Water and your health clarified!

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Water and your health clarified!

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water
What is water? Is there a specific type of water that is best for you?

As Leonardo Da Vinci said ‘water is the driver of nature’. It’s the substance that makes you up. The majority of your body is made up of water, like 70-80%. H2O, 2 hydrogen atoms covalently bonded with an oxygen….the truth is water is not just H2O. Its H2O with other substances dissolved into it. This is what gives water its structure, its life.

Water by itself is just a carrier, it carries our hormones, nutrients and everything into our body. Water is a liquid crystal and because of this, water transmits and stores energy. Research shows that just a 5% drop in our bodies hydration can lead to a 25-35% drop in energy levels. When you get to a certain point in dehydration you are damaging your DNA.
So what roles does water play in our body?

  1. It’s important for the maintenance of your DNA .
  2. It facilitates reactions in the energy power plants of your cells, the mitochondria.
  3. Your blood which transports oxygen, nutrients, antibodies and waste removal through the body. Blood is over 90% water.
  4. Digestion. Water helps you get rid of toxins and waste through your digestive system.
  5. It helps regulate your body temperature. It cools you down and heats you up when you need it.
  6. Your cerebral spinal fluid of your central nervous system, water keeps this and your brain working right. All that communication needs to work properly.
  7. It helps with synovial fluid for those suffering with arthritis, degenerative spinal disk disease and other joint/disk problems.
  8. Your body uses water as a pathways to transport neurotransmitters. So data from your brain to your toes and so on.
  9. Water helps shift fat and other toxins out of the body though way of detoxification through out breath, sweat and excretions.
  10. And of course water helps our skin, hair and muscles stay strong and elastic. Plus repair when needed.

Research has shown that mild dehydration slows the metabolism as much as 3%. So to make things worse, when we are dehydrated we can get hunger pangs. We then can consume more food as we mistake this dehydration for hunger and this of course leads to excess weight. On top of that, if we are dehydrated then our digestive system is also not functioning properly, so we are not excreting all this extra food and toxins out of our body. * Just a little bit of dehydration is going to slow down your fat burning ability! ( In a study, 1 glass of water stopped hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters in a University of Washington experiment).

Dehydration is also the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue and headaches. If this is you, drink at least 1 liter of water as soon as possible and I guarantee you will get some relief.
So for weight loss, we want to be eating not only a higher quality of whole foods but avoiding those foods that make us retain fluids like carbohydrates (carbo – HYDRATES). Carbohydrates can trigger your body to store about 4 grams of water. For each gram of carbohydrate you consume you store about 4 grams of water. Even the ‘good’ carbohydrates. Your body will also store fluids if the is an acidic reaction going on, in its strive to survive. So if you’re eating a lot of processed, high sodium, junk foods.
Our water supply……is incredible but there are some problems in place. Like the addition of chlorine, fluoride, pesticides and believe it or not, pharmaceuticals. Chlorine is in fact bleach, which is used to kill pathogens. Chlorine is an antibiotic, it kills everything. So over time this is going to destroy your gut biome. You gut is where your immune system is homed and hormones are located. Fluoride as once thought to help strengthen our teeth can in fact damage our brain. Studies have shown that dementia like effects occur when exposed to fluoride and The NRC also note significant risks to your thyroid, bones and bone cancer with exposure to fluoride. Its similar to calcium but its not calcium so actually makes our bones brittle. Most industrial counties have banned the use of fluoride in water. The Associated Press did an investigation in 2008 found that people were consuming water tainted with pharmaceuticals ranging from antibiotics to anti-depressants to muscle relaxants. There was actually 56 different varieties of pharmaceuticals found in the water supply. This is due to runoff from hospitals, residential areas, agricultural businesses etc. This is not to scare you though but rather make you aware. Not all water is sourced the same though, some comes from springs and wells which is what we ideally want. These also contain probiotics and natural minerals.

So what are our options? Most people will turn to bottled water which a lot of the times bottled water is just tap water which has a lot of the same water issues as we have just seen. Plus the plastics that hold the water photo-degrade, so this means they break down in light. And because water is a universal solvent so the plastic become a part of the water. That’s why we at least want to opt for BPA free bottles. It’s still plastic but its a bit better. Ideally we should be using glass bottles to hold our water. Filters are a great way to improve the quality of water but make sure you invest in a good filter…..( fyi Britta is made by Clorox so not the best choice). Distillation is also another great option. Some people buy distilled water or they distill the water themselves. But this is blank water and we are looking for water with a structure and certain dissolved solids. Purified water means the water has just been run through some sort of filter. RO systems, reverse osmosis, this again gives blank water but it doesn’t destroy as much of the water structure as distillation.
Alkaline or pH neutral water…….this means ionizing the water, splitting of the ions give the water and alkaline pH. (7 or below). When we talk about the pH of water we are talking about the mineral content in the water. When it come to these ionizing machines, this means the pH is altered by man which causes the disassociation of water. The water is being exposed to electricity and not in a natural way like being struck by lightning. So the water molecules are being split and thus this is not a complete matrix of natural water. So clinical studies have revealed injury to cardiac tissue due to drinking ionized water for long periods. Why because what it is an alkali? Its a drug. In small doses it can help but should not be consumed in excess. (pshh – the truth is, if it was really alkaline, it would probably burn your face off).
So what’s the best water to consume? Well water is one. Wells connect to aqua-furs or underground lakes deep down under the ground. The water in aqua-furs has been there for thousands of years so is one of the purest substances on the earth. These may have a higher TDS or total dissolved solids content. Also seen as ‘mineral water’ or artisan water in stores. This water also comes out in springs where it has matured and has a lower TDS. Spring water is the ultimate choice because of its purity and the mineral content levels. Check out FindaSpring.com to find a local spring near you where you can go harvest your own water.
So your store water choices would be well or spring water, bottled in glass. My top 4 being Mountain Valley spring water (this can be hard to come by), Acqua Panna, San Pellegrino and Voss. Now…………..3 ways to liven up your water and make it more beneficial to you!

  1. adding some sea salt, rock salt or Himalayan salt will change the pH of the water naturally while providing essential minerals.
  2. adding lemon can instantly improve how you feel and improve your hydration.
  3. adding chopped fresh fruit and/or vegetables can be really fantastic for adding flavors and nutrients as well as electrons which put some life back into your water.

I hope you found this article helpful and please share it with anyone you feel would benefit from this information 🙂
Your Model Health coach
Chemaine xo


5 Comments

admin

October 21, 2016 at 2:56 am

This is quiet a read so best to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea while you absorb this valuable information 😉 xo

swilcox78

November 7, 2016 at 2:21 am

Hi! Does lemon from a concentrate bottle count assmin or does it need to be right from a whilelemon?

    swilcox78

    November 7, 2016 at 2:21 am

    *a whole lemon that should read darn autocorrect

    admin

    November 7, 2016 at 2:31 am

    Hi! Great question!
    The whole lemon in any case is always better than the concentrated one, if you have the choice. You can certainly go with the bottled concentrated juice though with no major worries about its healthiness. I would say that it is 90% of what the real juice would be. It will have been stripped of some of its nutrients in the bottling or pasteurization process. But generally there are no major concerns with using the ‘bottled’ version. 🙂

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