The very idea of a "minimal water requirement” is a notion from 1945 published by the British Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences. They came up with – without a single bit of evidence – the spurious quantity "2,500 mL [2.5 liter, 10 cups] of fluid” that everyone should ingest daily. [1]

Let’s try it out and calculate the water in a typical day’s meals. The weight and percentage of water in each of the following foods is from the very comprehensive USDA’s Nutritive Value PDF: https://tinyurl.com/USDAARSNutripdf. [3]
​

If you eat this menu in a day, you’ve already consumed 4.68 cups of water; you only need to drink 3.32 more cups to reach the “required” amount of water recommended by all the idiot diet gurus. Of course, no real scientists suggest that anymore. They are more likely to suggest that you listen to your own body.

Our bodies give us plenty of information about hydration. It’s called thirst. When I feel thirsty, I drink.

Admittedly, keeping a bottle of water handy to sip from can prevent the mindless noshing that puts weight on; thirst can sometimes masquerade as hunger. And if you’re physically working or playing hard or if you’re out in the sun, you’re going to need a little more.

​But nobody needs 8-10 glasses of water a day.

​

OK, I’m gonna get this out of the way early:
I don’t care whether people wish me a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or Happy Heidentag (a holiday made up by my daughter and I – loosely translated to ‘Heathen’s Day.’) It’s a nice thought and I always reciprocate in kind.
BUT…
Like it or not, there are several cultural/religious celebrations around that time. Hanukkah begins on November 29th in 2021 - it's early this year.  Most Americans know this and enjoy seeing the different traditions for celebrating different holidays. Christmas trees and Hanukkah candles are pretty, the principles behind Kwanzaa are ones to which we should all aspire – look ’em up . And Christmas music is enjoyable, well… until you’ve heard the same song 7 times a day for two months.
So, wishing people a happy time, no matter which holiday they celebrate, is just more ACCURATE. It’s not a matter of being “politically correct” (I f***ing HATE that term! It basically means “I don’t give a sh*t about your feelings, my feelings and beliefs are more important than yours!”)
“Happy Holidays” is just FACTUALLY CORRECT!

That's right, I and anyone else who is fully vaccinated could still be carrying the virus. According to the CDC, "For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:

• Take precautions in public like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing
• Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
• Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households."

So, when I am at a grocery store, a restaurant, or anywhere with people I don't live with I'm gonna keep wearing a mask. You should be happy about that: I'm less likely to infect you or to collect virus bits that I could then 'shed' on you.

REFERENCES
​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 8, 2021.   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html#anchor_1615143393075.

​​

"...he had to find 10 eligible people for its remaining doses before the precious medicine expired. In six hours...Scrambling, the doctor made house calls and directed people to his home outside Houston. Some were acquaintances; others, strangers. A bed-bound nonagenarian. A woman in her 80s with dementia. A mother with a child who uses a ventilator. After midnight, and with just minutes before the vaccine became unusable, the doctor, Hasan Gokal, gave the last dose to his wife, who has a pulmonary disease that leaves her short of breath.
For his actions, Dr. Gokal was fired from his government job and then charged with stealing 10 vaccine doses worth a total of $135 — a shun-worthy misdemeanor that sent his name and mug shot rocketing around the globe.
“It was my world coming down,” Dr. Gokal said..."

That's right: he was fired from a job that paid less than what had been making and charged for "stealing" the vaccine! 

I was stunned when I read the article. Read the whole article here: 
​https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/us/houston-doctor-fired-covid-vaccine.html#commentsContainer

I wrote a letter to the Acting Executive Director of the Harris County Health Department and faxed it to her. Fax # 713.439.6080

There is no email contact given. I posted the text of the letter on their Facebook page: ​https://www.facebook.com/HarrisCountyPublicHealth

​Here's the letter. You're welcome to copy, personalize the letter and fax and post it. Send them something! Let's try and get this doc re-hired.

​Gwen Sims, Med, RD, LD
Interim Executive Director
Harris County Public Health
Office of the Executive Director
2223 West Loop South
Houston, TX 77027
 
Re: The dismissal of Hasan Gokal, M.D.
 
February 4, 2021
 
Dear Director Sims:
 
Thank you for what must be hard work in dealing with this pandemic, but I believe you have made a serious error in the dismissal of Hasan Gokal, M.D. Firing this doctor because he vaccinated 10 deserving patients to prevent the loss of precious COVID vaccine was simply wrong. It was irresponsible of your organization in the face of this pandemic. The fact that Dr. Gokal is from Pakistan makes his dismissal sound a lot like racism.
 
From the New York Times article published on the web, it appears that such an issue had no precedent in your organization. If you do not have protocols in place to deal with incidents of this sort you must create such conventions.
 
I urge you to reinstate Dr. Gokal. 

I use FaxZero to send free faxes: ​https://faxzero.com/