The Importance of Water To The Human Body

 

© 2008 - Dr. James Chappell



"Water is the only substance on earth that is naturally present in three different forms - as a liquid, a solid (ice) and as a gas (water vapor)."



It has been said, water is so intelligent, it created humans to move itself around. Water; what is it really and why is it so important?



Pure Water - 

Pure water is merely two molecules of hydrogen gas and one molecule of oxygen gas in liquid form. The ratio of negative to positive ions will determine its acidity or alkalinity. The activity (formerly called concentration) of positive charged hydrogen to the negative charged hydroxide or oxygen bonded hydrogen will determine whether it has a positive or negative ionic charge. This is extremely important which I will discuss in a moment.



Water is a universal solvent. This means it has the ability to detoxify the body at a cellular level. Depending on our activity and environmental temperature, the average adult in the United States loses one half (1/2) gallon of water/fluids per day through perspiration, respiration, urination and defecation. If we don’t replace this amount of water on a daily basis, we slowly dehydrate. The most obvious sign of dehydration is dry, flaky, wrinkled skin. However, a misinterpreted signal of thirst is hunger. Most of us eat when we should be replacing fluids with bio-available water.



Simply, water is so vital; we can only live a few days without it. Matter-of-fact, rapid dehydration causes heart and kidney failure and death. Gradual dehydration leads to a litany of signs, signals and symptoms often mistaken as disease. Proper hydration is so critical; it is the first common denominator in The HONSTEC Syndrome. As you may recall, The HONSTEC Syndrome is seven common denominators anyone of which cause illness. The ‘H’ stands for hydration or lack of it.



Water Quotes - 

"To understand water is to understand the cosmos, the marvels of nature, and life itself."

Masaru Emoto in "The Hidden Messages in Water"



"Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water."

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi



"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."

Loran Eisley

During 37 years of research and education, I have come to realize the importance of bio-available substances including water. In the 60’s, we in the health movement said, you are what you eat. In the 70’s, we added you are what you assimilate. Finally, in the 80’s, we said, you are what you eat, assimilate and don’t eliminate. The key is absorption; assimilation or availability. Drinking water has little affect if it is not absorbed at the cellular level, and cellular absorption or bio-availability is determined by its ionic charge.



Ions – 

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. A negatively charged ion has more electrons, and is known as an anion. Conversely, a positively charged ion has fewer electrons, and is known as a cation.



"Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain; resulting in higher alertness, decreased drowsiness, and more mental energy," says Pierce J. Howard, PhD, author of The Owners Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from Mind Brain Research and Director of Research at the Center for Applied Cognitive Sciences in Charlotte, N.C.



“Negative ions are created in nature when air molecules separate from sunlight, radiation, and moving air or water such as waterfalls and pounding surf,” says ion researcher Michael Terman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York.



Negative ions are odorless, tasteless molecules that are either breathed into our respiratory system or consumed through our digestive system. High concentrations of air-generated negative ions can be found in nature in mountain forests, waterfalls and beaches. Digestible negative ions are found in certain waters. According to research, consumption from either source usually will cause people to feel energized and invigorated, which helps relieve stress, alleviate depression, and boost energy. High ion concentrations also apparently inhibit bacterial growth and perhaps foster plant growth. The good effects are attributed to high concentrations of negative ions rather than positive ones.



Negative ions are exceedingly beneficial for a person’s metabolism as a means of enhancing human behavior. They act in a complex mechanism to bring about hormone and biochemical reactions in the body and brain. It is impossible to get an overdose of negative ions, which act like pure water in washing away poisons. Generally, the more negative ions you are exposed to, the better and more uplifted you feel.



Positive ions or the lack of negative ions may cause Serotonin Hyper-function Syndrome or "Irritation Syndrome" and involves sleeplessness, irritability, tension, migraine, nausea, heart palpitations, hot flashes with sweating or chills, tremor and dizziness. The elderly become depressed, apathetic and extremely fatigued.



