works best for you. Our normal internal body temperature is 98.6 degrees. Your body works very hard to maintain this internal temperature. When you are sick, it takes extra energy and extra nutrients to maintain homeostasis, including your internal body temperature. When you are sick, you usually don't eat ice cream, you eat soup and crackers, right? It simply makes sense to drink warm water when you are sick. When you are completely free of any and all digestive system problems, please feel free to eat and drink cold foods and beverages again. Then, let me know what you discover. My experience has taught me that digestion seems to work best when foods and beverages are warm, not cold and not hot. (This refers to temperature hot and spicy hot.) If you are very ill, the warmer the water, the better. The warmest water is most important first thing in the morning as you will see in step 5 of the watercure recipe. In some situations you may need to invest in a thermos and make sure you have warm drinking water available to you all day long. Until you have completely recovered your health and energy, avoid cold water and other cold beverages and influences.

3. The water you drink must contain salt. Sea salt is best and Celtic sea salt is the best sea salt. One-quarter teaspoon of salt per one quart of drinking water. One quart is 32 ounces. The reason for adding the salt to your water is to aid the process of absorption and assimilation of the water molecules into your blood and into your cells. The presence of the salt also has an alkalinizing effect that is conducive to the natural healing process. If you cannot handle the taste of one-quarter teaspoon of salt per quart of water, don't worry. Just start with a smaller amount, even if that smaller amount is one grain of salt! Each day just add a little bit more salt, and before you know it you will be in full compliance. Most people have some difficulty when first drinking intentionally salted water. These same people also report that they prefer the salted water once they get used to it and once they experience the profound benefits of proper daily hydration. There is more information in the next few paragraphs below under the heading "Why is Proper Daily Hydration So Important?"

4. Drink your salted water throughout the entire day. Be gentle. Try not to drink too fast or drink too much at any one time. Try to space it out evenly throughout the day. If you have a history of incontinence, other bladder problems, frequent bladder and urinary tract infections, or you are concerned about the increased amount of water you will be drinking…relax. This isn't something I am telling you about because it sounded like a good idea. This is a powerful solution to all kinds of problems. I have witnessed this in my own life and in the lives of my clients during the last ten years. As your kidneys and bladder become properly re-hydrated, their normal functions will get better, not worse, and any associated problems in these areas will get better, not worse. Just follow these directions precisely. Be patient. Go slow but steady.

5. Drink at least one quart (32 ounces) of warm salted water within the first hour of waking up each day. Try to wake up within an hour of sunrise if at all possible. Our body co-exists in a natural symbiotic relationship with the seasons and the tides and the rising and setting of the sun. Natural healing co-exists in harmony with the forces at work in the natural world. These same forces are at work inside our bodies. Each morning our body is the most dehydrated, the most acidic, and the most toxic. This habit of starting each day by consuming one quart of salted water within the first hour of waking up is a very important key to getting and maintaining the very best results possible from the watercure. If you weigh less than 120 pounds, then you can start your day with 16-24 ounces of salted water, not 32 ounces. (Yes, children too.)

6. The amount of urine you eliminate should be equal to the amount of water you drink each day. It may take several days but not usually more than several weeks to see this balance happening with your body. You've never measured your outflow of urine? Neither had I. Join the club. Hey, we get to do all kinds of strange and curious things in the name of natural healing. Wait till we get to the section on colon cleansing! The color of the first morning urine can be moderately yellow, but the rest of the urine should be very light yellow to almost clear, like the color of lite beer. Dark yellow to orange colored urine is a sure-sign of dehydration and possible kidney stagnation, which is not good. If the color of your urine is currently orange or very dark yellow and it does not become significantly lighter within several days of doing the watercure, you should check with your medical doctor right away.

7. You must consume half your body weight in ounces of water per day, each and every day, to recover from the symptoms of long-term, chronic, unintentional dehydration and to prevent it from happening again. Read that rather long sentence again, and then several times after that, for it represents the most important part of the watercure recipe. You must consume the right quality water and you must consume the right amount or quantity of water. I have never been one for "set prescriptions" especially when it comes to food and beverage intake. Set prescriptions are usually reserved for drugs, not for habits in the world of natural healing. However, there are always exceptions to the rules, and this is absolutely one of those exceptional rules. Please do not underestimate the importance of being consistent with the correct amount of water you need to drink each day. Water and salt in combination promote and restore proper hydration levels within the cells and systems of the body. Proper daily hydration is the most significant biomodulating and homeostatic influence inside the human body. When the body is properly and consistently hydrated, everything else functions better. If you exercise and sweat, consume any diuretic beverages (alcohol, coffee, tea, soda, anything with caffeine), then you will need to consume more water. Your body loses 32 ounces of water each day just from breathing and sleeping and sitting around! If you exert yourself vigorously and sweat profusely, you will need to be very careful to restore proper hydration levels and then maintain them. Half your body weight in ounces of water is therefore the absolute minimum of water you need each day. But don't overhydrate yourself either. Find the balance. Find the right amount of water for you, given your unique circumstances.

