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I used to abhor the dry and sticky feel on the roof of my palate
and tongue that was also characterized by a metallic taste which is nothing but
disgusting. Of course, it came with dry and cracked lips that I tried to ebb by
applying Arimis on them but reverted to Vaseline because I feel embarrassed
going to ask for that in a shop or is it a ‘livestock shop’ now that it is a
milking jelly. How does a guy in the city go to ask for Arimis? I cannot even
think about how to start asking for it. Ladies can easily buy it and they know
where to get the product. Beauty shops? The Arimis I applied was given to me by
a female friend while we used to work as salespeople. Me, I don’t know where
Arimis is found. So, I just enter a kiosk in the hood and ask for a small Vaseline
jelly. The blue one that is odourless. It’s perfect for parched lips, I swear.
This reminds me of the song ‘Napenda Vaseline’. Does it ring a
bell? It does not need an explanation. Because, when I was in high school, a
friend intimated about it and I was left perturbed because I failed to
comprehend what he was insinuating. Given that we never had internet on our
computers back then, I could not google to find the meaning of what the phrase
‘Vaseline’ meant. I guess he thought I was omniscient about such stuff, but I
was green and naïve about it. I let sleeping dogs lie and I guess the bugger
was also kind of disappointed and bewildered that I never knew what he was intimating. He was from
Nairobi, a cool place, and I was from Eldoret, a semi-rural town that has lost its
sheen over the years. I only got to know the meaning years later.
Anyway…..
I love the way cold water normally moves softly down my gullet,
stealing the wry tissue-layer coating the surface of my oesophagus every time I have a
burning sensation on my throat. Back then, I used to press a small glass rim
against my lips to quench my thirst. The fact that cold water has been branded
the efficient thief of heat and thirst in some quarters is not a fallacy but
the gospel truth. These days, I have changed my drinking régime. By drinking, I
am not insinuating the sipping of ale. No, I am talking about drinking water.
Only that it cannot be compared to drinking ale. With liquor, you can down more
bottles in one sitting without much ado. However, with water, I swear, it will
take you more than an effort to drink the same. Which is totally healthy if you
can manage to stretch yourself to drink water in quantity. Oh yes! The quality
also matters man.
So why water? Obviously, we all know that we need to take at least
eight cups of water in a day which we forego because it is not necessary. After
all, in our ‘parochial thoughts’, we think that drinking water is a thirst
thing as opposed to tendency even if you are not in need of it. I know that
drinking water you don’t need kills the thrill of why we drink water when we
become thirsty. Plus, water is tasteless. How do you just wake up and start
drinking water that you don’t need? You cannot stand it unless you train
yourself to be drinking it even when you don’t have the urge. Let me liken it
to peeing in as much as there is lots of correlation between the two. You only
pee when the bladder is full, otherwise, you may try to release or even force, but
nothing comes out. The same case applies to water among some people. You only
drink it when the throat indirectly says, ‘Hey, I need some water men.’
Basically, I have changed my indulgence in the way I drink water.
I remember reading that glugging water after eating had the effect of hampering
the stomach’s digestive powers and interfering with digestion especially if you
down more than a glass. And a macrobiotic expert even confessed that it can
lead to “acid reflux and heart burn” if you are drinking lots of water
immediately after a meal. I don’t subscribe to that school of thought. Me, I drink
water even after I have finished eating because that is what I grew up doing.
Nowadays, I drink water because I love drinking. I drink after a
meal, in between meals and the result has been phenomenal. There is a woman who
confessed that drinking three litres of water a day took ten years off her
skin. She was right. What she never said was that it also a diuretic (a
substance which promotes the production of urine). Read about her here.
My journey with water as opposed to hers has been one that is
erratic and lethargic. Sometimes I drink more water, sometimes I don’t. But the
other day, I noticed that cysts and zits had resurfaced on my visage in full
swing. Actually, they were starting to disappear, and I was loving it already.
Then, I looked at the mirror and saw some infected hair follicles on my beard and remembered that I had reneged on my word to at least be drinking two litres of
water in a day. So, before I started writing this article, I decided to drink a
litre just like that.
Drinking a litre of water in one swoop is bad for health. I know.
It was just a nice way to remind myself that I should be drinking water to
reduce on the dry and scaly skin that I have been having lately. Oh! I also aim
to kill the profusion of wrinkles and loss of lustre on my glistening dark
skin. All in all, my kidneys got a big relieve in the flush that helped rid my
skin of toxins looking at the bigger picture.
You see, drinking water has never made me feel this younger than I
imagined. My once shriveled lips are now fine and moist. Well, poor dehydration
made me have cheilitis and unending cysts which have reduced in frequency since
I started drinking water. The pores that were prominent have kind of become
less visible. Now I look better than the way an old friend told me that I had
aged. I bet the sagging skin is fading, and a jaw line developing. I still have
blotches, but I am thinking that they will be a thing of the past once I stick
to a good regimen which I have never because I normally leave the straight when
I just start something.
The best part is that the colour of urine also turns from dark, to
light yellow because of consuming mother nature's own clear liquid in apt
quantity. Again, the stench that emanates from the loo when unflushed subsides
because of the reduction in urea which is broken down into soluble substance by
the kidney when you hydrate the body. And when it comes to the skin, the
tightness on the surface palliates and a certain kind of radiance starts to
permeate on the epidermis. You start having a healthy, moist and
younger-looking complexion that is enviable. You don’t become flaky, parched
and rough like people of the same age as you.
PS. I never intentioned to write anything. But then, the gremlins in my
system told me to write something. Now I am writing about water, because water
is life, right. Well, I got a scholarship to advance my finance knowledge and
skills and the results have been quite remarkable. I had vowed to finish the
course but here I am writing, call me a digresser. Men, writing is addictive
and fun. Especially when you have no limitations. But I will complete the
course someday. And when I do, I will write about it.
Hasta La Vista Baby.
[Photo Source: Pixabay.com]
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