Side-effects from increasing serotonin levels in your body include; anxiety, nervousness, tremors, sweating, dizziness, lightheadedness, dry mouth, upset or irritated stomach, appetite loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach gas, rash and itching. Less common side-effects include changes in sex drive, impotence, abnormal dreams, difficulty concentrating, acne, hair loss, dry skin, chest pains, allergy, runny nose, bronchitis, abnormal heart rhythms, bleeding, blood pressure changes, headaches, fainting when rising suddenly from a sitting position, bone pain, bursitis, twitching, breast pain, fibrocystic disease of the breast, cystitis, urinary pain, double vision, eye or ear pain, conjunctivitis, anemia, swelling, low blood sugar, and low thyroid activity.



Anything that will increase negative ions within a balanced limitation would therefore be a health benefit.



Understanding pH – 

In solutions, including water, in which the activity of positive charged hydrogen (H+) equals that of negative charged hydroxide (OH-), the pH value will be 7.0 and are known as neutral. When the activity of hydrogen exceeds hydroxide, the pH value will be lower than 7.0 and is known as an acid. Solutions in which hydroxide (OH-) activity exceeds hydrogen (H+) will have a pH value greater than 7.0 and are known as bases or alkalines. Therefore, pH is dependent on ionic activity or the ratio of positive charged hydrogen (+) to negative charged hydroxide (-).



All natural foods contain both acid and alkaline forming elements. In some, acid forming elements dominate, in others alkaline forming elements dominate. According to modern biochemistry, it is not the organic matter of foods which leave acid or alkaline residues in the body. The inorganic matter; sulphur, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium and calcium determines the acidity or alkalinity of the body fluids. Food comparatively rich in acid forming elements are acid forming foods, those comparatively rich in alkaline forming elements are alkaline forming foods.



An acidic condition inhibits nerve action, alkalinity stimulates nerve action. One who has a balanced condition can think and act (decide) well. A balanced food plan is a great help in maintaining the pH balance of the blood; however it does not reveal results in a day or two. It takes a longer time to show the effect. Cold showers make the blood alkaline, while hot showers make the blood acid. If the blood develops a more acidic condition, then our body inevitably deposits these excess acidic substances in some area of the body so the blood will be able to maintain an alkaline condition.



Acid-Alkaline Forming Foods - 

Foods may be classified in relation to the metabolic process as acid or alkaline. Alkali’s are soluble salts and acids are corrosive agents which have trouble combining with other things. A balanced diet contains 35% acid forming foods and 65% alkaline.

Highly Alkaline

Beans String, Banana-Speckled, Dandelion greens, Dates, Figs, Prune, Raisins, Chard.

High Alkaline

Almonds, Avocado, Banana-Yellow, Bean Fresh, Beet, Blackberries, Carrot, Chives, Cranberries, Endive, Grapes Sour, Kale, Peach dried, Persimmon, Pomegranate, Plum, Raspberries, Spinach.

Alkaline

Agar, Alfalfa, Apple & Fresh Apple Cider, Apricot fresh, Artichokes globe, Bamboo shoots, Bean snap, Beans sprouted, Berries most, Blueberries, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Celery, Cherries, Chestnuts, Chicory, Coconut Milk, Collards, Corn fresh and sweet, Cucumbers, Daikon, Eggplant, Escarole, Garlic, Ginger root, Gooseberry, Grapefruit, Guava, Horseradish fresh and raw, Kelp, Kohlrabi, Leek, Lemon and Peel, Lettuce, Lime, Loganberry, Mango, Melons, Milk raw, Acidophilus Yogurt, Whey.

Neutral Oils

Cold Pressed, Expeller Pressed, Almond, Avocado, Coconut, Canola, Cottonseed, Linseed, Olive, Safflower, Sesame, Soy, Sunflower, Walnut.

Acid

Asparagus, Beans dried, Cashews, Coconut dried, Cranberry Juice and concentrate, Egg yolk, Filbert, Fruit Jellies (Jams Canned, Sulphured, Sugared, Dried), Grapes Sweet, Pasteurized Milk Products, Dry Peas, Pecans, Plums Damson, Tofu fries, Water-chestnuts.

