Water Week Part 1 - Water: The Secrets And The Science - Save Our Bones

Water is a fundamental and fascinating substance. The word “water” conjures up different images for different people, from ocean scenes to glasses of clear ice water and everything in between. Some people look at water with revulsion, and can't imagine drinking a big glass of it. Others relish drinking water, and sometimes flavor it with lemon or drink powders. But no matter how you take it (and some ways are much better than others), you have to have it.

Now science has gotten in on the act, telling us how important it is to drink 8 to 10 glasses a day. Where did that measurement come from, anyway? No one really knows! It’s an odd blurring of science and myth. Eight to 10 glasses a day may be too much for some people, and not enough for others. And why do some experts say you need distilled water, while others point to the importance of mineral-rich spring water? And what are all those other variously-labeled jugs on store shelves? There is a lot of conflicting information out there about water, a substance that seems so simple on the surface but is actually quite complex. All water is not the same.

Did You Know…

Water is anything but boring. Here are some fun and fascinating facts about this ubiquitous substance.

  • Drinking water helps heartburn by diluting your stomach acid.
  • Some types of headaches can be relieved by drinking water.
  • Newborn babies are about 80% water, whereas adults are around 70% (any parent who has changed diapers all night can relate to just how much water is in a baby!).
  • Most healthy, average-weight people can drink up to 3 gallons of water a day without any ill effects.
  • There is such a thing as water poisoning, although it’s very rare – forcing yourself to drink too much water too fast (such as in a water-drinking contest) can result in hyponatremia, which is when your electrolyte balance gets thrown off and your cells swell with water. When brain cells swell, hyponatremia can be fatal.
  • Your body gets water from many of the foods you eat, especially fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • Water is a “universal solvent,” meaning it dissolves just about anything eventually. This means that water is nearly always carrying something along with it.
  • Earth’s atmosphere keeps water from escaping, so the same water that was around millions of years ago is still here. Talk about recycling!
  • The earth is composed of about 75% water (much like our bodies!), and of that water, approximately 97% is salt water.
  • Only about 1% of the world’s entire water supply is drinkable.
  • In 1832, the first municipal water filtration system opened in Paisley, Scotland.
  • Forty years later, in 1872, the first water filtration plant was built in Poughkeepsie, New York.
  • The earth’s total water mass is 326 million cubic miles.
  • In the United States, people use about 90 gallons of water each per day…much of this use is from flushing the toilet.
  • Water is fun, interesting, and everyone can relate to its use. Whether we lack it or enjoy an abundance of it, we’ve all experienced water.

Water in Literature

In various literary works throughout history, water has factored prominently. “Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink,” cries the desperate Mariner in Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Certainly this literary character understood only too well that not all water is the same!

Water has symbolic meaning in some literature. Ancient legends tell of the Fountain of Youth; the River Styx is a passage to the underworld in Greek mythology; The Epic of Gilgamesh tells of an enormous flood not unlike the one described in the Bible. Water serves as an archetype in some works, representing purity or a quest for it (remember Macbeth's wife washing her hands over and over in water, trying to remove the stain of murder?).

Water runs through the world of books and poems and other forms of literature precisely because it is such a vital component of our being. Every reader can relate to water because water – and the need for it – are universal. Next time you read a classic work, pay attention to the use of water in the text.

When you think about it, water is the common thread that unites all life. Every living being needs it, without exception.

Giver of Life…and Death

There’s no denying that great irony of water – it gives life, but it also causes death. Floods can wipe out entire communities, tsunamis and tidal waves can cause widespread death and destruction, and drinking dirty water can cause deadly diseases and parasites. Another ironic twist to water’s story: modern tap water – the “clean water” of developed countries – can also cause disease and ill health.

As I wrote in the Osteoporosis Hydration Protocol, various inorganic materials are added to tap water (and some bottled waters). Probably the best-known of these inorganic elements is fluoride. Fluoride ingestion has been linked to hip fractures and kidney and liver damage in children. Combined with aluminum, which is also often added to municipal water systems to clarify it, fluoride may cause Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. In fact, more than 80 references link fluoride with cancer, including a 1990 study by the National Cancer Institute Toxicology Program that found fluoride to be a carcinogen.

It’s also worth pointing out that fluoride is not removed when tap water is run through a typical charcoal filter system.

And let’s not forget chlorine, that swimming-pool chemical with the distinctive smell. Remember what it does to your hair and eyes when you spend long summer days in the pool? Chlorine is at the least an irritant – hence the red eyes that come with swimming in a chlorinated pool, and the skin irritation associated with using chlorine bleach in the home without wearing gloves. Chlorine reacts with organic elements already present in water to create a host of new (and toxic) chemicals. These are called disinfection byproducts, or DBPs, and they are not bone-friendly! DBPs acidify your body, as do the medication residues found in many municipal water systems. Drinking tap water can be detrimental to your health on many levels.

On an extreme scale, water saturated with minerals can be almost immediately deadly. An example of this would be sea water, or salt water.

It’s the same way with fresh water. It may also contain all kinds of toxic elements as discussed above as well as minerals, either added in by human beings or occurring naturally in spring and well water. As I said in my report, the Osteoporosis Hydration Protocol, “If our drinking water would only be H2O, I wouldn’t be writing this report.”

In addition to all the DBPs and residue from medications and pesticides, the presence of inorganic minerals in water is of particular concern. Lacking an ionic bond that allows the body to break them down and use them, inorganic minerals end up accumulating in the body since they can’t be processed.

Think about it – if water is essential to life, and it’s fundamental for our survival, and our bodies are at least 70% water…then anything added to that water would affect us on a fundamental level. In fact, some say that water is affected by the energies we add to it as well.

Does Water Respond?

Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto has presented some intriguing evidence as to the way water “responds” to negative and positive energy and vibration. His method is to freeze water and study the structure of the frozen water crystals, and his findings have been fascinating. For example, polluted water produces no recognizable crystal structure when frozen. A frozen, untreated, polluted water sample from a dam in Japan produced a blob-like shape with no pattern or symmetry. But after the same water was prayed over for an hour by a Buddhist priest, the water produced beautiful crystal shapes when frozen.

Emoto studies the effects of positive and negative words and energy on water as well. When exposed to heavy metal music, for instance, distilled water produces odd, non-crystalline, “chaotic” shapes. But when positive words are spoken over water or even printed words taped to the side of a bottle of distilled water, the crystals form in lovely, distinctive shapes. Negative phrases induce the blobby, chaotic shapes found in polluted water. Perhaps even more intriguing is the similarity between the odd crystal shapes produced when distilled water was exposed to the negative phrase “you fool,” and when it was exposed to heavy metal music. Emoto conjectured that perhaps heavy metal musicians think of others as fools.

All this may sound like mumbo-jumbo, and while some dismiss Emoto's findings because his studies were not performed in a double-blind fashion, it is certainly food (and drink!) for thought. After all, if water does indeed “respond” to energies in its environment, what does that say about how our bodies, which are mostly water, may respond to energies in our environment?

Does Water Remember?

Water is not a living substance, of course. But as Emoto’s research pointed out, it does seem to absorb and react to outside forces. You can see this in the way water is so easily poured out, squirted, tossed, frozen, converted to steam, and so forth. But does water react on a molecular level that’s too subtle and microscopic for us to see? Does water’s obvious ability to change shape, direction and form when acted upon by environmental factors such as wind, cold and heat have a counterpart in the molecular realm? Perhaps water’s ability to change shape and form is an indication of how it acts microscopically.

Practitioners of homeopathy believe so. Homeopathic remedies do not contain any discernible molecule of the original substance put into it – they are diluted down by a specific process so that there is no measurable substance remaining. For example, arnica flower, a popular homeopathic remedy for swelling and inflammation, does not contain any actual arnica. But the water itself is said to retain a “memory” of the arnica, so that it triggers the body’s own anti-inflammatory response.

There’s no doubt that homeopathy is controversial. Scientists seem frustrated that they cannot pin down a specific mechanism by which homeopathic remedies produce their healing effects. But the fact that homeopathy continues to produce sometimes astounding results cannot be denied. In fact, the Swiss government has officially recognized the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies in a report released in 2011, and has embraced the practice of homeopathy as a cost-effective and viable medical treatment for its citizens. In this report, researchers verified the ability of homeopathic remedies to enact change on a cellular level.

Some doctors and even studies ascribe homeopathy’s apparent (and undeniable) effectiveness to the “placebo effect.” But wouldn’t that simply be the effect homeopathy is intended to produce? Remember Emoto and his research on water, and the homeopathic philosophy of the memory of water. The placebo effect relies on patient expectations and beliefs to be effective, and that would make absolute sense for a water-based remedy!

In other words, the placebo effect is a real effect that has been shown in all kinds of studies (that’s why scientists use the phrase with such alacrity). But for some reason, the medical community chalks this sort of response by the body as invalid.

But my question is, if the body heals as a result of a homeopathic treatment, how is that an invalid response? It’s not invalid if your body experiences healing!

The good thing about homeopathic remedies is that they are quite safe, so if the controversy remains unresolved, people are unlikely to be harmed by experimentation with them.

A Little is a Lot

One of the things you’re probably beginning to see is the way water can be changed significantly by very tiny amounts of material and energy. It doesn’t take much to cause a change in basic H2O; after all, adding just one more oxygen molecule to that formula gives you hydrogen peroxide, an entirely different substance! So let’s apply that concept to the toxins found in so many municipal water systems.

In a 5-year investigative study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), tap water from more than 39,000 U.S. communities was analyzed and found to contain 260 contaminants. Included in the toxic chemicals were industrial and agricultural pollutants. Consider this information in light of the concept of water memory (homeopathy), or water response (Emoto). The FDA regulates the amount of harmful substances allowed in drinking water to so many parts per million. At a certain dilution, the FDA considers even poisons like arsenic to be at a “harmless” level as long as it is diluted enough. But as we have seen, there may be no such thing as a “harmless” amount of a harmful substance in water.

Practical Application

So all of this philosophy and analysis come down to some very basic truths. You need to drink water, and it needs to be pure. It’s that simple. But questions remain: How does one come by truly pure water? How much are you supposed to drink, and how do you know if you’re getting enough? What does it do for your body?

Health Benefits of Drinking Water

Let’s begin with a frank discussion of why drinking pure water is healthy.

Your body is set up to work on a “water level,” so to speak. Because so much of your body is composed of water, it is involved in most body processes. It is necessary for delivering nutrients into cells, such as water-soluble vitamins. Organs and body systems benefit from drinking water, such as…

Kidneys

Your kidneys are the superstars of water regulation, automatically decreasing or increasing the amount of urine you produce according to the amount of water you’ve drunk and other factors. It’s important to recognize something here – if the kidneys are so fine-tuned as to regulate your body’s water levels, then keeping those levels in balance must be crucial to health. Otherwise, our bodies would not have that mechanism in place.

If you’ve ever suffered from a kidney stone, you know how excruciating they can be. There are four basic types of kidney stones:

Calcium stones

These kidney stones are formed from calcium as it passes through the kidney. It’s passing through the kidney because it did not get used by the bones and muscles, which is all the more reason to be sure you take a calcium supplement that is bioavailable. This means it’s absorbed where it is supposed to be absorbed, and is less likely to end up in the kidneys being filtered as a waste product.

Magnesium or Struvite stones

Like calcium, the kidneys filter out magnesium that is not used elsewhere in the body. Struvite stones are formed from magnesium and ammonia together, and tend to follow a urinary tract infection.

Uric acid stones

Highly acidic urine may form uric acid stones, not unlike the process of gout, where uric acid crystals accumulate in the joints (usually the big toe). The Osteoporosis Reversal Program goes to great lengths to explain the acid-forming characteristics of various foods, and how to balance them with alkaline foods.

Cystine stones

These are pretty rare, and are usually the result of heredity. Cystine is a fundamental protein that acts as a building block for muscle and nerve tissue. In some people, this important substance builds up in the kidneys to produce stones.

Drinking plenty of water helps the kidneys do their job, flushing out waste products and helping them move out of the body before they can accumulate and form a stone.

Skin

While we tend to slather moisturizers on our skin when it’s dry or wrinkled, we sometimes forget what the intentions of those moisturizers really are: to provide water to the skin and prevent the skin from losing water. They act as a moisture barrier, protecting the skin from the air’s drying effects. But what about hydrating the skin from the inside-out? After all, as we’ll discuss in more detail below, one of the symptoms of dehydration is dry skin. In severe dehydration, the skin lacks elasticity and does not bounce back after being pinched up. Thus, we can conclude that your water intake affects your skin. Drinking plenty of water can help skin’s elasticity and may even help with clearing up acne.

Remember that your skin is an elimination organ. It helps remove toxins from your body by sweating, and if there’s not enough moisture to produce sufficient sweat, metabolic waste may accumulate in the liver. Interestingly, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, acne is considered a sign of a congested liver. Drinking water helps your skin do its job of toxin elimination, so your liver doesn’t get dumped on.

