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
What do you think of H2O2 food grade 35%?
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.
Himalayan salt is a great way to salt your food, but not to drink it. And your dog must be very smart 🙂
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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,
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!
I am still confused….
is distilled water good for us or not? Is it really important and worth the trouble to switch to distilled?
Distilled water is what I recommend, and I explain why in great detail both in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program and in The Missing Link 🙂
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
the important thing is that the water is clean of contaminents!
Thank you very much for this article – it was very interesting and informative. I appreciate the information
Hi! Vivian,
Thank You VERY MUCH For The VERY INFORMATIVE Article On Water. It Was VERY INTERESTING!
LOVE, LESLIE ( MS. L.)
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!
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
The pH of water doesn’t matter. Once it enters the stomach, it mixes with hydrochloric acid, which has a pH of 1.
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
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.
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.
Ian: while minerals are crucial to our health and even our survival, our cells cannot utilize inorganic minerals.
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.
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 🙂
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.
th*****@***oo.com
But yams don’t eat veggies and fruit and they need the minerals in the water or soil to survive.
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.
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!!!
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.
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!
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!!
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!
Great info, Don. Thanks for sharing!
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
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.
Water can help us heal… Did you know that most headaches are caused by dehydration?
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
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/
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
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.
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.
Wow! Amazing and welcome, if only as a reminder to drink more water, a reminder much needed by many of us!
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
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.
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.
Very good and very helpful information. Thanks!
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
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.
Go online. You can buy a distiller and make your own.
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 ????
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
what is a good distiller to buy for my home for two or one person
totally amazed at the article. Will be drinking a lot more.
Thank you Vivian for the great water article and all your wonderful articles. I will and have forwarded to friends! So helpful !!!
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!!!
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.
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.
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.
I recommend drinking distilled water. It’s pure H2O!
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 ?
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!!
You’re welcome!
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.
I’m confused! What kind water should I drink? Distiled or purify water?
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
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.
ACV helps digest foods and absorb important nutrients, helping reach an alkaline pH.
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.
It’s a great asset to have an open mind and to be able to see further than so called “real” or “provable science”.
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.
Amen!
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.
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.
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 ?
Julie,you are right. Homeopathy help me a great deal in many ways.
I will try ever so hard to drink more water as reading this article i can see were i have been going wrong.
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.
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
Great Article !
Thank you very much for all your good advice.
Thanks Vivian for this very informative and interesting subject of Water, and it’s importance in our daily life. Sometimes I tend to forget to drink as I should until my body is practically screaming for water. Living in Europe, the cold climate contributes to our not feeling the need for water as much as in the hotter countries or islands, so thanks for reminding us that we always need to drink thirsty or not. I will try to remember that, for I see in me some of the signs of dehydration which I would not recognize had I not read it in your report. Thanks again and God bless you in your work.
Don’t forget to drink, even if you’re not thirsty 🙂
Might this explain the effects of reiki and other ‘energy’ healing? Also EFT (emotional freedom tecnique) uses tapping of the meridians to switch to positive core body responses
Hi Vivian,
I love reading your articles of different issues , like this water drinking. Where can I buy distilled water? Here in UK I can’t find anywhere to get distilled water.
Please reply
Bernadette
You might want to contact a company that delivers water to homes (if that exists). Or consider getting a distiller.
I do not really know how you distil wateror what it is,
I had always bought it from a gas station store for use in my iron!
Is this the water you mean if not how to distil water…?
Re HOMOEOPATHY, the proof that the effect of homoeopathy is NOT PLACEBO is its definite effect, i.e. healing, when used with babies and animals, something which cannot be attributed to expectation of the subject.
The French scientist Jacques Benveniste (died in 2004) proved that the water structure changes permanently after the homoeopathic remedy, that was earlier added, removed, which tells without doubt that the substance would have a permanent effect even after every single molecule has been removed.
In addition to all this, my long experience with homoeopathy and that of my family and many friends is the best proof of this wonderful healing system.
Thank you so much Vivian for your valuable information regarding general health practices and bone health in particular.
I am so thankful that you are truly a health professional who cares for our well-being.
What value can one put on that?
You are “worth your weight in gold” and then some!!
Keep up your wonderful work; Harold Mattner; sen.
Thanks for your kind words, Harold!
Some of the text and words that Masaru Emoto used was text from the Quran and the exalted names of God – he describes the experiments: ‘My Muslim colleague offered to recite Koranic verses over the water. He brought a tape recorder and played some Koranic verses, and we got the most perfectly shaped crystals. Then he played the 99 names of Allah. Each name produced a uniquely-shaped crystal. Then he began cursing the water. We said: Water, you are impure. You are not suited for consumption. The water, in this case, did not freeze, produced an extremely ugly crystal.’
Vivien says: ‘When you think about it, water is the common thread that unites all life’; absolutely correct, for the Quran says: ‘We have made from water every living thing’ Prophets:30.
thank you very much for your interesting emails on water.
it is very instructive to people who do not give much care to WATER.
I would like to say a personal observation that for me
WATER is GOD, and GOD is in WATER. o would like to request to so many
people and countries all over the world to please do not waste WATER.
there are people who do not have water to drink-leave apart for hygiening – and sometime it is nature i understand when we are weak infront of WATER. as you said IT give life and take life. SO GOD who give life and
mark the destiny to return life.
sorry if i said something bad.
Thank you
best regards
Indeed a good article to make our lives easier & healthier.