By Dr. Brian Clement on September 19, 2011
Without water, there is no life. Humans can only survive for a few days without consuming this nectar of the gods. Much of this liquid nourishment comes from the food we eat. The most water-rich foods –and therefore the most healthy — are plant-based, organic and raw.
With their electromagnetic, ionic charges, the juices extracted from fresh, vegan fare fulfills the need for hydration while supplying high-level nutrition. Water constitutes a significant portion of the body mass in every living thing.
Much of the oxygen we need comes from water — another reason we should drink copious amounts. Surprisingly, an average daily intake of water for an adult contains approximately three times as many molecules of oxygen as are consumed through respiratory metabolism.
A person who is not living in an arid climate and/or active in the outdoors should consume a minimum of 1-2 ounces of water per pound of body weight per day. For very active individuals, and those residing in the desert, more is required.
Water not only hydrates our trillions of cells — it helps to clear our bodies of toxins and is the most effective lubricant and carrier of bioelectric energy. Even our bones are made up of 40 percent water. Dehydration can actually provoke death. All we have to do to see water’s power on us is to avoid drinking for a full day.
The molecular structure of water is also of great interest. Stagnation (lack of movement) and chemical manipulation cause water molecules to become disorganized. This disorganization creates friction when cells attempt to absorb water. This interrupts hydration. When our cells lack hydration, dysfunction occurs.
Water is so central to our physical and spiritual needs that to ignore the importance of water may cause disaster — both personally and globally.
If wars have been fought over oil — a substance that we merely invented a need for — what are we willing to do for access to that which makes all life possible? In this century, this question will manifest into reality, becoming a critical factor in international affairs.
It is important we all realize that water is a sacred substance. After all, each of us resided in water in our mothers’ wombs for nine months. Unfortunately, many of us consider H2O an abundant substance that does not deserve respect.
In many indigenous cultures, water is a carrier of disease. For this reason, “civilized man” began assaulting water’s potential microbes with deadly, human-made chemicals. This resulted in myriad new problems rooted for this extraordinary elixir. Cancer and many other illnesses are directly connected to the fluoride, chlorine and chemical debris that float within drinking water.
As far back as 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that chemicals such as fluoride, an aluminum industry byproduct intentionally placed in municipal water systems, causes tumor growth. Chlorine (another intentional additive) is far from harmless. It has been directly linked to the risk of miscarriage, birth defects, and weakening of the immune system.
The average public water supply contains a minimum of 27 different chemicals. Pharmaceutical drugs, including steroids, insect repellents, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides — as well as many more organic and inorganic chemicals — reside not only in municipal water, but in Earth’s waters.
Contamination isn’t only a concern when drinking; bathing and showering in this toxic stew allows even more of these vile substances through your skin. Globally, our aquatic ecosystems are slowly but surely being destroyed by human-made chemicals. Our greed and carelessness also cause weather-related disorder. The idea that we can pour pollution into our water and air and then simply “strain it out” is absurd. Such thinking must be abandoned. Nearly every lake, river, stream and pond in Europe and North America contains mercury. We must immediately begin to treat water with the same respect with which we aspire to be treated.
How can we deny that water possesses character and energy? When observing waves crashing on the shore or whirlpools that dot rivers, brooks and streams, we see that the power of water is tremendous. This wondrous substance has the potential to stir us, calm us, frighten us or awaken us. Water is the primal element from which we all spring and that to which we ultimately return as we break apart and become part of Earth’s great system.
Throughout history, many humans have understood the central need for H2O. It is used to baptize newborns, and some cultures send elders off in boats to the “Aqua Yonder.” Nothing is more calming than staring at the ripples in the lake or even a contemplation pond. Water respects people so much that it manifests our images as we gaze through the transparent liquid.
Swimming in clean water has proven to be the only exercise that utilizes every muscle in complete coordination with all parts of the brain. Therapeutically, water calms muscles, releases pain, and activates the lymphatic system and bloodstream. Cleansing our bodies of the many ounces of waste that leave through our skin each day is possibly the second most important function of water. When we choose the purest water, our bodies hydrate, function, and excrete at maximum levels.
There is actually a well-established science surrounding the therapeutic benefits of bathing in healing waters, including mineral springs, jacuzzis and hot tubs. The health of our water is nothing short of the health of our species.
