Water, Water, Water
The number one killer in the United States is not cancer or heart disease. It is dehydration. The Earth is 70-80% water, and our composition is the same. Our brains are 80% water and cannot transmit electrical impulses without the conductivity of water. Because we are energy, electro-mechanical-biological and chemical beings, we depend on water to conduct every function, every nerve impulse, every muscle movement.
Since the early fifties, Americans have changed their drinking habits and the Earth's aquifers have become more polluted with herbicide, pesticide, pharmaceutical and waste runoff.
Chlorine, added to most municipal water supplies as a disinfectant, hardens arteries, destroys proteins in the body, irritates skin and sinus conditions, and aggravates asthma, allergies, and respiratory problems.
Chloroform, a powerful by-product of chlorination, causes excessive free radical formation (accelerated aging), mutation of normal cells, and cholesterol oxidation. It is a known carcinogen!
DCA (Dichloro acidic acid) is a chlorine by-product. It alters cholesterol metabolism, and has been shown to cause liver cancer in lab animals.
MX (Another chlorinated acid), is known to cause genetic mutation, and has been found in all chlorinated water for which it was tested.
Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC's) are another group of contaminants that may be found in drinking water supplies across the nation. VOC's are those organic chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals). that are "readily vaporizable at a relatively low temperature, with no visible characteristics, smell, or taste You have to test for them to find them VOC's can cause cancer: kidney, liver, and brain damage: and damage to the nervous, reproductive, and immune systems.
Fluoride. Massive research studies have been done on fluoride and fluoride compounds and by-products, both in the U.S. and in Europe and Canada. 98% of the European community banned the use of fluoride more than fifty years ago because of it's negative affect on neurological body systems and probable connection to increased osteoporosis and hip fractures. The studies also show that fluoride does NOT prevent tooth decay. Fluoride is actually a by-product of aluminum. If I were a major corporation who manufactured aluminum and needed to dump the by-product without penalty, I would devise a way to legally dump the product, make money by its capture, and promote it as being beneficial in one way or another. If I was really smart, I'd make sure I only funded a few studies that couldn't prove any real harm of my product, and lobby to discontinue any further study. "In my opinion, the evidence that fluoridation is more harmful than beneficial is now overwhelming and policy makers who avoid thoroughly reviewing recent data before introducing new fluoridation schemes do so at risk of future litigation," writes Dr.Hardy Limeback, Ph.D., D.D.S
Dr. Limeback was one of the 12 scientists who served on the National Academy of Sciences panel that issued the 2006 report, "Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of the EPA's Standards." Dr. Limeback is a dentist, researcher and an associate professor of dentistry and head of the preventive dentistry program at the University of Toronto.
The "crisis" of dental decay in the U.S. often mentioned is the result, to a major extent, of sugar abuse, especially soda pop. A 2005 report by Jacobsen of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said that U.S. children consume 40 to 44 percent of their daily refined sugar in the form of soft drinks. Since most soft drinks are themselves fluoridated, the small amount of fluoride is obviously not helping.
The Eleven best reasons for clean water filtration: -
1. There are 35,000 registered pesticides containing 600 chemical compounds. Yet municipal water systems are only required to test for six (6). Many of these chemicals are known to cause birth defects, nerve damage, sterility, and cancer. (ABC News).
2. - The World Health organization estimates 75% to 80% of cancer may originate in our water and environment. (Forever Living).
3. - The General Accounting Office reports that 20% of the nation's 65,000 community systems are unable to meet minimum standards set by the Safe Drinking Water Act. (Readers Digest).
4. - A recent government study found that more than 25% of all large U.S. public water systems contain traces of one or more toxic substances...public water systems do not test for the carcinogens and other dangerous chemicals that are being found. (Wall Street Journal).
5. -One federal study found 87% of the conventional sewage plants discharging excess pollutants. Even when the plants work well, they can't remove much nitrate, heavy metals, or pesticides. (Prevention Magazine).
6. - In 1982 alone, there were 70,000 violations of drinking water standards by municipal water systems. And how many more have we had since then? (Readers Digest).
7. - EPA revealed that dangerous chemicals are leaking out of as many as 16,000 landfills throughout the U.S., percolation down through layers of soil into the vast underground water reservoirs called aquifers. (Discover Magazine).
8. - Trihalomethanes are created when chlorine reacts with decaying organic matter in the water. This group of four organic halides contaminates 90% of this country's drinking water. All four compounds including chloroform, were banned as an anesthetic in 1976, and are either known or suspected of causing cancer. (Consumer Reports).
9. - Today a new specter looms over our reservoirs: cancer. There's considerable speculation that the rise in cancer deaths, now 20% for the nation as a whole, many be due in part to the pesticides, fertilizers and industrial wastes that increasingly find their way into our water supplies. (Readers Digest).
10. - Despite improvements in both public and private water treatment practices, there are still harmful chemicals in 90% of the water we consume. (New Shelter Magazine)
11.-1,268,000 new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year in the U.S. (July 12, 2002 American Cancer Society.
We have become a nation that relies on soda, coffee, tea, and alcohol for our liquids, rather than two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, water. We don't like the way water tastes because the fifties gave us chlorinated water or salt based filters, so we look for anything that tastes better to drink, or we don't drink at all.