Let's summarize the steps of the watercure recipe for easier reference and understanding:

1. The water we drink must be free of all impurities.
2. The water we drink must be warm. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right. Warm!
3. Every ounce of water you drink must contain Celtic sea salt for best results.
4. Drink your warm salted water throughout the entire day. Space it out.
5. Drink one quart of warm salted water within the first hour of waking up each day. If you weigh 120 pounds or less, you can get by with 16-24 ounces in that first hour.
6. The outflow of urine should be equal in volume to the inflow of water. The color of your urine should be very light yellow or almost clear, like the color of lite beer.
7. You must consume half your body weight in ounces of warm salted water every day. If you weigh 200 pounds you need to drink 100 ounces of water. It's just this simple.

Why Is Proper Daily Hydration So Important?

You need to understand that your body is likely suffering from a condition of chronic unintentional dehydration. Remember, I said unintentional. This is not necessarily the primary cause of your uncomfortable digestive system problems and symptoms, but it is a major contributing factor. When this dehydration problem is corrected, your symptoms could disappear altogether. More likely, they will simply lessen in intensity. More likely still is that all your symptoms will disappear once you have fully integrated all of the core suggestions of my Intestinal Regeneration Program (Steps 1-5). None of the other suggestions will have as powerful a synergistic effect as the watercure. This is how great a force proper daily hydration is. It is transformational.

You have just read about the seven steps that make up the watercure recipe. You must follow this recipe to the letter of the law as soon as possible. This means that, depending on your unique circumstances and conditions, it might take you three days to make this transition and it might take you three weeks. What matters most is that you get to 100% compliance as soon as you possibly can. Don't rush, but don't procrastinate either.

Please visit the two watercure sites mentioned earlier as soon as you can. There is a significant amount of highly specialized information related to many other conditions and illnesses that goes beyond the scope of this book. Go to www.watercure.com and www.watercure2.com.

For the very best results possible, use Celtic sea salt. Use whatever sea salt you have on hand or get some at your local health food store until you get Celtic sea salt. Some natural food stores are now carrying Celtic Salt (Whole Foods Market, Bread and Circus, Wild Oats). Celtic sea salt contains many other minerals and trace minerals (over 40) and this allows for better absorption into the cells, better communication between cells, and the incalculable therapeutic effects of alkalinizing blood and lymph. I keep using the term alkalinizing, but what I really mean is the stabilizing of body fluids at their proper pH levels. For example, the pH of human blood must remain constant at 7.35 to 7.45 for optimum health. The pH of ocean water is nearly identical to the pH of human blood. Imagine that.

The primary reason commercial table salt is so bad for us is that it is almost pure sodium chloride. It has been stripped of all other minerals. This kind of salt is not natural at all. It is highly processed and refined. It is even bleached to be white. No wonder it is toxic to the body! Naturally harvested salt from the ocean is gray and moist, not white and dry. If you use Celtic sea salt in the correct amounts according to the watercure recipe, you will not increase the problems normally associated with the excess use of salt; in fact, you will decrease their likelihood of occurrence. This is because of the dramatic qualitative differences between organic quality sea salt and commercial, quality highly processed and refined table salt. Use sea salt. Don't use the commercial table salt. If you are not sure what you should do, and have not been convinced by now of the therapeutic value of sea salt, please do not proceed. If you are still not convinced, then you need to talk to your medical doctor and/or primary health care provider. I talk to people all the time who drink tons of water or claim to drink tons of water. These same people will report astonishing results as soon as they start adding salt per the instructions of the watercure recipe. The combination of water and salt is a powerful natural remedy for all kinds of problems.

The (warm salted) water we drink is absorbed into the body through the stomach. Follow these suggestions and you will not feel bloated. Your bladder will get stronger, not weaker. Your bladder capacity will increase, and if you suffer from the symptoms of frequent urination and/or incontinence, they will subside and eventually disappear altogether. You must drink your water on an empty stomach and before meals. Wait about 30 minutes or so after meals before resuming your water intake or you may dilute your digestive juices, which is not good. Sometimes you need to wait longer. You decide.

There is still some debate about this last point, but I would rather err on the side of caution and my last nine years of observations and personal experience. As I have said many times already, when you are feeling healthy and whole and strong again, you will need to take all of my "suggestions" with a grain of salt and mostly rely on your own experimenting to ultimately find out what works best for you. But this advice is for down the road, well into Phase Two or even into Phase Three. In Phase One, it is best to follow my suggestions as they are being described here.

Think of proper daily hydration as the foundation of your physical health habits. Everything else you learn and do about Functional Nutrition and Intestinal Regeneration will be built upon this one simple habit. Everything else you do will work better if you practice this habit of proper daily hydration effectively. And everything else you do will work less effectively if you do not practice this daily hydration habit correctly and consistently. A word to the wise is sufficient.

There is an abundance of sound, convincing, scientific, and anecdotal evidence available to you via the websites I have suggested. Start reading, start drinking, and start smiling, because this is a major piece of the health and nutrition puzzle. And it's easy to do!