“YOUR BODY IS THIRSTY” by Judge Jim Gray

“YOUR BODY IS THIRSTY” by Judge Jim Gray 02/19/08

In my travels I have been blessed to meet and become friends with numbers of interesting, dedicated and community-minded people. One of them is a man named Bob Butts from Moosic, Pennsylvania. For a long time now Bob has been talking as publicly as possible about what he calls “The Water Cure.” What he says makes sense to me, and since he has both medical and anecdotal support for his position, I thought I would pass his information on to you.


It all started with Dr. Fereydoon Batamanghelidj, MD, who was scheduled to be executed by the government of the Ayatollah Khomeni after the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979. During the time he was in prison, “Dr. B” found that numbers of his fellow prisoners were suffering from ulcers. He had no resources to use to help them, so he treated them by having them simply drink water. And, surprisingly enough, he was able to cure every one of over 3,000 of these people with that approach. In addition, he found that he was also able successfully to treat numbers of his fellow prisoners of severe depression by having them drink water as well.


  When the time came for his trial, he presented his findings to the court. The judge was impressed sufficiently with the information to recess the trial for two weeks to investigate it. When the trial reconvened, the judge stated that Dr. B’s statements had been accurate and that he had indeed made a tremendous discovery. So with that finding, Dr. B was released from custody.


  After he was freed, Dr. B was able to escape to Turkey, and he eventually came to this country, where he pursued the research on his findings at the University of Pennsylvania. Eventually he published a highly acclaimed book entitled “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water,” which today is available online or through virtually any bookstore.  


  Some of Dr. B’s findings are that the fundamental cause of about two-thirds of the health problems of human beings is de-hydration, or a deficiency of water and salt. But when this problem is corrected, many so-called incurable illnesses are either cured or the patients are greatly improved.  


The remedy Dr. B proposes is to drink one-half of your body weight of water in fluid ounces each day. For example, a 160-pound person should drink 80 fluid ounces of water daily, or eight 10-ounce glasses, plus ¼ of a teaspoon of unprocessed sea salt for every quart of water one drinks. But do not use table salt because it only usually has about three minerals in it, while the best sea salts contain all minerals. In addition, everyone should eat a banana or two each day for potassium and take some magnesium, calcium and zinc to maximize one’s immune systems.


But caffeinated and alcoholic drinks should be avoided because they are diuretics that will de-hydrate you by taking more water out of your body than is contained in the drinks themselves. That explains why after having some coffee or alcohol you get the feeling that they simply go through you. Therefore each 6 ounces of caffeine or alcohol requires an additional 10 to 12 ounces of water. The same is true for sugar-based drinks.


So why don’t you join me and take your own survey of the people you know who are in poor health, and ask them how much caffeine and alcohol they consume, on the one hand, and how much water and unprocessed sea salt on the other. I’ll bet I know how your survey will come out.


  But why do we need to take salt in addition to water? Because without adequate salt intake our bodies will not retain enough water to allow them to function properly. In fact, no metabolic process can take place properly in the body without enough salt. Even Hippocrates, the Greek physician in 400 BCE, the father of medicine and the namesake of the Hippocratic Oath, knew of the medical benefits of salt and water for the human body. Think of it this way, most of the time when we are hospitalized we are promptly re-hydrated by being given a “saline i.v.” And what is that? Nothing but salt and water.  


So what are the results of this program? Some of the most effective results that have been documented are on asthma, allergies, chronic fatigue, depression, arthritis, anxiety, obesity, Multiple Sclerosis (or MS), cancer, and Lupus. In addition, Dr. B also found that just by adding unprocessed sea salt to the water and food of our pet animals we can cure their arthritis!


Why does the water cure work? Well, every single cell of our body functions on salt and water. So how does this treatment cure things like high blood pressure? According to Dr. B, high blood pressure is primarily caused by de-hydration, which results in the body trying to increase the pressure in order to furnish enough blood, which is about 94 percent water, to the cells. So greater water in the body will cause a natural reduction in pressure. Heart disease presents a similar situation.


Similarly, high cholesterol is the result of a de-hydrated body needing more cholesterol so that it can seal water inside the cells to minimize the loss of water. An increase in water in the body then naturally decreases the need for that cholesterol to be formed.  


Multiple sclerosis is the hardening of the nerve tissues in the body. So since nerve tissues are 85 percent water, re-hydrating the body will naturally alleviate that condition as well.  


Asthma is the easiest issue to address, according to Bob Butts and Dr. B. In these cases the brain deliberately constricts the bronchial passages in a de-hydrated body in order to prevent the loss of water. But an adult having this problem can alleviate it within a few minutes by drinking only two glasses of water, while at the same time putting a pinch of salt on the tongue.


Bob Butts was so confident that the water cure would cure asthma in children that with great public fanfare he offered $50,000 to anyone who could prove that a child had faithfully tried the water cure without success. And according to him, no one came forward to claim the prize. To the contrary, Northeastern Pennsylvania has thereafter experienced a run of testimonials and television news specials about numbers of success stories. In fact, even Paul Harvey has done at least three radio shows or newspaper stories on Dr. B and the Water Cure.


So why is the Water Cure not being used enthusiastically around our country and the world? On this subject, Bob Butts turns cynical. He says that the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals is a multi-billion dollar a year business, and if people learn that their maladies can be cured simply by the intake of water and sea salt, many pharmaceutical companies and surgeons will lose lots of money. So they are trying to suppress the news of the success of the Water Cure.


  I do not have personal information about this, and this is certainly not my field. But any time I think about a proposed remedy the first question I ask myself is whether there is any likelihood that the proposal will actually result in any harm. In this case, the answer virtually has to be no. So I am now drinking my 95 ounces of water a day, and trying to remember to take my sea salt as well. Why not? It can’t hurt. And when you think about it, the Water Cure makes a lot of sense.  


Bob Butts has a website atwww.watercure2.org

James P. Gray is a Judge of the Superior Court in California, the author of Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It - A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs (Temple University Press, 2001) and Wearing The Robe - The Art And Responsibilities of Judging In Today's Courts, has a blog at http://judgejamesgray.blogspot.com/. http://www.judgejimgray.com, and can be contacted at www.judgejimgray.com.