When it comes to dry skin, remember that the ultimate moisturizer is not an oil of any kind – the oils simply act as a moisture barrier to provide your skin with what it really needs: water.

Heart

An interesting study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed a correlation between water intake and fatal coronary heart disease. Those participants who drank more than 3 glasses of water a day were less likely to suffer a fatal heart attack than those who drank only 2 to 3 glasses of water a day. What’s more, the researchers discovered that the risk of cardiovascular disease was increased in those participants who drank fluids other than water. The researchers conjectured that this may be due to multiple factors, particularly the diuretic effect of caffeinated drinks that could raise blood viscosity (thickness).1 Once again, water is the drink!

Another point to be made here is the possible connection between drinking “hard” water from the tap and an increase in the risk of heart disease. Researchers compared approximately 30 epidemiological studies from around the world that were published between 1957 to 2000, and discovered a link between the rate of cardiovascular disease and the hardness of the drinking water.2 Hard water is full of inorganic minerals such as lime, magnesium, and calcium that accumulate in the cardiovascular system, forming plaques.

Liver

The first four letters of the word “liver” indicate its importance to your life! The liver and kidneys work together to keep things balanced, and when water intake drops to the point of dehydration, the kidneys can no longer function. That’s when the liver steps in. Because this is the body’s “emergency back-up,” the liver has to stop or decrease some of its other important functions to help with the lack of water. This means it won’t metabolize fat properly, and will retain water in your tissues for later use. This slowing down of the liver’s function means your whole body’s metabolism slows down. It’s the body’s conservation and survival system, but it’s bad news for your health if it is chronic. Drinking plenty of water helps the kidneys to their job, thus freeing up the liver to do its job without having to take over for the kidneys.

Consider this information in light of losing weight. We could help our bodies to get out of conservation and survival mode by drinking more water.

Immunity

Your immune system also benefits from drinking pure water. As discussed above, water helps the body get rid of toxins via the kidneys, skin, and liver. This is one of the first steps toward a healthy immune system – elimination of toxins. But water also helps immunity in a more direct way. For example, your lymphatic system is dependent on water to produce its miracle fluid, lymph. Lymph carries white blood cells from your thymus and bone marrow, and circulates them throughout your body. Lymph carries water and nutrients to and through the blood as well. This vital fluid depends on water for its formation.

Drinking water also helps keep your digestive system in good shape, and your digestive system plays a significant role in your immune response. Speaking of digestion…

The Digestive System

If you’ve ever been dehydrated or gone for a long time without drinking, then you know the effect it can have on your bowels. When you don’t get enough water, your intestines hold on to waste, making it difficult for you to pass. Drinking plenty of water helps dissolve soluble fiber and increase the volume of waste matter, which stimulates the colon to contract. Constipation is just one of the digestive problems that water can help correct.

As noted above, heartburn can be relieved by drinking water. Also, if you experience the opposite of constipation – diarrhea – then extra water intake is crucial to replace what has been lost.

The Skeletal System – Your Bones

As I wrote in the Osteoporosis Hydration Protocol, drinking distilled water creates an alkaline environment in the body. This is one of the major keys toward promoting bone health. And water, since it is involved in all cellular processes, assists the bone loss/rebuilding cycle. Water is necessary to carry calcium, magnesium, and other bone-building nutrients to where they’re needed: your skeleton. Toxin build-up in any system is bad news, and in the bones it can result in inflammatory conditions and bone degeneration. Drinking water helps flush toxins from the body, including the bones.

When it comes to bone health, drinking water that’s pure is of particular importance. The inorganic minerals found in most tap water – particularly fluoride – can be detrimental to bones.

Energy

While it’s not a body system, your energy levels can be negatively affected by insufficient water intake. The principle is simple: if your body is functioning properly, you feel better. Drinking water helps promote the proper functioning of all body systems, so it stands to reason that drinking water helps your energy levels.

Dehydration makes you very tired, and as we discussed above regarding the liver, your whole metabolism slows down when you experience a lack of water. Drinking a big glass of water in the afternoon might be just the thing to perk you up!

When a Little is Not Enough

We’ve seen how a little can be a lot…but sometimes, a little is not enough. That brings us to the subject of dehydration.

Symptoms of Dehydration

One of the things we’ll discuss is how much water you need to drink, and a major point is that it varies from individual to individual. Therefore, knowing the signs that your body needs water is one of the keys to getting enough. It’s important to note that you don’t have to experience all of these symptoms to be dehydrated; you may only experience one or two, and thirst may not be one of them! If you learn to listen to your body’s thirst signals, you’re well on your way to consuming the right amount of water for you.

Signs of dehydration:

  • Headache
  • Dry mouth
  • Constipation
  • Feeling lightheaded or dizzy
  • Thirst
  • Fatigue
  • Decreased urine output; dark, scanty urine (watch for this in babies and children)

More extreme dehydration may produce the following symptoms:

  • Extreme thirst
  • Lack of sweat
  • Crying without tears (especially notable in babies)
  • Loose, shriveled skin that holds its shape when pinched
  • Very dark urine
  • Sunken eyes
  • Fever
  • Low blood pressure
  • Unconsciousness

These symptoms are just a guide. You might have only a headache and wonder why, only to find that it goes away when you drink plenty of pure water. Or you may find that drinking water relieves fatigue and “brain fog.” Another possible effect of dehydration is depression.

Feeling Sad About Your Lack of Water?

We’ve discussed how your body is about 70% water, but did you know your brain tissue is about 85% water? This explains, in part, why headaches are a symptom of dehydration. Your brain needs water, too.

Your brain is where emotional responses and reactions are generated. And it stands to reason that water is as essential to proper brain functioning as it is for every other body system. Neurotransmitters need water to do their jobs, and in fact, a lack of water may indirectly decrease serotonin. Depression is often linked to low serotonin levels, and without water, the essential amino acid tryptophan cannot be properly converted into serotonin. This is because dehydration prevents tryptophan from getting past the blood-brain barrier and into the brain where it belongs. Also, in a state of dehydration, the liver uses tryptophan as an antioxidant to detoxify the body when there is not enough water to do the job. If the liver is using it, that’s less tryptophan for the brain.

Depression has been connected to stress as well. The more stressed you are, the more vulnerable you are to depression. When you are dehydrated, your body is undergoing quite a bit of stress, and that stress may produce symptoms of depression. De-stress with plenty of water!

Of course, to get all the true benefits of drinking water, it must be pure H2O. If tap water is full of dubious substances, bottled water is just as suspect, and typical faucet and pitcher filters do not filter out all the harmful materials, how does one get pure water? Remember that you get water from foods you eat, so when you consume fresh fruits and vegetables and even meat, you are obtaining moisture from that food. But when you drink water between meals, what’s best?

Distilled Water – Pure H2O

The purest form of water is distilled water, or as a second choice, water that’s been purified via reverse osmosis. I always recommend adding a few drops of fresh lemon juice to your glass of water – the flavor it imparts isn’t really enough to give it a sour or lemony taste, but it does make the water taste more refreshing and promotes alkalinity (yes, lemons are alkaline foods!).

How Much is Enough?

Now that we know what kind of water is best, it’s only natural to wonder how much of it we should drink. Chances are you’ve heard the adage, “Everyone should drink 8 glasses of water a day.” But this hardly takes individual needs and variations into account. For example, if you’ve spent the day indoors eating a lot of hydrating foods with your meals, you are going to need fewer glasses of water than, for example, a pregnant woman who is outside walking on a hot day. Just drinking when you are thirsty is not always practical, either; as we saw above, thirst can be a sign of dehydration.

The Osteoporosis Reversal Program is always about balance, and that is true for water consumption, too. Forcing yourself to drink massive amounts of water is not a good idea, and neither is neglecting to bring water along while running errands or spending time outdoors.

As a general guideline, consuming half your body weight in ounces of water is a good goal. That would mean that a 150-pound adult would aim for 75 ounces of water daily. Of course, it’s a good idea to vary this amount according to activity level, overall fitness, watery food consumption, and lifestyle. Again, a general guideline is to vary this amount by 20% less or more water depending on various factors. And of course, any time you feel thirsty, by all means, drink! But hopefully, drinking pure water will become second-nature so that you won’t feel thirsty.

Getting into the Habit

Making water-drinking a habit can be a bit of a challenge at first. If you are not used to drinking water regularly, it can be hard to remember to drink it during the day. Here are some tips to help you reach your water consumption goals during the day.

Set an alarm or timer for every hour to help you remember. If you’re out and about, you can use your digital watch or online calendar (if you have a mobile device). At home, you can use a kitchen timer or your computer’s calendar with pop-up reminders.

Make a list each day with a box you can check for each glass of water you drink. To reduce paper waste, you might want to print such a list and laminate it, so you can use a dry-erase marker and wipe it clean at the end of the day. Or just write the list on a dry-erase board daily.

Leave notes to yourself on your water pitcher, kitchen counter, or anywhere that you see often throughout the day.

Substitute water for other beverages. Make changes slowly if this is hard for you – maybe swap out one soda a day for a glass of water if you’re used to drinking nothing but soda. Then make it two, then three, and so forth. Or try drinking hot water with lemon juice and honey or stevia instead of tea. Make it a challenge to see how many ways you can substitute water for other beverages. If you’re at a party, who will suspect that your tumbler of clear, iced liquid with a lemon wedge is actually just distilled ice water?

Use glasses and cups that you really like – get out the fine china and crystal if you wish – to help inspire you. It may sound silly, but sometimes it’s a fun motivation to drink more water when you get to use your great-grandmother’s crystal that never gets used! Or buy yourself a special glass that really reflects your personal taste.

Keep your water handy so you don’t have to go through a lot of rigmarole to get your daily drinks.

There you have it. Water holds many secrets to wellness, yet it’s one of the simplest substances on earth. It’s been unnecessarily complicated, so I hope this article has helped you clarify and simplify your water drinking habits.

Let me know your thoughts about water by leaving a comment below, and stay tuned for more as ‘Water Week' continues!

References

1 Chan, Jacqueline, et al. Oxford Journals Medicine American Journal of Epidemiology Volume 155, Issue 9 Pp. 827-833 Jan 11 2002 https://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/155/9/827.full
2 Sauvant, MD and Pepin, D. Food Chem Toxicol. 2002 Oct;40(10):1311-25. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12387296

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Comments on this article are closed.

  1. Randy

    Vivian:
    I’ve read conflicting information. Is mineral water good for “Savers”? I’m not sure what is the healthiest drink to order at a restaurant. Used to order tea (preferably green tea), but not sure if this is the best choice.

  2. Randy

    Vivian:
    Is mineral water good for Savers?

  3. Cathy

    I am having difficulty with article I just read about how incredibly bad for you
    Long term drinking of distilled water is. I have been drinking it exclusively and giving it to my dog for well over a year and am now deeply concerned
    About our wellbeing. We both are having health issues at present time .

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    I use emma-marketing.com to manage my social media campaign, aint got time for that

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  6. Kathryn

    My daughter knew I started to drink distilled water. She forwarded this article from Dr. Mercola. I was concerned after reading this. Can you please respond to it? It gets so confusing at times when you hear different things from other health experts.
    https://www.mercola.com/article/water/distilled_water.htm
    Thank you.

    • Hélène

      I am also concerned about drinking distilled water.
      Would you have additional information?
      Take care,
      Hélène, Ottawa

    • Dorothy

      Hi Vivian:
      Thank you for all you do for us with your wonderful and informative articles.
      I too have seen the article by Dr Mercola about distilled water and I am some what concerned?
      Should I change my mind about drinking distilled water.?

      Thank you for your comments
      Dorothy 🙂

  7. millyperna

    hi vivian I Have trouble with my nails they have lines so bad what should i do/

    AM I lacking calcim

  8. Julia

    Have you heard of kangen water.Ive drank it and its good

  9. Pat

    I hate to drink water. I know it’s important and healthy, so anything that can help me would be beneficial. I would love to have the waterwise.

  10. Mary Catherine Koppang

    This is a great site. I plan on spending all winter catching up on my reading about saving my bones and implementing the advice. I spent all summer growing all my own produce and canning, drying, and freezing it. Ready now for a great winter.

  11. Martin Kaiden

    Great article! A number of the comments published also contain helpful information, and your replies to several are very informative. Enjoyed it thoroughly and will certainly make sure to consume enough water daily.
    Thank you.

  12. Susan Anderson

    I have FINALLY started to drink water! I would love to own the Waterwise 8800!

  13. Iskander T

    Great! It is an eye opener on how Water can actually affect the functioning of our Body organs! Thank you Vivian.

  14. Veronica

    Hi Vivian, thanks for that great information on water. Please kindly educate me more. Is spring water or water from boreholes safe? If not, what are the health implications?

  15. Lillie Orlovsky

    Like
    Thank You

    • Nicole

      I read most of the article. Very interesting, i guess. But the memory thing, should be called “trace”. The trace causes the memory.