Allow yourself to rekindle a healthy and balanced relationship with water, our second most important element, only trumped by oxygen. When you learn to use this phenomenal gift in a kind and respectful way, you will gain the benefits that it is here to offer.
For more information on how to optimize your health, see http://www.hippocratesinst.org.
Photo credit: Hani Amir
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By Sophie Uliano on November 12, 2009
Many predict that in the not too distant future, we will be fighting over water, not oil. The problem is that the Earth isn’t generating the clean, drinkable water that it used to. The good news is that if we can use less and learn to protect our rivers, lakes and oceans, we may drink to see another day! So how can we really get a grip on our own personal situation?
There are many small changes that you can make today. Would you consider trying to cut down your home water consumption by half? Since the average American uses 151 gallons of water per day, and the French get by on just 71 gallons (Brits even less), it makes sense to give it a go. Here are some tips to get you started: Consider purchasing an Eco Drop. This is a British invention, which measures how much water you use when you shower. The little man icon displays how much water is pouring out and when you’ve used the recommended amount (which is pretty fair), a buzzer goes off for 5 seconds. Since I get carried away with all manner of scrubs and exfoliators in the shower, it makes sense to have, however annoying it is, that little man telling me when enough is enough. A shower used 2.5 to 4 gallons per minute for a conventional shower head. It might also be a good idea to get a low-flow shower head too. They are inexpensive an can cut down your water consumption by half.
The toilet uses 3.5 to 6 gallons per flush. That’s a lot of water. Consider:
a) A low-flow toilet
b) A dual flush toilet (where you press a different flush button for #1′s and #2′s)
c) Placing an old liter water bottle filled with small rocks into the toilet tank
A bath uses up to a whopping 60 gallons a day. That’s almost your entire water quota (if you’re going for 75 gallons). I am trying to give up the tub altogether, although I have to admit, it’s my biggest eco-sin.
Your Dishwasher uses 4 gallons per load if it’s Energy Star rated (6 if not). ONLY run when its choc full.
Watering your lawn can be the biggest waster of the lot. When running your hose, you are using 5 to 10 gallons per minute. Ugh – so when I’m only watering the planters on my patio, I can easily use up to 50 gallons on a hot day.
It makes sense to either rip out your lawn and landscape an edible front yard or have some eco-friendly artificial grass installed – a worthwhile investment. I love New Grass.
I’m all for the edible front yard. Even if you don’t want to rip up your entire front yard, you could build two or three raised beds and grow quite a few veggies. I’m currently teaching a Garden-To-Table class to the 6th Graders at a Charter School in Los Angeles. We have just built raised beds and last week we planted baby salad leaves and Arugula. When asking the kids, who doesn’t like lettuce, a few (many boys), raised their hands. That’s my Gorgeously Green Challenge this month: to persuade these foot-shuffling/eye-rolling dudes that baby salad leaves, drizzled with fruity olive oil and balsamic is heavenly.
Either way, even if its pouring with rain in your neck of the woods, consider the bigger picture and treat clean water as a limited and extremely precious resource.
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By Guest Blogger on October 29, 2009
Today, Kris and CSL have asked James Frame to share the benefits of Sole, which is especially handy during cold and flu season! James works with a medical team at Natural Health International to empower and educate consumers. Read on to learn about how sea salt affects the body and how you can integrate Sole into your daily life…
James Frame, CEO of Natural Health International
Vaccinations, antibiotics, antihistamines, cold and flu tablets… immune system?
Over the last seven months, I have been on the road, spending most of my time in hotel rooms, planes, hire cars, and shaking hands with on average forty people a day. Yet not once have I been sick or even had a sniffle…except for the one hangover in NYC, but that is another story.
A number of friends, some of them travelers like me, have been sick once every two months! So what is my secret? I have a strong immune system. An immune system is a combination of biological processes that protect against disease.
One of the most important foundations of our immune system and the function of our entire body are minerals. Sodium chloride (salt) is close to the top of this list. As an example, osmosis, the transfer of liquids from one cell to another, is managed by the salt concentration in the cells. The liquid in a cell always moves from a cell with a lower salt concentration to a cell with a higher salt concentration. In fact, a number of the doctors I work with have found that patients who take Himalayan Crystal Salt with their supplements often only need half the amount of supplements!
