Question:
My BUN and Creatinine levels were elevated the last time I went for acheck-up and the doc was worried about kidney failure until I told him I wasdrinking way too many diet colas and not enough water, so I wanna know ifit's okay if I drink Perrier or something with some fizz to it and let thatbe my 6-8 glasses of water a day?

Answer: Granted, water is a good thing to drink -- it has no calories. A lot ofpeople, especially overweight people, often mistake thirst for hunger,and need to drink more to get that straightened out. Proper hydration isgood for your body. Water without various artificial flavors and otheredible chemicals is bound to be slightly healthier than diet soft drinks.

But me, I don't subscribe to the water purist theory. But neither do agreat deal of people who think they do. According to very many posts,an awful lot of people believe that all these store brands of non-coloreddiet soda are "just water," even though they differ from other diet sodaonly by the lack of a drop or two of coloring.

The notion that water is good because it "doesn't have to be processed"is silly. Once you swallow it, it's mixed with saliva, stomach acids,everything you ate, and shortly thereafter, bile and pancreatic juices(and probably other digestive fluids I've forgotten). You body doesn'tmiraculously separate "pure water" from the rest of your digestivecontents.