    • Margaret Lafferty

      I live in Scotland where our water is soft, although I believe they are adding chemicals now. I have known about the benefits of water for some time now, after reading a book called your bodies many cries for water. written by a Doctor
      I always drink boiled water and start with a glass first thing in the morning before have any food,I hope this helps to purify the water. Thank you for highlighting this wonderful medicine we have of water.

  16. Dawson Ross

    I use good old Scottish water. I am almost 92years old now so I am not doing too bad. I put four drops of Dr Cutlers
    Ultimate PH Balance (Perfect Alkalinity for life) in each glass of water. This seems to do the trick fior a PH of 7..4

  17. ernest lunda

    nice article

  18. Susan Kangas

    I learned that distilled water is useful for detoxing the body. There’s a book called A Promise Made, A Promise Kept, do not recall the author. He indicates that distilled water is “dead”, ala produces no crystals in Emoto’s experiments. For this, the unnamed author says to “charge” the water by adding 1/4 teaspoon of salt to one gallon of distilled water. I think this is to enable more hydration into the body, as well as electrical changes so that nutrients are better used by the cells. Perhaps without the “charge”, it is better at debris removal from the cells. I’ve been told, and have read, that fluorine and chlorine are gases, and if tap water is allowed to sit out for 30 minutes, then those gases escape into the air (not sure about the air quality as a result). However, I question this when aluminum is added to the water also, as aluminum and fluoride combine into a small molecuse that can get across the blood/brain barrier. Hence, the fluorine/fluoride does not “escape”. Still seeking to learn in such matters. Thanks for the info, Vivian.

    • Gerard Cook

      In response: Chlorine is only driven off by boiling in an OPEN container and fluoride is a disolved solid and is not drive off by boilng if the water is to recool (in fact fluoride in municipal water is not real an organic fluoride, but, an higly insoluble TOXIC substance in the form of a fluo-salacilic acid. Read on and lear the real dangers of this TOXIC substance. There are many great texts on this subject if one searches the internet. Knowledge is power to keep well and healthy.

      Here is an article by Dr. Russell L. Blaylock
      The Blaylock Wellness Report. Issue 4, Vol 1

