Hydration

Aajonus repeatedly pointed to the classification of water in geological and archaeological reference texts as a universal solvent as the foundational reason not to drink it in quantity. When rain falls, it dissolves rock and soil so that plants can extract mineral particles from the breakdown. That same dissolving action operates inside the human body. Drinking water dilutes digestive acids and juices, breaks down the mucus lining of the stomach and intestines, damages beneficial bacteria in the gut, and disrupts the bile in the intestines that is necessary for proper digestion. He described it as something that "rips the body apart" from the inside, the same way water rusts steel and decomposes ships sitting in the ocean, though over a much shorter time scale.

He used the skin as a practical demonstration. If a person continually puts plain water on the skin, the skin dries out, cracks, and eventually begins peeling. If the same person applies raw butter or fat, the skin fills out, stays supple, and is protected. The analogy holds identically inside the body. Fats lubricate. Water does not and cannot lubricate anything. Any mechanical device lubricated with water will disintegrate. The same process of disintegration applies to connective tissue, mucus membranes, and cell walls when subjected to sustained water consumption.

He also noted that people who drink two gallons of water a day cannot put on weight and deteriorate rapidly because their digestive capacity is being dissolved away. After four or five years of extreme water consumption, he said, a person can no longer digest food properly, and rebuilding digestive function requires considerable time on a corrective raw food diet.

Aajonus described the cultural mandate to drink eight glasses of water a day as a deliberate marketing invention rather than a physiological discovery. When he was in school in the 1940s and 1950s, he said, children went to the water fountain and took two or three sips a day. Athletes might have consumed half a cup a day. Milk was the primary fluid, and there was no concept of hydrating with plain water. He dated the shift to 1961 and 1962, when he said the trust fund of the family that owned Coca-Cola began paying doctors and health communicators to promote water consumption, a move that created a commercial market for bottled water and eventually for electrolyte beverages. By the 1960s the recommendation had risen to four or five glasses a day; by the 1970s it had reached eight glasses a day. He described the entire framework of water consumption as a marketing tool that has been "very destructive to health."

He also cited a doctor referred to as Dr. Baton Angelich who publicly promoted the idea that the more water you drink, the thirstier you become because the body is waking up to its dehydration. Aajonus noted that this doctor died of dehydration from all the water he drank, using the case to illustrate that the vicious cycle of water creating thirst creating more water consumption is not a sign of increasing cellular hydration but of progressive cellular drying.

When a person drinks plain water, the H2O enters the digestive system without the ionic nutrient bonds necessary for cellular absorption. The body recognizes it cannot direct the water into the cells, so it routes most of it into the blood serum. The blood becomes diluted, and the kidneys work to remove the excess, producing light or clear urine. Meanwhile the water washes through every tissue and organ it contacts, dissolving nutrients along the way and leaching them out of the intestines and the endocrine system.

Because the cells never receive the water, they remain dry or become drier. The brain registers continued cellular thirst and signals the person to drink more. The person drinks more plain water, the cycle repeats, and over time the skin becomes dry and wrinkled, muscles become loose, joints begin drying out, and the person displays both water retention in the tissues (visible as puffiness and swelling) and simultaneously cellular dehydration. Aajonus described this paradox frequently: people who drink the most water have the driest skin and the largest water retention. The fluid is sitting outside the cells, dissolving tissues, while the cells themselves remain dehydrated.

He said that if urine runs clear, very few nutrients are reaching the cells, because clear urine indicates the water is carrying almost nothing nutritive and is being dumped by the kidneys without having served the cells. His own urine, he said, came out amber, or a deeper yellow when he was drinking significant quantities of vegetable juice, because his fluids carried concentrated nutrients.

The mechanism Aajonus described for cellular water absorption depends on what he called ionic bonding between the H2O molecule and the surrounding nutrient matrix. When a cell is ready to eat, it opens and tracks in a network of substances, potentially 80 to 117 nutrients in a single feeding event, including fats, proteins, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, all arriving together as an organized smorgasbord. The H2O is carried in with that structure. The cell receives everything it needs in one event.

When a person drinks plain water or eats salt, the organized nutrient network is disrupted. A grain of salt causes sodium molecules to clump into large, concentrated masses that require enormous amounts of water to dissolve, and that process of dissolution pulls water away from cellular nutrition and directs it toward managing the salt imbalance. The more salt consumed, the more water is needed; the more water consumed, the more salt and minerals are needed to process it; and the cycle compounds. A cell receiving only 23, 27, or 50 nutrients out of the 93 to 117 it requires becomes nutritionally starved even while surrounded by fluid.