The body always strives to balance the amount of salt concentration so that the energy is transmitted equally throughout the body. That is why having completely purified water with no minerals isn’t such a good idea. The pure water you put into your body often doesn’t hydrate optimally and leeches out minerals from your cells as the body tries to create equilibrium.
Your body is composed entirely of minerals and water. As an incredibly powerful solvent in your body, the hydrogen molecules in pure water provide nutrients in the form of energy to your cells and remove discarded, used energy. Without regular replacement of the water in your body, the cells will die. Likewise, without replacing essential trace minerals systematically in the correct, water soluble, ionic form, the cells will malfunction, become weak and diseased.
In order for your body to benefit from the minerals you take in, they must be extremely small. Their size is measured in angstroms. As a reference point, a sheet of paper is 1,000,000 angstroms thick. So you can understand that the minerals your body is looking for must be introduced in a way that your body can use. Even though larger than angstrom size minerals can be eventually absorbed by the blood, the angstrom sized minerals can be absorbed by individual cells. And that’s where they do the most good.
Calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium are the five essential or major minerals for your body. Other important trace elements consist of chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, and zinc. Additionally, selenium plays a key role in the maintenance of good health. Other trace elements like sulphur, nickel, cobalt, fluorine, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen also have a part to play in your well being. The human body depends upon 84 of the known 106 elements to maintain optimum health, many more than are now recognized.
“All diseases of humanity can be attributed to the lack of minerals in our bodies.” Linus Pauling, PhD winner of 2 Nobel prizes said, “You can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment, to a mineral deficiency.” Experts tell us that minerals are rarely found in the natural foods grown on the table of the Earth today because our soils are depleted of minerals.
Himalayan Crystal Salt contains all 84 minerals, the five essential minerals and all trace minerals, that are ionized in water and can be readily absorbed by the cells in your body.
The best way to absorb these minerals is in a liquid form called Sole
Sole (so-lay) is the mixture of purified water and Himalayan Crystal Salt creating the ultimate infusion of ionized minerals into a highly bio available liquid form.
When water and this salt come together they create this new form, Sole. When water combines with salt the positive ions of sodium surround the negative ions of the water molecules and the negative ions of chloride surround the positive ions of the water molecules. The other 82 mineral elements found in the salt also ionize and split into other complex ionized compounds. In this process the physical or geometrical, as well as the chemical structure of the salt and the water, is changed and a totally new structure is formed, a third dimension. Water is no longer water and salt is not salt anymore. The minerals are now small enough (angstrom sized or smaller) to be able to pass into the cells, being immediately available as electrical potentials, or ENERGY.
Each of the ionized minerals in the sole represents the ionized minerals naturally occurring in your blood and in similar proportions. And each mineral element carries its own unique vibration or frequency pattern of energy and benefit to the body. When combined, your body receives the entire combination and natural synergy of minerals and vibrations. More scientifically this is explained by the overall availability of electrolytes to built up and thus the conductivity between cells in the body is increased, which in turn affects the circulation.
This whole process can have some pretty amazing effects, including, as Dr. Oz pointed out last week, addressing acid reflux. Other areas we have seen is balancing your pH, normalizing metabolic functions and increasing cellular function.
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By Guest Blogger on June 15, 2009
Michael Perrine, Detox Consultant and Colon Heath Therapist
Most of us are no longer drinking from glacial runoff or natural springs unless it’s been pasteurized, bottled and shipped to us. So, water has become a topic of great discussion especially now with technology, ecological concerns and industrial pollution all growing rapidly.
The bottom line is this: A CLEAN AND HEALTHY BODY IS A HYDRATED BODY.
Before I get into details I want to get across the most important aspect of getting hydrated: Just get hydrated! There are all sorts of issues with water from the process to the packaging to the source, but one thing for certain, daily detoxification and assimilation comes to a halt with dehydration.
Water is a solvent of and diluter of metabolic waste and foreign poisons. It is also a carrier that transports toxins out (urine, feces, sweat) and allows the exchange of valuable elements in the body. The absence of sufficient water causes systemic stagnation. The concentration and building up of poisons in the body due to dehydration is one of the leading contributions to illness.