      Why Fluoride Is Toxic
      The primary reason fluoride began being added into drinking water
      years ago was to reduce cavities; the general public may not know
      that fluoride also can injure the nervous system and even
      cause cancer.
      Degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s are possibly linked
      to drinking fluoridated water. Cancer, behavioral problems, thyroid
      suppression, male infertility and impotence are also some examples of
      what may happen to the body when too much fluoride is present. And
      the combination of fluoride and aluminum is toxic enough that scientists
      warn about its connection to Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases.
      Fluoride will not kill you outright or cause dementia over a short
      period of time. But at certain levels it will accumulate in your brain
      and can lead to a form of degeneration.
      I lectured at the Fluoride Action Network conference on the subject
      of the toxic effects of water fluoridation and urged everyone to stop
      the government from using drinking water to medicate the public.
      Fluoride and the Brain
      A number of fairly recent studies have shown significant damage to
      many parts of the brain caused by fluoride. One study showed that
      rats given fluoride while still in the womb became hyperactive, much
      like what we see in childhood ADHD. Newborn and adult rats given
      fluoride reacted much differently; they became “couch potatoes.”
      The difference lies in how the brain develops at different ages. In
      humans, for example, the most rapid brain growth and development
      occur in the last three months of pregnancy and the first two years
      after birth. This means the brain is especially susceptible during that
      time to damage by toxins such as fluoride. Of course, results are
      determined by when the toxin was first given and for how long, and
      the dose.
      Even more frightening is what one world-renowned scientist discovered:
      Fluoride can accumulate in the brain. With every drink of water,the fluoride levels in the brain increase — and so
      does the danger to you.
      The Truth About Studying Fluoride
      Dr. Phyllis Mullenix, a leading neurotoxicologist,
      developed a sophisticated method to study behavioral
      patterns using a computer. She would photograph
      interactions of test rats given fluoride and
      feed the results into a computer program.
      Much to her surprise, she discovered that the fluoride
      was causing significant behavioral problems,
      not only when rats were exposed in the mother’s
      womb, but also soon after birth and even as adults.
      Upon examining seven areas of the animals’ brains
      she found that the longer an animal drank fluoridated
      water, the higher the brain level of fluoride. She
      also found that a high accumulation of toxins over
      time reaches levels that always cause brain injury.
      Critics charged Dr. Mullenix with using doses of
      fluoride much higher than people are commonly
      exposed to. But researchers should know that rats
      have difficulty absorbing fluoride. In comparing
      rats to people, the only thing that should be looked
      at is the blood level; the amount of fluoride in the
      blood determines the amount of fluoride reaching
      the brain.
      The blood levels in Dr. Mullenix’s rats equaled
      that seen in humans exposed to fluoride levels
      approved by the Environmental Protection Agency
      (EPA) as safe. Approved levels of fluoride in drinking
      water are up to 4 parts per million, or 4 ppm.
      After presenting her findings to the EPA and
      National Institute of Dental Health, Dr. Mullenix
      faced great opposition from colleagues. Fellow scientists
      who once clamored to use her computerized
      system now eschewed any communication
      with her.
      Her very expensive computerized behavioral
      anaylsis equipment was destroyed by a contrived
      “accident”. In addition, all of her lab animals were
      killed and their bodies incinerated.
      More Studies Confirm Brain Damage
      The number of studies showing significant damage
      to various parts of the brain continues to grow, most of the studies coming from Mexico, China,
      Japan, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Canada and
      England. Very few studies come from labs in the
      United States, but those that do find fluoride to be
      very toxic to the brain.
      Entities such as National Institutes of Health and
      National Institute of Dental Health are to blame for
      fewer U.S. studies as they refuse to fund fluoride
      safety research.
      What we do know is that in China, children who
      drink fluoridated water have lower IQs than those
      who don’t. Many villages and cities in China have
      natural fluoride levels that are high, and Chinese
      scientists have found a drop of 10 points in IQ in
      fluoridated cities.
      But some challengers say these scientists didn’t
      account for possible lead exposure, so tests were
      redone. The Chinese scientists made careful measurements
      of all factors including lead and fluoride.
      The end result? They found the same lowering of
      IQ caused by fluoride in the drinking water.
      Mexican studies fared no better. An article in the
      journal Epidemiology showed that children drinking
      water with EPA-approved fluoride levels had problems
      with reading and writing.
      Again, care was taken to control for factors that
      might adversely affect the results. In fact, urine fluoride
      levels were measured to prove that the greater
      the fluoride exposure the worse the tests results.
      Note that most cities set fluoride levels in drinking
      water well below EPA-approved levels.
      The Alzheimer’s Connection
      What is the connection between Alzheimer’s disease
      and fluoride? Studies show plenty. While
      drinking fluoridated water is not the cause of
      Alzheimer’s, there is a link.
      One study found that fluoride in the drinking
      water of rats caused significant reduction of a brain
      receptor critical for learning and memory, which
      are the same receptors reduced very early in
      Alzheimer’s disease.
      Scientists including Dr. Phyllis Mullenix and Dr.
      Albert Burgstahler, an organic chemist and editor of
      Fluoride, indicated to me yet another study showing that fluoride added to water in the presence of even
      small amounts of aluminum caused severe destruction
      of brain cells in the part of the brain controlling
      learning and memory, the hippocampus.
      Clearly, these studies demonstrate that fluoride
      could cause an early onset of the disease and make
      it progress more rapidly. In fact, when combined
      with other toxins we all are exposed to, it can make
      matters worse.
      Alzheimer’s patients also have dramatic increases
      in gut absorption of aluminum, as do children with
      Down syndrome. In one study, fluoride increased
      by seven times absorption of aluminum from the
      gut and significantly increased the entry of aluminum
      into the brain.
      The Toxic Effect
      of Fluoride and Aluminum
      All of us are exposed to numerous sources of aluminum
      — in foods, canned drinks, aluminum cans
      and cookware, deodorants, vaccinations, medications
      and pesticides. And, as we all may know,
      there is further compelling evidence that aluminum
      plays a major role in Alzheimer’s disease and possibly
      Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases.
      The combination of fluoride and aluminum is so
      toxic that even in concentrations half those added to
      drinking water will cause severe destruction of critical
      brain cells. You will have a hard time thinking,
      remembering and performing normal brain functions
      with this toxic duo.
      The same can be true for your children.
      Combining aluminum and fluoride may very well
      increase the risk of ADD, ADHD, dyslexia and
      other developmental brain disorders of children,
      especially when combined with other toxins from
      the environment. These studies are compelling
      and frightening.
      The Pineal Gland:
      Another Area of Concern
      A recent study by Dr. Jennifer Luke at the
      School of Biological Sciences at the University of
      Surry in England found that fluoride accumulates
      in the pineal gland in the brain. Of the pineal glands she obtained from six elderly people dying
      of unrelated causes, she found fluoride levels
      2,500% higher than other areas of the brain. The
      fluoride was accumulating in enormous amounts
      in the calcium deposits normally found in the
      pineal of older people.
      So, why is this important? The pineal gland is the
      source of the very important hormone melatonin,
      the same hormone sold in health food stores to aid
      in sleep. Melatonin regulates the onset of puberty
      in boys and girls, it regulates the onset of sleep and
      it protects the brain against damage by free radicals
      and what is known as lipid peroxidation, the main
      destructive reactions seen in all degenerative brain
      diseases.
      In fact, individuals with Alzheimer’s disease commonly
      have lower melatonin levels than do individuals
      of similar age.
      But it is the latest findings that are so startling:
      ➔ Young girls who live in cities with fluoride in
      the water have been known to begin menstruating
      five months sooner than their counterparts in nonfluoridated
      towns.
      ➔ Newborns with the lowest melatonin levels
      had the most problems with behavioral development.
      ➔ Brain protection in adults is being altered.
      Fluoride and
      Baby’s Brain Development
      Since baby animals exposed to fluoride develop
      high levels of free radicals in their brains, it makes
      one wonder what happens to human babies.
      Unfortunately, it is the same damage.
      Researchers examined the brains of aborted
      babies five to eight months into a pregnancy who
      were from areas having naturally high fluoride levels
      in the drinking water.
      What researchers found was alarming: The brain
      cells of the babies were grossly abnormal and nerve
      fibers were not even compatible with typical human
      nerve fibers. The brain cells in the babies were
      grossly abnormal and the nerve fibers were misplaced
      and swollen. These brains were miswired.
      Keep in mind the fluoride levels in the drinking water were within the “safety guidelines” established
      by the EPA. No other causes for this damage
      were found.
      Individuals who counter these results say there
      was up to 4.5 ppm of fluoride in the water, and
      guidelines call for only 1 ppm. I object to their finger-
      pointing and say it doesn’t take a brain surgeon
      to see that this does not leave much of a margin of
      safety, especially when the EPA usually uses a 100-
      times margin of safety for such toxins.
      And we have seen that fluoride accumulates in
      the brain, reaching levels equal to these studies. Yet
      most important is the fact that even their estimates
      found that the average person is taking in 3 ppm
      per day through foods, drinks and pesticide exposure.
      More accurate estimates found an average
      daily consumption of fluoride of 4 to 8 ppm.
      Here’s a great example of how fluoride can sneak
      up on you. In the South, most people drink iced tea
      with their meals. All teas contain very high levels of
      fluoride as well as aluminum. Because the summers
      are so hot, a large number of people are drinking
      large volumes of this fluoride-laden tea.
      Many foods and drinks also are high in fluoride,
      such as de-boned meats, gelatin and American
      wines, especially California wines.
      Pesticides, too, are a problem, because they contain
      cryolite, a compound containing aluminum and
      fluoride in high concentrations. Interestingly, workers
      in cryolite industrial plants have been found to
      have a high incidence of thinking disorders as well
      as genetic damage.
      Fluoride and Cancer
      In 1975, Dr. Dean Burk, the former chief chemist
      of the National Cancer Institute, and Dr. John
      Yiamouyiannis conducted a study comparing cancer
      death rates in the 10 largest fluoridated cities
      matched with the 10 largest non-fluoridated cities.
      These cities were matched for equal cancer death
      rates before the fluoridation experiment was begun.
      They found that once cities began including fluoride
      in their drinking water, cancer death rates
      began to climb. After 13 to 17 years of fluoridation
      of their drinking water, these cities experienced a 10
      percent increase in cancer death rates compared
      with the non-fluoridated cities.
      The incidence of cancer would be even higher
      than the cancer death rates, since many people
      with cancer will not die of the disease during the
      years studied.
      The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
      (CDC) repeated the study using a larger number of
      cities and found similar results. Interestingly, both
      scientists proved their case in court against representatives
      from the National Cancer Institute.
      Several other doctors found even more frightening
      associations between fluoridation of drinking
      water and cancer incidences. Dr. Donald Austin of
      the California Tumor Registry discovered the cancer
      death rates in California were 40 percent higher
      in fluoridated communities and Dr. Victor
      Ceilioni showed the cancer death rates in
      Canadian cities were 15 percent to 25 percent
      higher in fluoridated Canadian cites compared
      with non-fluoridated cities.
      Although a heavy proponent of fluoridation, the
      U.S. Public Health Service discovered similar results
      as Drs. Austin and Ceilioni after following up its initial
      fluoridation program.
      In the first of the fluoridated cities in the U.S. —
      Grand Rapids, Michigan — the Public Health Service
      found a 22 percent increase in cancer death rates
      compared with the non-fluoridated control city of
      Muskegon, Michigan.
      We can now show a strong connection between
      fluoridated drinking water and cancer death rates.
      And the evidence gets even stronger. As a result of
      these studies and the fact that the U.S. Public
      Health Service could not defend fluoride safety,
      Congress ordered a study of the problem to be conducted
      by the Battelle Memorial Institute in
      Columbus, Ohio.
      The Battelle Institute announced its findings and
      released proof of the connection between fluoride
      and cancer of the mouth in February of 1989.
      The study showed:
      ➔ At 45 ppm, there was a 12 percent increased
      incidence of oral cancers, such as cancers of the
      tongue and gums. Subsequent studies d show that the incidence of oral cancers in fluoridated
      vs non-fluoridated cities was 33 percent to 50
      percent greater.
      ➔ Toothpaste can contain between 1,000 and
      1,500 ppm fluoride.
      ➔ Fluoride gels used in dental offices contain up
      to 15,000 ppm.
      ➔ New fluoride varnishes release a high concentration
      of fluoride continuously in the mouth.
      Fluoride, Bone Cancer and Young Men
      The bones accumulate more fluoride than any
      other tissue with the exception of the pineal gland.
      The Battelle study found that the longer one lives in
      a fluoridated community, the higher one’s bone fluoride
      levels are.
      In fact, animals exposed to 45 ppm of fluoridated
      drinking water showed an increase in a rare form of
      bone cancer called osteosarcoma — in human studies
      the fluoride concentrations in bones found levels
      greater than 2,000 ppm.
      Osteosarcoma is a tumor most commonly seen in
      young men in their late teens and twenties. If the
      Battelle study was accurate, one would expect to see
      a rise in osteosarcoma in young men in fluoridated
      communities.
      All one has to do is look to the reports by the
      National Cancer Institute and a 1992 study by the
      New Jersey Department of Health that show heavy
      increases, some as high as 50 percent, of the occurrence
      in osteosarcoma in young men. A New Jersey
      study found a 3 to 7X higher incidence of this cancer
      in young men in fluoridated communities vs.
      non-fluoridated.
      Even more shocking is the fact that the Proctor &
      Gamble Company’s own scientists found a link
      between fluoride ingestion and bone cancer risk
      before they began adding fluoride to Crest toothpaste.
      This information was not released voluntarily
      but required a Freedom of Information lawsuit to
      pry it loose.
      Another P&G study shows that scientists also
      found genetic damage to cells exposed to just 1 ppm
      of fluoride, the same dose added to drinking water.
      This relation to genetic damage has been confirmed by several independent researchers.
      Other types of cancers associated with fluoride
      exposure include:
      ➔ Industrial exposure to airborne fluoride shows
      a 35 percent increase in lung cancer.
      ➔ There is also a 129 percent higher incidence in
      laryngeal cancer.
      ➔ Significant data show an 84 percent increase in
      bladder cancer.
      In fact, in the Battelle study fluoride caused a
      rare liver tumor that can be produced in experimental
      animals by only one other toxin — uranium.
      Does Fluoride Cause Crippling?
      Skeletal fluorosis is a rarely used term in the
      United States but often discussed in medical journals
      overseas. Not that it doesn’t occur in the U.S.,
      it’s just shrouded in secrecy. Few American doctors
      have even the slightest understanding of the
      condition.
      As you have learned, the bones accumulate fluoride
      in very high concentrations and continue to do
      so the longer you drink fluoridated water. Dr. Hardy
      Limeback, a professor of dentistry at the University
      of Toronto who also conducted studies on fluoride
      levels in the bones of people living in fluoridated
      communities versus non-fluoridated communities,
      found that the former had fluoride bone levels two
      times higher than the latter.
      In 1993 the National Academy of Sciences admitted
      that when bone fluoride levels reached 7,500 to
      8,000 ppm, stage 2 and 3 skeletal fluorosis was likely
      to occur.
      So, what is skeletal fluorosis? When fluoride accumulates
      in bones it stimulates the bone-generating
      cells, known as osteoblasts, to over-produce bone
      calcium in what are commonly known as bony
      overgrowths or bone spurs. These can appear over
      the joints, within ligaments and especially within
      the spinal bones. With extensive overgrowth (stage
      2 and 3) a person becomes crippled.
      Of particular concern is the bone overgrowth on
      the spinal bones, because they can compress spinal
      nerves and even the spinal cord. We call this condition
      spinal stenosis. Spinal stenosis is a very common disease that can
      affect the young as well as the elderly. It is much
      more common after age 50. I have operated on hundreds
      of people with this condition. Compression of
      the spinal cord in the neck can result in quadriplegia
      — permanent paralysis from the neck down.
      I have examined the spines of people from India
      with this condition proven to be caused by fluoride
      excess in the drinking water, and it is exactly the
      same as we are seeing in this country. Incredibly,
      no one has conducted studies in this country
      measuring fluoride bone levels in this crippling
      condition. It is not even mentioned in our medical
      textbooks.
      Bone Fractures and Fluoride
      One of the worst things that can happen to an
      elderly person is to fracture a hip. With mortality
      rates of up to 50 percent of those who do fracture
      their hips, many who survive never walk again.
      Any type of bone fracture is very painful and unfortunately
      quite common among the elderly.
      When fluoride is present in the bones it is shown
      to weaken the cortical bone, that part that gives the
      bone strength — bad news for fracture sufferers. One
      study among Utah’s Mormon community found that
      fluoridation of the drinking water increased the
      incidence of hip fractures by 27 percent in women
      and 41 percent in men.
      Fluoride and the Thyroid
      In the past, medical doctors used fluoride tablets
      to reduce the activity of overactive thyroid glands
      (hyperthyroidism). Subsequent studies have found
      that fluoride also suppresses the activity of the normal
      thyroid as well, inducing a condition called
      hypothyroidism or goiter.
      A study done in China found that thyroid
      enlargement was almost 10 times greater in areas
      with high fluoride levels in the drinking water.
      Since the thyroid accumulates more fluoride than
      any other gland, studies were done and confirmed
      on animals that fluoride in drinking water inhibits
      the thyroid gland. It gets worse when iodine levels
      are very low or very high.
      Pregnant women with low thyroid function are at a greater risk for their babies having severe mental
      retardation, thereby impacting the fetuses’ brain
      development, according to an article published last
      year in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
      The article indicates that a child’s mental development
      was directly related to the mother’s thyroid
      function during the 12th week of pregnancy. With
      fluoride’s ability to suppress thyroid function, even
      mild depression of the thyroid can cause a significant
      increase in the incidence of mental retardation
      in children in fluoridated communities. This may
      explain the finding of significant increases in Down
      syndrome in fluoridated communities.
      Fluoride, Male Infertility
      and Impotence
      Reduced sperm counts and infertility in men who
      work in cryolite (50% fluoride) and aluminum factories
      have been reported. Supporting evidence shows
      that fluoride added to the drinking water of experimental
      animals causes significant reductions in
      sperm counts, lower testosterone levels and a dramatic
      increase in abnormal, mutated sperm. This
      has been shown in many animal species as well as
      in humans.
      Male fertility has been hampered by free-radical
      generation in the areas of the testes that produces
      sperm. This could explain not only infertility in
      many men living in fluoridated areas but also
      genetic defects in their offspring should they be
      able to conceive, especially those with higher
      intakes of fluoride.
      What About the Teeth?
      Let us not lose sight of the reason for fluoridating
      drinking water in the first place: preventing cavities.
      After all, didn’t the American Dental
      Association promote the idea that fluoridating
      drinking water could reduce cavities by as much as
      50 percent? In fact, subsequent examination of
      these studies found no reduction in cavities.
      One dentist commissioned by the U.S. Public
      Health Service found that people in high-fluoride
      areas had fewer cavities but they also suffered from
      a condition called dental fluorosis, which leaves the
      teeth brown and mottled. Recent studies have shown an incidence of dental
      fluorosis from 30 percent to 60 percent in fluoridated
      communities. With so many generations having
      been exposed to high fluoride levels over a lifetime,
      the problem can only get worse.
      In essence, does fluoridation of drinking water
      prevent cavities? The largest study ever done in this
      country, involving 39,000 schoolchildren, found no
      overall reduction in cavities in communities with
      fluoride in their water.
      Additionally, the largest worldwide study shows
      that children who live in areas with no fluoride in
      the water had lower cavity rates.
      In fact, cavity rates dramatically fell even before
      fluoride was added to toothpaste. It is also important
      to note that virtually all European countries
      have banned water fluoridation. The most heavily
      fluoridated country by government policy in the
      world is the United States.
      Another study, by Dartmouth University, shows
      that children living in fluoridated communities have blood lead levels twice that of non-fluoridated
      communities. That could mean more incidences of
      poor learning ability, increased violence, higher suicide
      rates and greater drug use among children.
      What Products Should You Avoid?
      Simply put, stop using fluoride in its many forms.
      This includes avoiding:
      ➔ Teas high in fluoride
      ➔ Fluoridated water
      ➔ Toothpaste with flouride
      ➔ Vaccinations, since they contain fluoride and
      aluminum
      ➔ Pesticides or herbicides near or in your home
      ➔ Medications containing fluoride
      Also, do not use lemon in your tea, since it will
      increase aluminum absorption enormously.
      Do not cook in aluminum or Teflon-coated cookware,
      and avoid using Teflon products. I would recommend avoiding the use of spray
      cans, such as hair spray, and getting rid of aluminum
      cans, such as those containing diet colas.
      Health food stores offer toothpaste without
      flouride. One type is Tom’s of Maine Natural
      Fluoride-Free Toothpaste.
      The best way to remove pesticide and herbicide
      residues from vegetables is simply to wash them.
      California wines also should be passed up, since
      they contain high amounts of fluoride.
      Soy products, which are high in fluoride, aluminum,
      glutamate and manganese, are all known
      neurotoxins and should be avoided.
      It is critical that mothers avoid all soy-based
      infant formulas, especially if they are reconstituted
      by water in a fluoridated water system. Soy-based
      formula has very high levels of these brain toxins,
      and a baby’s brain is the most vulnerable until the
      age of two years.
      What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
      Certain supplements protect against the harmful
      effects of fluoride and aluminum. These include
      (adult levels):
      ➔ Magnesium malate. Take 1,000 mg. with each
      meal to prevent aluminum absorption.
      ➔ Calcium citrate. Take only between meals to
      prevent increasing aluminum absorption. Calcium
      citrate protects against aluminum toxicity and helps
      remove aluminum from body tissues. Calcium also
      protects against fluoride toxicity by binding to the fluoride. Another form of calcium you can use is
      calcium pyruvate. The calcium neutralizes the fluoride
      and the pyruvate binds the aluminum, preventing
      absorption.
      ➔ Vitamin E succinate or natural from vitamin E
      (mixed tocopherols), 400 IU. Take one or two a day.
      Discard the gelatin capsules as they contain fluoride
      and glutamate as well as cow protein.
      ➔ Vitamin C as magnesium or calcium ascorbate.
      Take 1,000 mg twice a day. Reduces fluoride toxicity.
      ➔ Vitamin D. Take 2,000 IU a day. Protects
      against fluoride toxicity, especially in pregnant
      women. To be safe, if pregnant take 1,000 IU a day.
      ➔ Selenium. Take 200 ug a day. Selenium has
      been shown to protect against fluoride toxicity.
      Higher doses add to fluoride toxicity.
      ➔ Multivitamin/mineral. This should be as a
      powder in a capsule. It should not contain iron.
      ➔ Curcumin. 500mg dissolved in 2 tablespoons of
      extra virgin olive oil. Take twice a day with meals. It
      is a powerful antioxidant and shown to protect the
      brain against many neurotoxins.
      Additionally, to get the most protection against
      free radicals you should eat at least three to five
      servings of fruits and vegetables a day. They should
      be fresh and eaten mostly raw.
      It is also wise take 200 mg of DHA twice a day.
      Simply remove the gelatin capsule as you do with
      vitamin E. You also can get high levels of Omega-3
      fatty acids by eating Christopher eggs daily and avoid corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean and
      canola oils, all of which are Omega-6 fats.
      And, finally, I highly recommend taking 2 to 3
      mg. of melatonin at bedtime to help regulate your
      sleep.
      Pearl of the Month: Caution is advised, as a
      recent study implies a connection between women
      getting the flu during pregnancy and their children
      becoming schizophrenic later in life. No long-term
      studies have been done on pregnant women who do
      get the flu vaccine, but there is abundant evidence
      that overstimulation of the immune system can
      damage the brain, especially during the highly sensitive
      period of rapid brain development seen in
      babies.