The phosphorous in carbonated drinks attacks cell walls and eventually destroys the cell. Colon cancer and liver disease are direct results of this cellular destruction. The colon uses hydration and dehydration to eliminate waste and cannot function without the essential properties of water. If the colon is sick, the body is sick. The liver tries to filter the leaking waste and eventually becomes full of sludge, no longer able to supply clean and nourished blood to our lungs, heart, and other organs.
Coffee and teas are just as dangerous to our bodies. They are diuretics, water eliminators, and can also leech calcium from our bones. Calcium not only keeps our bones strong, but also keeps us calm and relaxed. When we drink coffee, the loss of calcium alerts the adrenal glands, which go into high gear to try to keep us alive. Eventually, the adrenals tire and the rest of our endocrine system tries to take over. Now we have adrenal exhaustion, Epstein-Barr syndrome, thyroid and hormone imbalances, and a host of chain-reaction diseases.
Tooth decay and diabetes are direct results of sugary drinks, along with obesity and ADHD, yet we feed our children anything and everything except good water.
It boils down to, (excuse the pun), a battle between hydration and dehydration, the later being the most prevalent cause of death in the United States.
When I am asked or grilled about water, one of the most consistent arguments is that all of our food and beverages contain water, so we must be getting enough of it. Well, go to the desert and watch what happens to the plants and animals that manage to survive there. The plants have adapted to arid conditions and hold any water they can absorb. If you have ever had swollen feet or ankles, your body was doing the same thing, holding any water you've absorbed so you can survive. During a desert rainstorm, much of the water drains away or is absorbed by the sand. Your body reacts similarly if you suddenly hydrate it after sustained dryness and heat. The water doesn't have time to reach your cells and penetrate the cell walls, causing edema, nausea, and a negative body reaction. Floods in the body are the same as they are on Earth. Stagnated chemicals and waste form more sludge and our tissues can't handle the onslaught of debris.
If the desert analogy doesn't work for you, experiment with your garden or houseplants. They won't grow if you use coffee, beer, tea, or soft drinks to hydrate them.
Then, of course, we have the additional problem of chemical absorption during showers and baths, and chlorine gases released during cooking. Your skin is the largest organ, and not only acts as a barrier to germs and disease, but also allows for the absorption of beneficial oxygen, vitamin D from the sun, and water. You absorb more chemicals in a month of showers than you would drinking eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day for five years.
Boiling water, a common practice after storms that affect water quality, releases chloroform, chloramines, and other chemical by-products into the air that are not only inhaled, but are also absorbed into dry wall, furniture, clothes, and other fabric.
The Ph level in your water is also an important factor in keeping you healthy. The body needs to balance itself at a minimum Ph level of 7.4 - 8. Even if we eat a fairly alkaline diet, the acidic levels of our drinking water can erase the benefits. Disease lives in acid, and cannot survive in an alkaline environment. Check your water from several taps using a pool kit. If it's not at an acceptable level, contact your water department and find out why. As water departments can vary which chemicals and additives they use on a daily basis, it's best to check over a three day period, and then check again the following week. Also, immediately after a rainstorm is a good time to check for added chemicals and acidity.
Suddenly we are hearing about drugs in our drinking water. Not so sudden for those of us who study water. The problem with the "new" discovery is that investigators are still limited in their understanding and scope. The drugs in our water aren't just coming from people emptying prescription bottles into the toilet. They are coming from our bodies. Our drug-saturated bodies are doing the best they can to dispose of toxic waste, and then we drink them, and bathe in them.
Healthcare problems in America are serious. We need serious leadership. We don't need new ways to charge people for visiting doctors and receiving more drugs. We don't need new ways to make sure children receive more drugs. We need drug education and government responsibility for the "mess" they've caused. We need to disband the FDA and EPA and start over. We need prevention. Much of that, besides not being a drug-dependent society to begin with, starts with water.
Good water is filtered the same way the Earth filters water, through several layers of carbon and granite with electrical shocks that mimic the ionizing effect of lightning. Refrigerator filters, especially those that are never cleaned, and the small filters on water taps remove only the odors and a small amount of chlorine. Bottled water is fairly good, depending on its source, but we once again pollute the environment with millions of plastic bottles. We also have to be aware that the bottles are, in most cases, cleaned with chlorine products, and the chlorine seeps from the plastic back into the water. The billion dollar bottled water industry need to offset their financial gains with solutions to environmental problems. As a child, I spent hours collecting returnable glass bottles for 2 cents each. The incentive to return plastic bottles could keep them from going into landfills. Another solution would be glass returnable bottles, which would stop the chlorination seepage. Distilled water, though free of most contaminants, is dead water, and should only be used for specific maladies or in rotation with mineral or spring water.
There are companies that provide full-house water systems or apartment sized systems that can supply us with pure water, but even these need to be researched. Many use salt, a corrosive agent that not only destroys plumbing, but also actually can add salt to your diet. Others use simple carbon filters that only minimally remove sediment and some chlorine. Look for systems that have several layers including Centaur carbon, KDF, and granite to be sure you've removed all of the chemicals and sediment.
We are water, and we need to recognize the importance of this vital nutrient, find ways to incorporate it in our daily routines, and help each other relearn to eat, drink, and be merry.
Rayna Gangi is a holistic health consultant, multi-state licensed massage therapist, registered reflexologist, author and teacher.
http://www.earthwalk-usa.com
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