He specified that only about 10 percent of plain water consumed is absorbed cellularly, and that 10 percent actually causes cellular dehydration rather than hydration, because it enters the cell without proper nutrient accompaniment and dilutes or disrupts what is there. Ninety percent of plain water circulates in the blood serum without being absorbed at all.

One of Aajonus's most consistently stated positions is that dry mouth, dry lips, dry skin, and the sensation of thirst are not signs of water deficiency but of fat deficiency. He used the term delipidated, meaning deficient in raw fats, to describe the actual state of the body in what people label dehydration.

The specific mechanism he gave for dry mouth involves the brain's use of fats to process and discharge mineral toxins. The brain stores the highest concentration of mineral toxins in the body, and it discharges those toxins outward through the gums, tongue, and oral mucosa. As the toxins pass through those tissues, the body uses all available fats in and around the oral region to bind with the toxins as they move through. The salivary glands participate in this cleansing process and dry out the mouth as a consequence. The result is cotton mouth, dry lips, and the sensation of needing to drink, none of which is water deficiency. The correct response is not water but fat applied directly: one tablespoon of unsalted raw butter with a small amount of unheated honey placed on the tongue, held in the mouth for five to ten minutes, will reverse dry mouth and dry lips by supplying the lipid substrate the oral tissues have spent on toxin binding.

He gave the same reasoning for facial wrinkling: the face wrinkles first and most severely in life because more toxins discharge through the face than anywhere else in the body, and the repeated expenditure of fats to manage that discharge gradually depletes the lipid cushioning of the facial tissues.

For dry skin elsewhere on the body, the same principle applies. The solution is raw fat applied topically and consumed in quantity, not increased water intake. He said directly: "You are dry, from not enough fat, not water."

Aajonus was explicit about his own water intake across multiple contexts to serve as a concrete reference point for what he considered appropriate.

During fall and winter, he said he drank no water at all, not a drop, from approximately November through April or May. During summer and spring, he drank at most a half a cup to a cup of water per week. In one formulation he described drinking approximately one cup of water per week without exercise. When physically very active, including hot tub sessions and intensive outdoor forestry work, he might increase to a cup and a half per week. On one occasion when he had no milk available and was very thirsty, he mixed water from his well with coconut cream, dairy cream, honey, lemon juice, and peeled blended cucumber, consuming about a cup and a half of that compound mixture over an extended period, specifically noting that when he drank about three quarters of a cup of plain water during the same episode, his mouth went completely dry and peeling.

He cited a martial arts master in New York City who consumed no water at all, taught and practiced eight hours of hard martial arts training within a twelve-hour period, and showed no signs of dehydration. He used this example, along with his own appearance and vitality, as evidence that the body's needs are fully met by the water in raw food.

He described his general seasonal pattern as: during fall and winter, no water; during summer and spring, a half cup to a cup per week. He said that during periods of heavy exercise or hot bath use, he relied on his sport drink formula rather than plain water for additional fluid needs.

A consistent and detailed instruction throughout all of Aajonus's discussions of fluid consumption is that gulping any liquid, including milk, vegetable juice, or even his sport drink, causes rapid cellular dehydration. When a large volume of fluid is swallowed quickly, the body identifies the sudden influx as excessive, separates the water from the nutrients, and routes the water to the kidneys for rapid discharge. The nutrients then have no H2O to carry to the cells, the cells are deprived of fluid, and the person becomes more thirsty after drinking than before.

His instruction was to sip, or more precisely to suck, fluids. He described his own practice as sucking fluids rather than drinking them, pulling the liquid slowly over the tongue and palate so that saliva and oral bacteria mix into the food before swallowing. The model he pointed to was an infant nursing: the sucking action draws saliva and bacteria into the milk, which begins the digestive process in the mouth and allows proper integration. He said he never drank more than two ounces at a time, and usually only an ounce at a time.

The practical guidance was to never take more than three tablespoons at once, and to repeat small sips every few minutes rather than drinking in quantity at intervals. He said that if a person waits until severely thirsty before drinking, they will gulp, and gulping guarantees dehydration regardless of what the fluid is. Sipping continuously throughout the day prevents severe thirst from building and keeps the body satisfied with far less total fluid volume.