      • Linda

        OH MY!

  19. nadim

    Thank you Vivian for a really great report . Looking forward to receiving the other parts of this Water Report .

    Regards

    Nadim

  20. JoAnn

    I find all of this confusing. Distilled water from the store is too expensive and I’m still confused about how good the water is in front of super markets which is RO and carbon filtered and something else to kill bacteria (can’t remember what). I understand that it needs to be maintained properly to be healthy. Still not clear that this is acceptable. Is It? Also I have used Smart Water which is vapor distilled. It also adds calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium bicarbonate. I looked at the quality report and there is no detectable fluoride. Is that okay?
    Very confused about all of this but I do appreciate you, Vivian, bringing all this to our attention. You have clearly looked into it and are thorough.

  21. Eve Levine

    Vivian,
    I drink “Evamor” water, that Dr. OZ recommends to balnce the alkaline/acidity in your body. Is that good? I love the water & I drink more of it than others…
    Thanks, will look forward to your answer!

    Eve

  22. maxine simons

    I just purchased a calcium called New Chapter Bone Strength. It is algae calcium and suppose to be a excellent brand. Dr. Weil uses New Chapter vitamins. I also got the vitamins. They are from whole foods.

  23. Robbie

    Where can I buy distilled water??? This question was asked by someone else, but I did not see it answered.
    Thanks

  24. Leonard Green

    Hi Vivian,
    We’ve gotten great discussion. And it’s obvious that makes sense to use distilled water (without BPA in jugs). But the water alkalinity is under the question. As soon as treatment with alkaline water is very popular and there are a lot of evidences that it’s helpful, I think it makes sense to chechk distilled water alkalinity after adding lemon drops and add more alkalinity using different methods (baking soda, apple cider vinegar, Santevia water system methods (thanks for info), other). I do not think that there would be any harm if I would increase water alkalinity level to improve my body PH. But benefit is possible. Note: PH of distilled water is about 5 but what would happen after I add several lemon drops? Please inform
    Regards
    Leonard

    • Tyler LeBaron

      The pH of distilled water is around 5 due to dissolved carbon dioxide. Because water has no buffering capacity adding lemon juice would change the pH to that of the lemons which is a pH of about 2.

  25. Kay

    Just a comment related to Apple Cidar Vinigar. I would suggest drinking it with a straw. this leaves the teeth protected from the acid. Or rinse well after drinking. The acid destroys enemal.

    Also about Dr. E’s research. Also ever since I read and saw a microscope picture of microwaved water, I have stopped to use my microwave oven for any kind of heating. The picture of the water looked so tortured and sad…..

    Perhaps the micro is good for heating water for other uses. Either way, the next oven will be a convection style oven.
    KW

    • Kay

      OOPs, sorry about the spelling mistakes. KW

  26. ESTELLE

    HI ALL, INTERESTING ABOUT ALL THESE COMMENTS ON WATER. I WONDER HOW THE RO VENDING MACHINES THAT DISPENSE RO WATER OUTSIDE MANY SUPER MARKETS, SANITIZE THEIR MACHINES. I HOPE THEY DONT USE CHLORINE OR OTHER CONTAMINATING CHEMICALS. DOES ANYONE KNOW?????
    I’D LIKE TO COMMENT ALSO ABOUT ALGAECAL FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS, OF NOT TOO LONG AGO. I BOUGHT 3 BOTTLES OF TRUEOSTEO, AND NOTICED IT DOESNT HAVE MUCH MAGNESIUM …ONLY 65MG PER 4 CAPSULES, AND NO ZINC, OR SILICA WHICH ARE ALL NEEDED FOR BONES AND OTHER PURPOSES. I ADD MAGNESIUM, SILICA AND ZINC TO IT. AND TODAY I FOUND ANOTHER PRODUCT IN A MAGAZINE AD THAT ALSO CONTAINS ALGAECAL. ITS MADE BY GARDEN OF LIFE, CALLED VITAMIN CODE AND IS ALSO RAW PLANT CALCIUM. ITS ACTUALLY CALLED “RAW CALCIUM”..THATS THE NAME OF THE SUPPLEMENT. IT HAS MORE RAW PLANT CALCIUM, MORE VITAMIN D, MORE VIT K2, AND LOTS MORE MAGNESIUM AND ALSO CONTAINS PROBIOTICS.NO ZINC EITHER..OR SILICA. THE AD DOESNT SAY HOW MANY CAPSULES CONTAIN THESE AMOUNTS, SO ITS HARD TO REALLY COMPARE THE 2 PRODUCTS, BUT I’M GOING TO CHECK IT OUT FURTHER. IT WAS INTERESTING TO FIND ANOTHER RAW PLANT CALCIUM, AND ANOTHER ALGAECAL PRODUCT. I WONDER IF THERE ARE MORE BRANDS USING ALGAECAL??? I’D APPRECIATE ANY COMMENTS OR FURTHER KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THIS.
    AND I DONT KNOW THE PRICE OF THIS VITAMIN CODE RAW CALCIUM. SOME MAIL ORDER PLACES AND ONLINE STORES LIKELY SELL IT CHEAPER THAN MOST BRICK AND MORTAR STORES. THE BRAND I SPOKE OF IS GARDEN OF LIFE. IT WAS ADVERTISED IN TASTE FOR LIFE FREE MAGAZINE FROM SOME HEALTH STORES, AUGUST 2010, SO ITS BEEN OUT AT LEAST SINCE THEN. IT DOES LOOK LIKE ITS PROBABLY A BETTER FORMULA THAN TRUEOSTEO. MY GUESS… BASED ON INCOMPLETE INFO. ANYONE KNOW FOR SURE?

    • wilda

      Can someone enlighten me about some organic calcium supplements apparently containing AlgaeCal? It would appear this is the case with TrueOsteo and Garden of Life’s product. Does it mean that these products contain everthing that the AlgaeCal organic calcium one has, along with their own particular ingredients? Such as the fairly high K2 Mk7 content of AlgaeCal, plus some K2 Mk4 as in TrueOsteo, to name just one?

  27. David Bourke

    Everything in the universe is energy – including you. And everything has its own unique energy frequency. Even our thoughts – measurable via EEGs.

    “Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it…It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics” – Albert Einstein.

    The application of energy to any system will change that system at a deep structural level. Homeopathy is not just about dilution. Between each successive dilution, the solution is mechanically shaken vigorously 100 times in a process called “succussion.”

    The application of this kinetic energy at each stage serves to “imprint” the unique frequency of the active agent on the water. And the process continues until there is nothing left of whatever was added to the water. But that water is now filled with the “memory” of the substance’s energy frequency.

    Just like a tape recording or a computer hard drive.

    Remember, the heliocentric solar system we take for granted today was once considered “woo-woo.” As was a round Earth. And science once held that combusion was caused by something called “phlogiston” – we now know that oxygen is the facilitator and accelerant.

    If we consider the known electromagnetic spectrum as being equivalent to the distance between the US east and west coasts, the amount that’s observable by the human sensorium is equal to the length of your arm.

    To dismiss something as “woo” because it’s not obvious to our senses is the real absurdity.

    • Kathryn

      Have you experienced Quantum Touch? This is the use of universal energy. My husband and I use Quantum Touch for ourselves and family and friends. What a wonderful way to heal and help each other and others. We are all energy and vibration. We can heal by using what has been given to us.

    • Susan Kangas

      We are indeed energy beings, and so much is there to learn past our 5 senses! Even our earth is a matter of energy. Your explanation of the water memory was so clear and I thank you for it! Now I can understand the term, “water memory”!!

  28. David Bourke

    It’s amazing how much misinformation about distilled water and mineral “leaching” is out there. The experts speak:

    “The only minerals that the body can utilize are the organic minerals. All other types of minerals are foreign substances to the body and must be eliminated. Distilled water is the only water that can be taken into the body without any damage to the tissues” – Dr. Allen E. Banik, “The Choice is Clear.”

    “Distilled water has an inherent quality. Acting almost like a magnet, it picks up rejected, discarded, and unusable minerals and, assisted by the blood and the lymph, carries them to the lungs and kidneys for elimination from the body. The statement that distilled water leaches minerals from the body has no basis in fact. It doesn’t leach out minerals that have become part of the cell structure. It can’t and won’t. It collects only minerals that have already been rejected or excreted by the cells…To suggest that distilled water takes up minerals from foods so that the body derives no benefit from them is absurd” – Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, “Fit for Life II: Living Health.”

    ‘Your question as to whether distilled water leaches minerals out of the body reflects another persistent myth. While pure water helps to remove minerals from the body that cells have eliminated or not used, it does not ‘leach’ out minerals that have become part of your body’s cell structure. Neither does distilled water cause your teeth to deteriorate, a false claim made by a filter manufacturer looking to boost sales. As far as acidity goes, distilled water is close to a neutral pH and has no effect on the body’s acid/base balance” – Dr Andrew Weil.

    “The minerals which the human body needs that are in the water are insignificant to those in food… and anyone simply eating a varied diet, not even a balanced diet, could hardly suffer a mineral deficiency” – Dr. Henry A. Schroeder, Dartmouth Medical School.

    “The body’s need for minerals is largely met through foods, not drinking water” – American Medical Journal.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Great quotes that speak the truth, David. Thanks for posting them!

    • Kathryn

      RO and distilled water are acid… . minerals are what make water alkali… our bodies want to be alkali….. If we are acidic our body steals from our bones to keep us alkali…. this is called osteoporosis…..

      • Barbara Klein-Robuck, MS, RN,

        Yes. our bodies want to be alkali…all acidic substances draw calcium from our “bone banks” t buffer the acid ; that leads to osteoporosis and that is why I tell people about our wonderful countertop Waterfall gravity system from NIKKEN. It filters to NSF 42 & 53 standards, adds the minerals to achieve 8.5-9.5 pH and it also microclusters the molecules to promote easy absorption. AND taking calcium is not the total solution!!

  29. Derek O'Brien

    I notice you purged my comments about your conversion to Woo, and your blathering pseudo-science about water memory and similar crap.

    Bye viv, lost all credibility.

  30. Fennie Hoo, Malaysia

    Hi Vivian, thanks for the well structured and informative write up on the water article, very good reference material, the symptoms of dehydration, lack of water is happening to me right now, headache is one of the common symptom and it is not necessary cause one thirsty to find out. I like to also mention what Dr Emoto shared is working, My friends and I had met him at a trip to Phuket for the water prayer, a year after Tsunami event. Being human body contains 70% of water or so, it is also important to practice kind words to people we meet, elevate the positive energy and vibration of each life. I like to take this opportunity to thank a friend, YK who care to share this article with me, with Love & Gratitude

  31. Rosedala

    Hello Vivian and thank you for the arsenal of great health information you send. I read everything you send. However, perhaps you aren’t aware that on your article’s page there’s a vertical strip with all the social networks. I “Liked” your page on Facebook thinking it would go away but didn’t.

    I’m so sorry that it interferes seriously with my reading your good article or writing here, and therefore I won’t be able to read them anymore. This vertical strip, does it HAVE to be here perpetually?

    Thank you.

    Rosedala

    • john I

      quite a good piece.
      thanks

    • Marcia

      The problem with the strip covering the type may be caused by the browser that is being used. You may want to download Firefox or Chrome and then open the page again to see if that works better. (Just do a search for either one of those names and download the software — it is free.)
      Hope that helps!

  32. jan

    I just read your expanded edition of the Save Our Bones program and I have a question. In the dos and don’ts, you say to never eat foods that contain MSG, and you list all the different names for it (that is an eye-opener!) i am confuse about whey protein and whey protein powder. In your list of alkalizing protein, you include whey protein powder. One of the names for MSG is listed as whey protein. Is that different from whey protein powder?
    Thanks in advance for your answer. I am trying to get this right.