OK, so what kind?
Bottled Water
Almost always acidic and sometimes from questionable sources, bottled water may be a better choice that certain municipal water sources depending on where you live. However, it is known that plastic does leach into the water. For this reason, the clear bottles are a better choice than the cloudy plastic bottles. Just a basic examination of water from cloudy plastic bottles indicates the presence of plastic. The scent and taste are undeniable. Various forms of plastic are known carcinogens (cancer causing) and known to cause disruptions in the endocrine system.
Some general rules around bottled water are:
#1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE)
#2 High Density Polyethylene
#4 Low Density Polyethylene
#5 Polypropylene
- Those to definitely avoid are those with these numbers on the bottom of the bottles:
#3 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
#6 Polystyrene (PS)
#7 Polycarbonate
- Use it once and don’t refill it.
- Keep bottles away from heat (out of cars in the summer months) as this accelerates the release of plastic.
- The levels of plastic found in water increase over storage time. Try to buy ‘newly’ bottled water.
- Please Recycle.
Bottling water in plastic is also extremely energy inefficient and contributes greatly to oil consumption and landfill waste. The Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, N.Y. has voted to take bottled water off the shelves for this reason.
For an excellent documentary on Plastics see: http://www.vbs.tv/watch/toxic/garbage-island-1-of-3
Water Filtration
Water filtration (and there are a lot of different methods – reverse osmosis, distillation, etc.) allows us to enjoy clean water and to stay clear of plastics and the environmental impact of that model.
Distillation is the steam evaporation of water, leaving behind solids and contaminants as well as sterilizing the water. Many distillers pass the distilled water through a stone filter to remove gasses. Although clean, distilled water is usually acidic and is considered controversial due to it’s potential to bond with minerals in our bodies and carry them out. Distilled water can be recharged by adding a tiny pinch of celtic sea salt or a few blades of wheatgrass and allowing it to sit in direct sunlight in a glass bottle.
Kangen Water
Kangen is a Japanese word that means, “to return to the origin.” Starting with clean water (filtered or from an already clean source like mountain springs) and ionizing the water is the best way to transform water into a highly effective cleanser and alkalizer.
A kangen water ionizer runs a stream of water across magnetically charged plates separating acidity and alkalinity. This is called ionization. Most machines will allow you to produce both kinds of water. Alkaline water is used for consumption while acidic water is used for cleansing the surface of the body. Alkaline, negatively ionized water contains high levels of antioxidants that neutralize free radicals and has the power to emulsify and dissolve toxins from our body tissue. The body will protect itself from acidic wastes and balance it’s pH by converting them into solid materials that are stored in the arteries and in fatty tissue. Many report weight loss from the consistent consumption of ionized water due to its ability to neutralize and dissolve acids. This water is a foundational element in Dr. Hiromi Shinya’s eating program. For more on Dr. Shinya’s work see: Video on Dr. Shinya
And how much?
When determining how much water to drink we need to consider exercise level, climate and the quality of our diet. An athlete in a tropical climate will probably require more water than someone less active in a cool climate. We also need to understand that certain foods and beverages will pull water from the body requiring a greater demand for water. Most other beverages (tea, coffee, soda, juice, etc.) do not take the place of water. Some beverages will dehydrate the body while others will simply deliver their nutrients, sugars or chemicals and quickly exit without hydrating.
What to Avoid?
These have the potential to dehydrate:
- Coffee
- Tea
- Soda
- Carbonated beverages
- Alcoholic beverages
For those of us that like structure, Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, author of “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water“ recommends:
“You should drink half of your body weight in ounces. If you weight 200 pounds, you should drink 100 ounces water (3.13 quarts, 2.98 liters or about 10-12 cups of water a day).” He also notes “It is very important you balance your sodium intake with your water consumption. Take 1/4 teaspoon of salt per quart of water – every 4-5 glasses of water. Be sure to get sea salt. The best is Celtic sea salt or Himalayan sea salt.”
It’s fascinating how complicated the simple and essential things in life are becoming. Let’s all show up fully to these changes and do our best to honor our bodies and respect the source.
Mike Perrine is a detoxification consultant, certified colon hydro therapist and the co-owner of Gravity East Village, a cleansing and detoxification consulting office in New York City.
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