He noted from personal experience in Thailand, a hot and humid tropical environment where he would normally have expected to drink much more, that sipping vegetable juice and milk throughout the day allowed him to consume significantly less total fluid than in previous visits when he had drunk more freely.

Aajonus used animal behavior as repeated evidence for his position that drinking substantial plain water is not a natural mammalian practice. He divided animals into categories based on their dietary and physiological relationship to water.

The camel and the elephant are the only two animals he said are physiologically designed to drink large amounts of water, and both have a dedicated storage pouch that isolates the water from their digestive system and releases it in small amounts, only a few ounces per hour. The camel can drink 25 gallons of water at a time and then go 23 to 30 days, or in some accounts up to 60 days, without water. The elephant can drink 55 gallons at a time and go 2 to 6 months without drinking again. These animals are not drinking for ongoing hydration in the way humans are taught to drink. They are storing water during brief access periods because their desert environments deny them regular access.

Birds drink water more regularly, but only because they eat large quantities of dry grain and need a solvent to process it. Most birds, he said, gargle water and spit some out. They are not drinking because their bodies require plain water independently of food.

Most other animals, including horses, do not drink substantial water. He described African communities who live outdoors in hot climates as not drinking water at all, saying "it's stupid to drink water because it just causes more dehydration," and instead pulling roots from the ground, grating them, and wringing the vegetable juice, consuming perhaps a half cup of vegetable juice for a day of travel across 100 to 120 miles in 120 to 140 degree desert heat.

He described an Aboriginal guide in the Australian outback who was accompanying two British people across several hundred miles in 126-degree heat. The guide drank no water. When the British people demanded water desperately, the guide eventually showed them how to extract water from the ground through a reed, but he himself still did not drink it. He only consumed grated and wrung vegetable juice. This example was used by Aajonus to demonstrate that water consumption in extreme heat is not only unnecessary for people adapted to raw food, it actively increases dehydration in those conditions.

Farm animals drink water primarily because they are fed dried hay and grain rather than fresh grasses, making them more like birds in that they need a solvent to process dehydrated food. Animals on fresh food do not seek water.

For situations requiring significant fluid replacement, including hot baths, intensive physical labor, athletic training, and hot weather when ample milk is unavailable, Aajonus developed a sport drink formula that he described as providing nutrient-bound H2O capable of proper cellular absorption.

He gave two versions. The original formula, which he said could be too acidic for some people, was not described in detail in these passages but was noted as being in his book. The updated formula he described in detail consists of: three quarters to one cup of tomato puree, three quarters to one cup of peeled cucumber puree, one to one and a quarter cups of something else (the source passage is cut off at that point), two tablespoons of honey, and two to four eggs. He also noted two to four ounces of naturally sparkling mineral water could be blended in. He described blending everything together and sipping the mixture, never gulping.

He also described a version built around three cups of watermelon along with other fruits, suggesting the sport drink in its full form involves multiple components. In one passage he referenced pouring the blended mixture into sparkling water and mixing with a finger rather than a blender, because the carbonation helps distribute the ingredients.

Another variation he described specifically for very thirsty situations without available milk consisted of water from his well combined with coconut cream, dairy cream, honey, lemon juice, and blended peeled cucumber. He drank this over a 24-hour period and said it prevented thirst completely.

For an alternative hydration drink during outdoor work or exercise, he described combining three cups of tomatoes with a half cup of lemon juice, two to three ounces of raw cream, a couple of tablespoons of coconut cream, and a couple of ounces of honey, blended together.

He also mentioned adding cucumber puree to vegetable juice as a way to lower the water percentage from 96 to 97 percent down to approximately 86 percent, making it more nutrient-dense and less likely to cause problems when consumed in quantity.

During hot bath sessions lasting six or seven hours, he said he went through sometimes three of these sport drinks in seven hours plus his usual two quarts of milk. He stated that one quart of the sport drink is the minimum for a 40-minute bath, and that half a quart is insufficient hydration for that duration.

When detailing daily fluid practice, Aajonus described a continuous alternation between different fluids taken in small amounts. The pattern he described was: sip of milk, sip of sport drink, sip of milk, piece of cheese, sip of sport drink, piece of cheese, sip of milk, repeated throughout the entire day. By never accumulating a large volume of fluid at once, the water in each sip travels with its nutrients to the cells rather than being routed to the kidneys.

He stated clearly that a person following this pattern would not look unusual or be constantly pulling out a water bottle, because the volumes are small and continuous rather than conspicuous. He described this pattern as preventing the thirst from building to the point where a person wants to gulp.