    • ESTELLE

      YES, I WAS WONDERING ABOUT WHEY PROTEIN BEING A DECEPTIVE NAME FOR MSG ALSO. I THOUGHT ITS SUPPOSED TO BE A HIGHLY BIO-AVAILABLE, HEALTHY, COMPLETE PROTEIN SOURCE MADE FROM MILK. MSG DOESNT DERIVE FROM MILK,(WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?) SO HOW COME ITS OFTEN DISGUISED AS WHEY ON FOOD LABELS? WHAT ABOUT TRUTH IN LABELING LAWS???? I’VE BEEN TAKING WHEY PROTEIN POWDER FOR YEARS, AND AVOIDING MSG BY ALL ITS DISGUISED NAMES THAT I CAN REMEMBER. WHEN MSG IS LISTED AS WHEY (WITHOUT “PROTEIN POWDER” AFTER IT)ON PRODUCT LABELS, MAYBE ONLY THEN ITS REALLY MSG. JUST GUESSING. WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? THERE’S SO MUCH DECEPTION IN FOOD LABELS, DRUG ADVERTISING AND MANY THINGS IN AMERICA. MUCH ADVERTISING IS THE ART OF DECEPTION AND MANIPULATION. DECEPTION IS EVERYWHERE. EVEN IN CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE, WHICH RECENTLY SEEMS TO BE DISPENSING MORE POISIN DISGUISED AS MEDICINE. WE’VE GOT TO BE REALLY CAREFUL AND DO OUR RESEARCH ON DRUGS AND FOOD BEFORE WE TAKE THEM AND FIND SAFER NATURAL ALTERNATIVES WHERE-EVER POSSIBLE. MANY BOOKS ARE WRITTEN ABOUT THE HARM BEING DONE BY SO MANY DRUGS, NOT ONLY BONE DRUGS. ITS NOT ADVISABLE TO BLINDLY TRUST OUR DOCTORS ANYMORE. MANY DRUGS ARE PART MEDICINE AND PART POISIN. CALL A SPADE A SPADE. THANK HEAVENS THERE ARE NATURAL HEALERS, AUTHORS AND NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS, AND WE NEED TO GIVE ALL THESE NATURAL PRACTITIONERS MORE APPRECIATION & PRAISE…A LOT MORE OFTEN….THE AUTHORS, THE BLOGGERS, VIVIAN AND COMPLEMENTARY AND NATUROPATHIC DOCTORS, DO’S DC’S BODYWORKERS, HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGISTS, ORTHOMOLECULAR PSYCHIATRISTS ETC. THEY NEED MORE PRAISE AND APPRECIATION SHOWN.MORE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT. THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HELP TO EXPOSE THE CONS IN CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE, OR RATHER, CONVENTIONAL POISIN DISGUISED AS MEDICINE…AND WHO TEACH US SAFE, NATURAL AND MORE EFFECTIVE APPROACHES TO PREVENTING AND HEALING DISEASE, BASED ON FINDING THE CAUSES AND REPLACING MISSING NUTRIENTS, AND NUTRIENTS DEPLETED BY CON DRUGS. NO EXAGGERATION. PEACE. STAY NATURAL.

      • Tyler LeBaron

        MSG or monosodium glutamate is simply an amino acid salt. You will get more MSG from adding salt (sodium) to your meat (contains glutamate) then adding it as a seasoning. Glutamate concentration in the body is regulated, it is a vital amino acid important for pH balance and protein metabolism. Glutamine can be deaminated to form glutamate which can then be deaminated to form alpha keto gluturate which is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle. If glutamate levels are low, the body simply adds an amino group to alpha keto gluturate to form glutamate. conversely when it is high it is deaminated and metabolized. If you want to make sure you don’t eat anything with glutamate in it, then don’t eat anything that has protein (you’ll die of course).

  33. Maggie

    I use a Santevia water filtration system, which removes most of the things you don’t want in your water then adds minerals you do want. The water is at the correct PH level and I really like the taste. I have also found that I like drinking water from a china mug and drink more as a result. Whatever works!

  34. Dee

    Hi all, Interesting discussion! We drink filtered well water.I used to drink Vivians delicious lemon and cucumber water but thougt that the lemon was causing a flare with my arthritis.I am now taking apple cider vinegar.My finger nais are now smooth and shiny. Nails are growing rapidly.A bonus is that my blood suger and gluecose fasting is greatly improved.

  35. Pauline Thomas

    Thanks Vivian for all your articles. I try to drink at least six (6) cups of water by 5pm each day. My problem is I was told that distilled water is acidic, so I drink RO water. I cannot drink tap water if it means saving my life or if I have no other choice I squeeze lemon in it. Lemon is acidic outside of the body, but when consumed as in the detox, lemon, plus Maple Syrup, plus Cayenne pepper which by the way really flushes out the toxins in your body.

    • Tyler LeBaron

      disstiled water will have approximantly the same pH as reverse osmosis water. it is due to CO2 that dissolves in the water, if you boiled it and got all the CO2 out the pH would be neutral 7. after letting it cool it will absorb more co2 forming carbonic acid making the pH around 5. Its not a strong acid though so it won’t affect the pH of your body!

  36. Evelyn Zundel

    Wonderful article. I have been drinking distilled water for years, with a few drops of lemon juice. Thanks Vivian for all the informative information.

  37. Leonard Green

    Reading all discussion I see clearly a major point of it:
    if we drink distilled water then we do not have enough minerals.
    But nobody discusses what minerals we loose. So it’s mostly general talks without facts. Adding lemon gives us Ca, Mg , Potassium. Also we have get those minerals from food or natural supplements . What else we are loosing?
    If we are loosing something essential, then how to add missing organic minerals to our intake? Clarification is necessary. Boron is extracted from Salt Lake. Is it organic? I think that we have enough copper from 80/20 food. We take K2 supplement. What else we need for bone health?
    Another major point is water alkalinity. People stated that with the high level of water alkalinity they got good PH level. Are there such kind of evidences for using distilled water with lemon + proper 80/20 diet?
    By the way the lemon is good alkalizer and freshener. So it’s kind of contradictionary with the theory that water alkalinity does not matter.
    Please clarify

    • Tyler LeBaron

      are you talking about the pH of the water or its alkalinity? the two are different-the former deals with the negative log of the hydronium ion activity the latter has reference to the buffering power of a solution.

  38. Valerie

    What a goldmine of great information! You seem to have answered every question I could raise. Thank you for all these facts. I’m determined to drink more pure water and to experience the benefits.

  39. Nu Ly

    Thank you for your article on water.

    I always carry a bottle with me when I go out. I extract celery, bitter
    melon, or capsicum etc…at least one week two times, every time two cups
    500ml. I think, I get enough water. thank you.

  40. bob

    Thnak you the message on water. It was great to have all the benefits of drinking water in one message. Please keep up the good work.

  41. julian

    Give us a break!You wrote “The earth is composed of 75% water(much like our bodies).” With a diameter of nearly 13,000 km and an average water depth of maybe of 1km , obviously the composition of water in the earth would be in the thousandths of a percent. Your talking about surface area which has no meaning in the context you are writing about. This is just skewing figures for effect; it is not a mistake a doctor could make. How much credence can we give to other claims you make? I have worked on a boat where we used RO water. It is incredibly active water and corrodes the tanks much faster than even seawater; and I know that the bigger ships add mineral to their distilled water systems to make it drinkable. In nature during our millions of years of evolution, drinking from rivers, creeks,springs ect., we would have drunk very little demineralized water. And the minerals, organic or not all play a roll in our metabolism I had thought.

    • Sandy

      wow. that comment was pretty angry. Why attack someone trying to share information? If you don’t agree you can say so without attacking.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Julian, per Nasa’s Earth Observatory website:

      “Viewed from space, one of the most striking features of our home planet is the water, in both liquid and frozen forms, that covers approximately 75% of the Earth’s surface.”

      Link: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Water/

  42. A reader a fan of several years...

    Love your work Vivian. Thank you….Keep it up.

    • vida

      It is interesting for me, thank you

  43. Laura

    Hi Vivian,
    Great article! I know you recommend distilled water. But have you researched alkaline, antioxidant, micro-clustered water? I know you think the alkalinity will change or neutralize in the stomach because of the hydrocloric acids. But that is actually false. The stomach acids are only produced when we eat so that it will break down the food. We don’t have an acidic stomach all of the time. Also regular water tends to make most people feel bloated especially if they drink a lot and you can actually feel it sloshing around in your belly. If you drink ionized water then it is absorbed at a cellular level instead of sloshing around in your belly. Therefore when you drink ionized alkaline, antioxidant water such as Kangen water it does not mess with your stomach acids and it actually improves digestion as well as a host of other improvements.

    • Kathryn

      I love ionized, mineralized drinking water. I agree with you on that one, however the stomach is always acidic, or trying to be acidic. If it is not, you end up with an ulcer from bacteria. It is the one part of your body that should be acidic at all times, more so when you eat. If you do not have enough hydrocloric acid in the stomach, you will not digest well or kill off salmonella, and other bad bacteria. You need to be acidic at all times. The rest of your body wants to be alkali at all times.

      • lo pearson

        Just wanted to share that I was drinking alkaline water and was recently diagnosed with a bacterial infection in my GI tract. I didn’t make a connection to the possible cause until I read the article regarding alkaline water possibly leading to baterial infections due to incomplete digestion because of its effect to the acidity levels in the stomach. I am no longer drinking alkaline water but just adding lemon juice to distilled water.

    • Tyler LeBaron

      There is always acid in the stomach. when the acid is neutralized the body than works to make it acidic again, when doing so it causes the blood to become more alkaline. That is how kangen water helps maintain pH homeostasis.

    • Laura

      Hi Vivian,
      I would love to know your thoughts about this. Have you researched ionized water? Thank you so much!

  44. Stan Ehnis

    I use Kangen water which Ionizes the water and Alkalizes the water. I use 9.5 alkalinity. It helped me to lose weight at first and keeps me healthier. I was told that reverse osmosis or distilled water is “dead water”. The investment was a large one but worth it for a lifetime of healthy living. I carry a bottle with me at all times.

  45. Rafael

    Why not take ionized water 9/10 ph and distill it?
    I use one of these 1 gallon 4 per day distiller.
    https://www.nutriteam.com/water-distillers/water-distillers.html

  46. Roma

    Thanks for your information. I was told that I have spinal ostoporosis. I hate taking any type of drugs and will like to know how to heal without them. I cannot afford to purchase your book. Do yu have any hand outs.flyers, etc? thank you

    • Kathryn

      Get off the wheat, meat and sweet. These are all stealing your calcium. They are acidic foods. You need to look up alkaline foods and make that 80-90 percent of your diet. Next take a high quality Calcium-Magnesium and a quality Mineral supplement. Get something good from a small company that make their own supplements. Do not drink milk for calcium… it is acidic too. Eat lots of Vegetables, fruit, oatmeal, brown rice…
      Last of all.. DO NOT DRINK SOFT DRINKS OF ANY KIND. They will rob you of calcium and minerals. Good luck to you, you can do it…. Kathy

  47. Marlena Santoyo

    Having been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I work out about three times a week at the Y swimming laps and doing my own water aerobics. Generally, I do tai chi once a week and some low weights a few times a week.

    My question is this. What should/could you recommend I put on my body to diminish the effects of the chlorine when I come out of the pool?

    • Nilza

      Hi Karen!!! I love my yellow home! The color is Butter from Sherwin Williams, no VOC paint. Let me know if you go for it! I think you’ll love it! It was the cslseot color I could find to warm sunshine making my house glow on those dreary winter grey days xoxo, Laura

  48. Eric

    The Hunza people of extreme northwest Pakistan who live in a mountain valley of the Himalayan mountain range are some of the healtiest people in the world. They drink cloudy looking water from the mountain streams which is full of minerals and sediments and are no worse for it considering their long life span. Of course, they eat a very healthy diet and have hardly any pollution. Patrick Flannigan .a brilliant scientist,worked for many years to try to duplicate this water in his laboratory considered to be so healthful in minerals .Just some food for thought. By the way, most animals drink stream, lake or pond water and have done so from the begining of time.

  49. Dorothy Openshaw

    I would like to know your opinion about Xylitol as a sugar substitute. I could not find a place to reply on that subject. I went to the health food store to buy Stevia and they recommended Xylitol which tastes just like sugar, but I have noticed it doesn’t give me the energy boost that sugar does. Is it healthful or does it have something wrong with it too?

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, so it’s acidifying. I recommend stevia as a sweetener, or honey.

      • Judy

        Thank you Vivian for ALL YOU DO FOR US!!

        As far as Honey, there are thousands. Which do you recommend? Organic, raw Manuka is tops, correct?

        • ESTELLE

          GET THE KIND THAT TASTES BEST TO YOU. IT STILL MAY RAISE BLOOD SUGAR AND/OR INSULIN THOUGH. AGAVE NECTAR IS A BIT SIMILAR TO HONEY AND IS LOW OR ZERO GLYCEMIC. ALSO SOME ORIENTAL GROCERY STORES SELL HONEY INFUSED WITH GINGER, JUJUBE AND OTHER THINGS. TRY THESE IF YOU ARE NOT DIABETIC OR PREDIABETIC. RAW HONEY IS SUPPOSED TO BE HEALTHIER ALSO. HAS SOME PROPOLIS IN IT WHICH HELPS KILL GERMS, AND IT TASTES GREAT. EXPLORE VARIOUS KINDS.

  50. Diane Martinson

    I use a Zero pitcher to filter our water, it says it filters out fluoride, (even called the company to double check), and other solids, comes with a gauge to check it so you know when to change the filter, you can use it to check other water too and it always measures high when the zero water measures 0.

