You can survive for weeks without food, but for only a matter of days without water. Cells function in a fluid environment. Without adequate fluids, cells can't function.

Although fluid replacement is essential to life, each time fluid (or any other substance) is put into the body, the body is stressed and must change the way it is functioning to process the new substance. Even water must be processed. It stands to reason, then, in the pursuit of stress-reduction, you are better off when you choose drinks your body can handle with the least internal upheaval.

We can choose from a wide assortment of drinks. Each has its own special effects. Coffee, tea, and soft drinks are acid producers. Simulated fruit drinks, either powdered or prepared and packaged to appeal to children, pack more sugar than a body needs at one gulping. Not only do alcoholic beverages both stimulate and depress the body, they keep you from functioning at your best. And milk is a negatively beneficial high-protein food in liquid form.

The very best liquids for the body come from a diet heavy in vegetables and fruit.

Fruits and vegetables are convenient little packages of beneficial nutrients, minerals, fiber, and water all rolled into one. And the water is fresh, pure water. The plant has already filtered out the impurities. The water in plants is not only pure, it is also tasty. The water captures the distinctive flavor of the plant itself. The more food you eat from the vegetable kingdom, the less liquid you need to drink separately. Thirst during or just after meals means you are making wrong food choices.

As a practical matter, we all get thirsty. The fluids lost through elimination, perspiration, and breathing must be replenished. We need to drink fluids. The most healthful beverages you can drink to satisfy this thirst are juices extracted from fresh fruits and vegetables, and/or pure water. Unfortunately, we have out-smarted ourselves with technology to the point that there isn't any "pure" water left occurring naturally on the earth.

So, when you reach for a glass of water, reverse osmosis water is the most healthful choice. Water treated through this process is virtually free of contaminants and extraneous materials. Distilled water is the next best alternative. Yet by itself, distilled water is "dead." To revitalize distilled water, squeeze about a teaspoonful of fresh lemon juice into it. This brings dead water back to life and adds flavor.

Of course, few of us are willing to drink nothing but water. For a health-enhancing, thirst-quenching, pleasant-tasting, body-alkalizing beverage, the drink of choice is fresh fruit juice or fresh vegetable juice. The ideal juice is prepared in your own home with a juicer.

Freshly juiced vegetables and fruit are ideal for people who are too sick to process whole foods. Carrot juice made from fresh, sweet carrots is more than merely a refreshing taste treat for carrot juice is one of the best sources of vital vitamins and usable neutralizing minerals.

The juice of fresh vegetables or fruits can be so appealing you may have a tendency to go overboard on the quantity you drink. As with just about everything else in life, you can get too much of this good thing.

When vegetables or fruits have been reduced to juice form, you can drink a lot more carrots, apples, celery or other produce than you could ever eat at one sitting. Too much juice may bring on symptoms of a cold – runny nose, cough – as the concentrated nutrients stimulate your body to cleanse itself of toxic materials. Cleansing is good. Rapid cleansing, you won't like.

Too much juice can also have an "expansive" effect. Not that your waistline expands, but you become "spacey" – you have difficulty focusing your attention.

Children who drink large quantities of fruit juice can appear supercharged and out of control. Too much juice poured into a small body can turn a normal, active child into a fireball frenzy. As a rule of thumb, you should drink only as much fruit juice as you would get from eating your fill of the whole fruit.

Beverages are not consumed by chance. Conscious thought goes into choosing the type and quantity of liquids you drink. Any beverage that adds to the acidity of your body or artificially stimulates your body (and includes most man-made or processed drinks), puts undue physiological stress on your body. Incorrect drinking choices compounded by other incorrect choices can contribute to chronic symptoms.