For tropical or highly physical environments, he described drinking the sport drink and milk alternately throughout the off periods of the day, intermittently sipping. He noted that in Thailand he found himself drinking much less total fluid than expected despite being in a hot, humid environment, attributing this to the efficiency of sipping nutrient-bound fluids rather than drinking water freely.

Aajonus addressed the question of whether water can be made more usable by combining it with other foods, rather than drinking it plain. He said that blending plain water with cottage cheese, adding a small amount of honey or fruit, can partially reconstitute the water into a form closer to food-bound H2O. He said this would not be 100 percent effective but would make the water more nourishing and less dehydrating than plain water, more like fresh food that would feed the cells rather than a dehydrated and rehydrated substance.

This is the principle underlying all of his hydration formulas: if water must be consumed, it should be combined with fat, protein, and sugars so that the ionic bonds are partially reconstructed and the water can carry some nutrient value to the cells.

He also noted that if grapefruit juice is used in a smoothie, adding eggs and cream to it will help make the water in the juice more usable as cellular fuel, though he still recommended not drinking it fast under any circumstances.

Aajonus was pointed in his critique of how hospitals and conventional medicine use the diagnosis of dehydration. He said that 90 percent of the time when a hospital says a patient is dehydrated, the patient is not water-deficient. The institution uses dehydration as a catch-all explanation for malabsorption of nutrients, which is a fundamentally different condition. The IV treatment given in those cases delivers sodium chloride and a form of sugar, which the body begins processing, temporarily shifting its attention away from whatever underlying problem caused the presentation. The patient seems to improve, but the original problem has only been displaced by introducing a new stress, not resolved.

He said that people who appear to need rehydration and are fed plain water in crisis conditions can go into severe cramping because the body is already dehydrated and nutrient-starved, and introducing water without nutrients causes the muscles to seize. He said water should not be given to someone who is truly dehydrated and that whey or nutrient-dense fluids would be the appropriate intervention instead.

He described the general pattern in which pharmaceutical and medical industry figures will see patients with water retention, swelling under the skin, and puffiness, and say they are dehydrating, when in fact the water is sitting outside the cells because it cannot be absorbed cellularly, and the cells themselves are dry. He characterized this as "absolute nonsense" and said the medical profession's standard response to this and most other conditions, when followed in reverse, would be correct 99 times out of 100.

Aajonus offered a reinterpretation of thirst as primarily a signal for lipids rather than water. He said that when cells are thirsty, what they are actually needing is fat, and that the body generates the sensation of thirst in response to fat deficiency in the cells. He noted that a person can drink two quarts of milk and still feel thirsty because the body cannot absorb even nutrient-rich fluid fast enough to meet an acute fat need, but that consuming raw butter or cream will address the sensation immediately.

He described cotton mouth and dry mouth specifically as the brain discharging toxins through the oral tissues and spending all available local fats in the process, leaving the mouth dry. This is not a signal to drink water but a signal to consume raw fat, specifically a tablespoon of unsalted raw butter with a dab of unheated honey, held in the mouth for five to ten minutes.

For general thirst, he said eating raw tomatoes and raw fat together satisfies thirst and dryness more effectively than any other food, including dry mouth. He also mentioned holding cold milk in the mouth when the brain needs cooling, rather than drinking cold water, because cold water chills the digestive tract and prevents proper nutrient absorption while failing to cool the brain, whereas holding cold milk in the mouth for a moment and then swallowing brings cooling directly to the brain through the palate.

He said the sensation many people have of needing more and more water throughout the day is simply the momentum of the water-dehydration cycle. Once a person begins drinking plain water regularly, the dehydrating effect creates ongoing cellular thirst, and each glass of water temporarily masks the thirst while worsening the underlying condition, creating the sense that the body needs even more water. Breaking the cycle requires stopping the plain water and transitioning entirely to nutrient-bound fluids, after which the sensation of chronic thirst diminishes.

He noted that people who consume cooked food, processed drinks, or plain water perspire approximately two quarts of water during the night, water that the body cannot replace cellularly because it was never cellularly absorbed in the first place. People who have been on the Primal Diet for several years, consuming raw meat, raw milk, and raw vegetable juices, reduce their nocturnal water evaporation to approximately two pints rather than two quarts. The reduction occurs because the body is no longer carrying large volumes of unabsorbable water in the blood serum that must be processed and discharged. The raw food person is retaining and using the water they consume, so less is lost at night.