    Diane

  51. Paumea James Edward Horton McKay Jnr

    Kia Ora (New Zealand Maori greetings which means More Godly Life to you) Vivian. I love the way you show your agreement ie Amen. More importantly I love your most respectful responses to people who for example chide or challenge you when they differ from your sound advice. You simply re state the “discovered” truth. ie. Those that speak against distilled water. It makes sense to me that distilled water is pure h2o. Nowhere do you state that the body can function at its optimum with h20 ONLY. I take it that pure h2o is simply one of the vehicles (car) that transports the other needed elements. That this car has no contaminants on board. That the needed minerals comes from organic sources which the body systems can utilize and not from inorganic sources which gets filtered out and if not eliminated forms solid mineral waste.
    Placebo. Who is to say that a dog does not have a built in system that can cause it to believe. Even if it can be proven that a dog does not have such a system. That does not prove that we humans do not. I grew up on a farm. When a dog or a cat (customarily carnovoures) are sick they will seek out certain grasses or weeds and eat them, when a wild animal is severely wounded nigh unto death, it can shut down the body functions and crawl into a brier patch (fortified healing place) and go with out food or water for many days. The cat dog wild animal did not go to homeo or medical college, yet somehow they apply the natural laws and live. Perchance the knowledge or information (intelligence) is imbedded in their very being. People who are disciplined in a certain form of yoga have been able to control their brainwaves and heart rates whereby they have been declared DEAD.
    Thank you for all your thoroughly researched articles and even more. They are presented in such simple everyday language that I don’t have to consult a homeo or medical journal to understand and apply. Paumea. Kia Ora Vivian

    is devoid contaminantsof transportinginoou point out that those “other” elements

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Kia Ora to you, Paumea!

  52. mary t ball

    Hi Vivian
    What a great and interesting aricle! Never realised there was so much to a humble glass of water Makes you wonder how some of our ancestors survived drinking well water!
    Mary.

  53. Rose

    Do you recommend Distilled Water for infants??

    • Tyler LeBaron

      NO! Infants should not get any water until they are at least 6 months old. (USDA and academy of pediatrics state this) water can easily induce hyponatremia in infants and other electrolyte imbalences. This is a serious issue! if you doubt it, do some research!

  54. Arthur

    Thank you. Very interesting.

    I tried to reply to your offer of material on foods to eat. supplements, etc.

    but could not find a submit button, or anyway to reply. Could you send it to

    me? Thank you.

  55. joe perez

    Vivian i love your web site ,find itfresh of new knowledge…keep up the good work information is always(new) to learn

  56. RogerAK

    Some time ago, when I was doing work on hard and soft water, it was stated by UK medical health people that soft water ( which presumably includes RO and evaporated as well) were less beneficial for the human heart.

    Also can you say more about fluoride not being removed by activated carbon filters. I have a combined activated carbon and UV filter that states that it does remove fluoride along with virtually everything else except beneficial minerals.

  57. Roger

    I remember working on the effects of demineralized i.e. water either produced by RO or by evaporation, and it was considered inferior to “normal” water (in this case the difference was between hard and soft water) as hard water was better for caridac conditions.

    One other question: fluoride will not be removed by activated carbon, you state. Is Activated carbon followed by UV good enough ? The filter manufacturers claim that it does !

    • Kathryn

      A carbon filter that is SOLID will work. Not easy to find but they are out there..look for SOLID CARBON WATER FILTER

    • RogerAK

      Excuse the duplication but your system told me the first mesasage was rejected.

  58. wendy

    Thank you, Vivian. Another great article from you!

  59. Charleen Gorbet

    Great article. I drank spring water for the minerals, but now will try distilled. Nice to know the connection between water and headaches too. Thanks vivian!

  60. Lillie Owen

    What do you think of H2O2 food grade 35%?

  61. Eileen

    Interesting comments to an interesting article. I use RO water; I read somewhere that a little Himalayan sea salt remineralizes the water. Do you have any comments on his?

    Also my dog refuses to drink tap water. Only drinks RO water. Tap water in her bowl stays for days while RO water gets lapped up within an afternoon.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Himalayan salt is a great way to salt your food, but not to drink it. And your dog must be very smart 🙂

      • ESTELLE

        WHY NOT DRINK HIMALAYAN SALT??? I’VE BEEN ADDING IT TO SANTA CRUZ LEMONADES CONTAINING ONE OTHER FRUIT OF VARIOUS KINDS, WHICH PROVIDE POTASSIUM TO MAKE AN ELECTROLYTE REPLACEMENT DRINK, PLUS CINNAMON TO HELP MY BODY PROCESS THE NATURAL FRUCTOSE AND EVAPORATED CANE JUICE. IT TASTES OK. ISNT HIMALAYAN SALT UNREFINED? WHAT IS ITS SOURCE? AND HEALTHY? WHAT IS ITS SOURCE? WHY NOT FOR WATER?? AND WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS AND CELTIC SEA SALT? HOW ABOUT TRADER JOES SEA SALT IN THE SHAKER BOTTLE, AND DO YOU KNOW ABOUT A.VOGEL (BRAND) UNREFINED(PROBABLY) SALT INFUSED WITH HERBS? HERBAMARE AND TROCOMARE ARE THE NAMES OF 2 BLENDS. I LIKE THEIR FLAVOR ON FOOD A LOT. ALFRED VOGEL WAS A HOMEOPATHIST AND MAYBE A NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY…FROM SWITZERLAND. HE PASSED AWAY SOME YEARS AGO, BUT HIS MANY VARIOUS PRODUCTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE. PROBABLY HE USED UNREFINED SALT OF SOME KIND, I’M GUESSING. I AWAIT YOUR ANSWERS. THANKS.

  62. Melvin L Hopper

    Hi Vivian, Nothing has been said in this article about using ozone to purify water. WHY NOT? The extra oxygen molecule oxidizes all things in the water that is not suppose to be there. Thousands of cities use ozone to purify their drinking water. Please let your readers know about this very great way to clean up their water. You can buy low priced ozone generators on ebay to do this job. Thanks, Mel

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Ozone kills pathogens in the water, and many companies that sell purified water use that system. But it doesn’t remove fluoride and other elements found in water.

  63. barry

    read recently that MOVING water (& moving air; & the ground: “grounding”) carries an electrical charge, that’s completely conventionally measurable; drinking moving, e.g., stream, water ( as we evolved with!) results in our bodies getting a highly beneficial +charge, in effect, an antioxidant-infusion; this can be somewhat duplicated by spinning our water, or just shaking a water-container; this also breaks up some kind of detrimental surface-tension that forms on standing water, which also begins to go stagnant

  64. Lou Callahan

    I have had cancer and in remission for 18 yrs. I switched to a system that makes distilled water and passes through mineral and charcoal for freshness and taste. I, too, add a little lemon or berry flavor once in a while.It’s helped a lot.

    • Ayseli

      How do you get distilled water? I have cancer and Ido drink a lot of water but it is tap water. Iwould be please if you can give me some information about distilled water.Thaks

  65. Pat

    I tried to read your message. However there was a box inserted in the middle asking me to twitt, send a facebook, e-mail someone or print. This was a great hardship in my trying to read. I was unable to remove it. Please do not put this in your most interesting and teaching articles which I do read and appreciate.
    Thank you,

    • Marcia

      The box floating in the middle of the type may be a fault of the browser you are using. Try downloading Firefox or Chrome and then open the page again to see if that works better. (Just do a search for either one of those names and download the software — it is free.)
      Hope that helps!

  66. Helga

    I am still confused….
    is distilled water good for us or not? Is it really important and worth the trouble to switch to distilled?

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Distilled water is what I recommend, and I explain why in great detail both in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program and in The Missing Link 🙂

      • dean hinds

        Is reverse osmosis water and distilled water not dead to the body? Surely the mineralised water is far better for the body to function as a whole. If this is the case, we may as well use fresh water generators and make dead water from the sea? I am rather concerned with this

        • Tyler LeBaron

          the important thing is that the water is clean of contaminents!

  67. Joan Kirkby

    Thank you very much for this article – it was very interesting and informative. I appreciate the information

  68. Leslie (Ms. L.)

    Hi! Vivian,

    Thank You VERY MUCH For The VERY INFORMATIVE Article On Water. It Was VERY INTERESTING!

    LOVE, LESLIE ( MS. L.)

  69. Hilaire de Gast

    Thank you for all you do. Your article on Water was much needed.
    Water can be a great pain reliever as Pauline above suggested for chest pains. Back pains can be relieved by drinking two glasses of water, instead of taking a pill.
    Water intake before bedtime can cause a wake up call to the bathroom. Each one of us must learn to stop drinking at a different time before bed.
    Lemon-is citric and some people could have an allergic reaction to citrics.
    Water is needed to lubricate the body, let’s give Vivian a Water Toast!

  70. Nikki K

    Distilled water is considered ACIDIC with a pH of about 7 (Seven).
    Drinking pure Distilled water can be beneficial for a short period of time
    (say a couple of weeks on a Detox diet or fast). You can adjust the pH and raise the pH of Distilled water (thus making it more ALKALINE) by adding minerals and/or baking soda to it. ALso…if drinking distilled water longer term, realize that the water has been DE-mineralized one must make sure their diet is Rich in MINERALS (from Veggies and Fruits), and/or else add a high quality mineral supplement that is easily assimilated to your diet.

    BEST WISHES ! for your Optimal Health ,

    Health Coach Nikki K.
    CHHC, Member AADP

    • Meg Mercer

      pH 7 is not acidic! It is neutral! Generally pH 6 – 8 is considered in the neutral area. Distilled water is closer to pH 6.5-7 while tap water is closer to pH 8.
      While I don’t disagree with your post – I just wanted to point out some errors.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      The pH of water doesn’t matter. Once it enters the stomach, it mixes with hydrochloric acid, which has a pH of 1.

      • Laura

        What about ionized restructured alkaline water? It is micro-clustered. It doesn’t change the pH of your stomach. In fact its helps promote better digestion. Your body is slightly alkaline and sicknesses and diseases thrive in an acidic body.

      • Ian Blair Hamilton

        Vivian, I keep hearing you say that, but I keep wondering why you don’t comment on the hundred years of studies showing the health benefits of mineralised hard water. I respect your work, but there’s a gap there I see. Love your comment

  71. Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

    Ian: while minerals are crucial to our health and even our survival, our cells cannot utilize inorganic minerals.

  72. Jen

    Because I have done experiments on organic yams with these waters, I don’t think RO and Distilled are healthy. The yams that were given RO and distilled were the sickest and slowest growing yams. Also, because water has a memory, like you stated in the article, that memory does not go away after you distill it or purify it. It is clean water, but it is still vibrating at the frequency of the contaminants it was mixed with. Because of this, your body does not absorb it as fast. I have a water system that re-sets the water to it’s natural vibration frequency and hydrates much better than RO or Distilled. I would love to show you my yam photos. Even the tap water yams did better than those two. My water systems yams had a dense root system before the other two barely got started. And the end result was a yam with the largest, thickest amount of leaves. They were the healthiest plants by far. The RO and Distilled were pathetic. RO and Distilled are also acidic because they are void of minerals. They are so acidic that they are “hungry” waters, and tend to leach minerals out of your bones. I am quite surprised you recommend them. I think everyone should have clean, alkaline, structured/ionized, naturally vibrating, hydrating water.

    • JoAnn

      But yams don’t eat veggies and fruit and they need the minerals in the water or soil to survive.

    • justin

      hi Jen

      wish i had your address.
      u wrote

      “…I have a water system that re-sets the water to it’s natural vibration frequency ..”

      fantastic and i feel the way u do…Wonder if u would care to share [the details] of your water system so i can try it with my tiny veggie garden next season.

      th21653@yahoo.com

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      You are correct,Jen. That’s precisely what plants do: they convert the inorganic minerals from the earth into organic minerals, so when we eat plants (fruits, veggies) we are consuming organic minerals! So it makes sense the yams with distilled water or RO water were starved! And that’s why we need to fertilize plants 🙂

  73. Lorraine Hansen

    Your article is really great except for your recommendation of distilled or reverse osmosis water. How can you recommend that for long term use when there are so many studies that show these waters leach minerals from our bones. So sorry that you make this kind of recommendation.

  74. maria

    I’m so confused! If I drink distiled water, will be no minerals…if I drink purify water, I’m not sure if is totaly clean.
    Please …HELP!!!

    • Barbara Klein-Robuck, MS, RN,

      Confusion is understandable. RO and distilled water are considered “dead” by many experts. I use the PiMag Water systems (counter top and sport bottle version) from NIKKEN to achieve the best combination of filtration to the highest NSF 42 &53 standards, mircroclustering to aid absorption and alkaline levels of 8.5 to 9.5…Our pets and plants are also thriving with these products.

      • Lori

        I was just going to ask Vivian why she does not recommend restructured ionized water. We purchased the Akai machine and now our litmus paper shows that we are alkaline. We also eat a good ratio of acid/alkaline foods but were having trouble getting alkaline until we incorporated this water!

  75. Mary

    This was an excellent article! Thank you for the in depth research. I also am an energy worker and there are so many connections to the health our body. This was well written and easy to follow. Again Thank you!!

  76. Don Butler

    Informative research. May I add the following traits of water to what you have indicated: Water is the only liquid on earth that freezes from the top-down. Were it any other way, all the fish would die! Also: Heart tissue has been shown to be immortal, when bathed in distilled water! Additionally, minerals must be processed by plants,{photosynthesis} to be useful to the human body. Minerals as found in water are useless to the human body, and can be very detrimental. Distilled water is the only water that can be defined as H2O. All other waters are H20, plus, plus, plus, whatever other contaminates are in solution. And! Simple as water (H20) seemingly is, we cannot produce a single drop of it. Kidney dialysis can only be performed using distilled water. So much more can be said for pure distilled water, {only water that be described as water}. Thanks for sharing your thoughtful description of water, the most common element on Earth! Without it, no life is possible!

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Great info, Don. Thanks for sharing!

  77. Joy

    Thank you Vivian for your well researched paper. Indeed fascinating!
    We have a filtration system on our water supply right where it comes into the house. This system is guaranteed to remove the chlorine, fluoride and any other toxins, leaving only the essential minerals. We also have a reverse osmosis system, which I use for beverages like teas, coffees, juices etc.
    My question is by drinking only reverse osmosis water, even with lemon, are we not missing out on essential minerals present in the filtered water?
    Joy

  78. Pauline

    Vivian: Thank you for this enlightening article and for putting all this info in one spot.

    I have osteo and suffer from inflamation of the chest muscles which wakes me up at all hours of the night. I’m not too keen on taking osteo medication although I did so for 5 years. After reading a multitude of information on studies regarding possible side effects, I decided to stop. When I woke up during the night with this intense chest pain and pressure, I would often drink water and found that it actually was the only thing that made me feel better which I thought somewhat strange but your article reinforces my belief that water is actually a quite soothing for a number of health issues, some minor and others not so minor. The real reason I had resorted to water is not because I knew any of what you just printed but it was because I had a few food sensitivities (I only knew what some of them were) and I thought that perhaps if there was some of those (or others which I was not aware of) in my system causing the pain, water might dilute the effect somewhat and help me go back to sleep. Well, lo and behold, I found that it actually really worked.

    Before I discovered this, my life was a nightmare. I had gone to the hospital emergency a number of times thinking I was having a heart attack because of the pain in my chest. The lack of sleep made me super hungry throughout the whole day and I ended up putting on 25 lbs when I had never been heavy throughout my entire life. I am now on the way to a much better state of health and am able to continue working, even as a senior. So, this may be anecdotal evidence but it is definitely not a placebo effect because I had never really heard of this and discovered it somewhat by accident.

    Thanks again, I will share this with others although I suspect, unfortunately, many will not believe it.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Water can help us heal… Did you know that most headaches are caused by dehydration?

  79. Joy

    Thank you for your well researched article on water. Indeed fascinating!
    We have an expensive filtration system on our water supply, right at where it comes into the house. This system is supposed to filter out chlorine,fluoride and a lot of other toxins, but retain the basic mineral content. We also have a reverse osmosis system, which I use for beverages like tea and coffee etc. My question is by drinking only reverse osmosis water are we not getting essential minerals even when we add a slice of lemon?
    Joy

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      You never get “essential minerals” from water, because they are derived from rocks, limestone, etc. They’re not “living” minerals that our cells can recognize and utilize… That’s why calcium has been linked to heart attacks, since most people take calcium carbonate, and it remains in the body clogging arteries, and more. If you haven’t yet, read this:
      https://saveourbones.com/calcium-heart-attack/

      • Laura

        Ok, I don’t get it. I do understand that Calcium supplements are synthetic ingredient or chemical. It is not from nature. Your body does not process synthetics the same way. So why are you dismissing calcium from nature? Why are you saying natural calcium is bad? Calcium is a natural alkalined mineral found in water. Your body needs the organic calcium not the inorganic calcium. Distilled water does not have any of the alkalined minerals left because it has been processed out. So what should we do to put those minerals back in? Take synthetics? I don’t get what you are implying here.

      • Laura

        Ok, I don’t get it. I do understand that Calcium supplements are synthetic ingrediant or chemical. It is not from nature. Your body does not process synthetics the same way. So why are you dismissing calcium from nature? Why are you saying natural calcium is bad? Calcium is a natural alkalined mineral found in water. Your body needs the organic calcium not the inorganic calcium. Distilled water does not have any of the alkalined minerals left because it has been processed out. So what should we do to put those minerals back in? Take synthetics? I don’t get what you are implying here.

      • justin

        if this be so–and i doubt not– but why is it that people living in certain ‘water’ ares have very soft teeth which they invariably lose in a comparatively short time. Others living in hard water areas appear to have much better/stronger teeth

  80. Jean

    Wow! Amazing and welcome, if only as a reminder to drink more water, a reminder much needed by many of us!

  81. june

    i am on blood preasure tablets walter tablets can these take from you the water you drink
    i am always very tired
    i dont like tap water
    june

    • SherryLee

      Don’t forget that some of your symptoms can be caused from toxicity……….you may have an overload of medicines or nitrates from foods or other reasons. See what Vivian says, but I would take a milk thistle tablet.

    • Elizabeth A. Livingston

      I know that I always feel better when I drink water, sometimes with lemon. My knees are definitely less creaky when I drink more water. Drinking more water helps one lose weight too. And, by the way, children’s headaches are often caused by dehydration. Children often play hard, inside or outside, and forget to drink. Parents will have happy campers if they are sure to give children water breaks. I knew one mother who gave her 4 children color coded plastic glasses to keep their summer water intake high.

  82. Judy Caldwell

    Very good and very helpful information. Thanks!

  83. Marie-Thérèse

    How much work and research went into this meaty article! Thank you very much Vivian
    Distilled water: I am not quite sure about where to get it: the 4litre jugs that you can buy at your regular supermarket, any advice?

    Grateful greetings

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Distilled water is sold in grocery stores, and the 4 litre jugs are fine. Make sure the plastic is BPA free, though. You might want to contact the manufacturer, just in case.

  84. Sally

    Go online. You can buy a distiller and make your own.

    • georgia becker

      what is a good distiller to buy for my home for two or one person

      • carole

        totally amazed at the article. Will be drinking a lot more.

    • Derek

      Why are water ionizers so common in Japan, when it was actually a Russian
      invention as far back as the 1950’s??????????? Is distilled water the best water to drink ????
      Why are there water clinics in Japan who use water to treat severe Medical problems ??? What is the importance of a high NEGATIVE ORP VALUE IN DRINKING WATER ????

      • sally klingler Klingler

        I have studied all types of drinking water on this planet and have consistently come up with mountain valley spring water from Arkansas This is an active spring. They used this water in th e white house and my doctors said It is much better than distilled
        Dr Weill does not approve of distilled.
        The kagan water system is questionable or ones like that
        I did my homework and am very sure that good spring water from a few good sources bottled in glass is the best water. The less water has to altered the better. Ask yoursel I you are drinking distilled does it come in plastic jugs? Rethink if it does. A huge hormone distrupter

  85. Colleen Kelliher

    Thank you Vivian for the great water article and all your wonderful articles. I will and have forwarded to friends! So helpful !!!

  86. Neelam

    Thanks, Vivien, for such an informative article. Just to add to your comments about water conveying energy, it may be of interest to note its use in Vedic religion and mythology. In ancient Hindu texts, whenever any rishi (learned beings) had to invoke a curse on an evil-doer, they would fill their palm with water, chant a mantra and sprinkle it on the person. The curse thus made was irrevocable and not even the rishi (if he later felt pity for the subject) could mitigate the effect!! So, more power to water!!!

  87. F Sood

    Thanks for your very interesting and useful information. Re chlorine other poisons in water: bacteria exposed to some antimicrobial substances produce L-forms (biologically active molecules) w potential to evolve to original and/or atypical forms like mycoplasma (agents for arthritis, cancer, pneumonia). ONE microbe to MANY L-forms to MANY MORE original and/or atypical microbes to EVOLVE and DEPLETE nutirents essential to host health – depress immune system. Big pharma does not talk about L_forms and mycoplasma, penicillin (beta lactams)a primary inducer of L-forms.

  88. Geraldine Fuller

    As a 90 year old and a few health issues, I KNOW to drink water but it is the hardest thing for me to do. I know and see the effects of not enough water in my system and I vow to do better but it seems it is impossible to drink more than a couple glasses a day. However, after reading your WATER report this morning I will drink more and I thank you so very much for your interest in all of us to give us the information you have given to inspire us to drink more water. God bless you and keep up your kindness to help us all to drink what God has given us for the wonderful machinery He made. Now to a glass of warm lemon water.

  89. Susanne

    What about distilled water? I heard drinking distilled water – specially in high quantities – can be dangerous. What do you say to this Vivien ?
    Thanks for replying.

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      I recommend drinking distilled water. It’s pure H2O!

  90. Susanne

    What about distilled water? I always heard say, we should not drink distilled water: that drinking – specially in high quantity – distilled water could even be dangerous.
    What do you say hiereto Vivien ?

  91. Josephine Raj

    Hello Vivian, Thank you very much for this article, I just sent it to my family.It was really interesting to read. I don’t drink 8 glasses of water. In the past I drank 8 glasses of water & up half the night using the toilet & I was so tired the next day. I just take 5 glasses a day. I feel that’s enough for me.I find that I don’t like my sleep disturbed at night.
    Thank you very much for the book too!!

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      You’re welcome!

  92. Rina

    I do not think long term drinking of distilled or RO water is ideal. It is so empty that it dissolves anything it passes along the way so it’s good for short term cleansing. I would prefer to alternate my water. My dog always show a horrible face when he drinks distilled water. My dog refuses distilled water after the first drink. Distilled water is not pure either as boiling from chlorine infused water merely change it to more nasty chemicals to be dissolved back into the distilled water – think chlorine smell from the pool.

    • maria

      I’m confused! What kind water should I drink? Distiled or purify water?

  93. Pene Smith

    Hi all. Bit confused. Read an indepth article recently that said anyone with osteoporosis should avoid vinegar, especially apple cider vinegar.???????????What the real answer. Anyone please.
    And also, where do you buy distilled water in Australia.
    Thanks heaps

    • bevg

      Hi Pene: That’s ironic that the article you read claims to stay away from ACV if you have osteoporosis. ACV actually is good for the body and adjusts our systems to the correct ph. Check out http://www.earth-clinic.com and do a search for ACV and you will find a list of what ACV is good for. It’s amazing stuff as long as you get raw, organic unfiltered ACV.

      • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

        ACV helps digest foods and absorb important nutrients, helping reach an alkaline pH.

  94. Derek O'Brien

    Vivien, Have you joined those dedicated to “Woo”? “Water Responds”!!! My god, Wooooooooo. “Water Remembers” more Woo. Please.

    You have lost all credibility Viv, lost the lot.

    Where is the real science? Not the crappy pseudo-science of the likes of Robert Young, the real, provable science. The science of repeatable testing, peer group review.

    • Jane

      Oh, you mean the ‘real science’ behind the drug testing used by the pharmaceutical companies that’s slowly killing us all off? It’s closed minded people like you Derek that keep their milti-billion dollar business thriving.

    • Hanna

      It’s a great asset to have an open mind and to be able to see further than so called “real” or “provable science”.

      • Maria Nielsen

        Hanna,I agree with you. Open mind helps specially considering that convencional science is not fooll proof and created many problems in many ways. One only has to think of pharmaceutical industry..who could trust them..only fools can and they count on that.

        • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

          Amen!

  95. Julie

    I really don’t think homeopathy can be explained by the placebo effect. When I was diagnosed hypothyroid, a homeopath gave me some pills which enabled me to cut the thyroid meds in half. As I had regular tests at that time, I could see the figures, and it certainly worked.

    What’s more, it continued to work for another ten years (don’t know why it changed). Placebo effects never last this long, being typically short-lived.

    And if it works on animals, placebo doesn’t explain it.

    • Maria Nielsen

      Julie,you are right. Homeopathy help me a great deal in many ways.

    • Susanne

      which homoeopathic remedy was it? I know one has to surch for the right homoeopathic remedy individually. But might be it could give a hint ?

  96. patricia wellington

    I will try ever so hard to drink more water as reading this article i can see were i have been going wrong.

  97. patricia wellington

    i have always said that i am a camel as i do not like to drink water but after reading Vivien i can see that i am not doing myself any favours. I suffer from osteoarthritis maybe that was the reason why i got it by not drinking much water.

  98. Marion

    Loved the catch up on water and I have a nephew who is a water fanatic so I will ford gim your thoughts as well.

    Thank you Have a great day.

    Best wishes Marion

  99. Stella

    Great Article !

  100. jean

    Thank you very much for all your good advice.

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