Highly Acid

Alcohol, Artichoke root, Barley, Bread, Buckwheat, Caffeine, Coffee, Corn, dry and products, Custards, Drugs, Flour all, Ginger preserved, Honey, Lentil dry, Mate, Millet, Oatmeal, Peanuts, Rice all, Rye Grain, Soy Bread, Soy noodles, Sorghum, grain, Spaghetti and other Pasta, Sugar Cane, raw beet, Tobacco, Walnut (English), Wheat grain.

From an extreme acid such as hydrochloric acid (-1.0 pH) to lemon juice (2.4 pH), cola (2.5 pH), orange or apple juice (3.5 pH), tomato juice (4.0 pH), beer (4.5 pH) to coffee and tea (5.0 pH), to pure water (7.0 pH), vegetable juice (average 8.0 to 9.0 pH) to sodium bicarbonate (12.0 to 14.0 pH), all liquids, solids and gases have a pH value. The key is knowing what they are and creating a balance in your life of alkaline or 7.0 and above dominate foods and liquids.



Again, anything that will increase alkalinity within a balanced limitation would therefore be a health benefit.



Testing Real Water Concentrate - 

Recently, I had the opportunity to test the pH and the Oxygen Reduction Potential (ORP) or ionic value of a product called Real Water Concentrate for the Real Water Club. Unlike other products using potentially harmful substances to alkalize liquids, Real Water Concentrate uses a proprietary process call E2 Technology™. The only ingredients in Real Water Concentrate are purified water with trace amounts of magnesium and potassium. The E2 Technology™ process energizes the minerals with an abundance of negative ions attaching itself to the water. To my knowledge, there is no technology, company or product that can reproduce this process of ionic energy imprinting.



As a scientist, I have no interest in the outcome of any evaluation. I am merely reporting my observations and results. For five consecutive days, I placed twenty drops of Real Water Concentrate in 8 ounces of distilled water with a pH of 5.0. I tested this water using a Pinpoint pH monitor every 15 minutes for four hours. The average pH was 9.43. At the same time, I also tested this water using a Pinpoint ORP monitor. The pure distilled water had an ORP reading of +200. After infusing the Real Water Concentrate, the reading averaged a (MINUS) -127. In essence, Real Water Concentrate produces a strong alkaline anti-oxidant when mixed in solutions such as water.



Certification/Endorsement - 

In lieu of all the evidence available indicating the health benefits of consuming alkaline substances and anti-oxidants, I believe this additive has extreme health benefits. I therefore certify and gladly endorse this product as producing the results so described and tested. As long as the company continues to produce the same quality product, I will recommend it as a valuable water additive to create alkalinity and increase ones oxygen reduction potential or anti-oxidant level. I suggest you try this product and see what it does for you.



Sincerely,



Dr. James Chappell



[Dr. James Chappell is a board certified chiropractic physician, traditional naturopath, clinical nutritionist and medical herbalist. Since 1971, he has been an avid health researcher and educator specializing in incorporating natural healing protocols for chronic, severe and so-called “terminal” illnesses. As a clinician, he has consulted over 10,000 patients and spent over ten years as one of the "lot" doctors for Paramount, Universal, MGM and Burbank studios in Hollywood, California seeing actors, producers and directors. He is a best-selling author, A Promise Kept: One Son’s Quest for the Cause and Cure of Dis-ease, lecturer, TV and radio personality, nutraceutical and botanical formulator and corporate medical consultant.] 



NOTE: No medical claims are being made for Real Water Concentrate. Since this article has been sent to the FDA, I assume they have evaluated it. However, they have not approved it as it falls outside of their jurisdiction. Real Water Concentrate is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.

  

 

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The Real Water Club - Real Water

I love the idea of Real Water Concentrate from The Real Water Club. It comes in a 4 ounce dropper bottle that is convenient and extremely portable. It is wonderful to know that every time I have a drink I am giving my body exactly what it needs to reverse aging and ill health. You can order Real Water Concentrate from The Real Water Club. Membership to The Real Water Club is free and the Real Water Concentrate is only $39.95 for a month’s supply.

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Futurist Ray Kurzweil On Building Bridges Toward ImmortalityBy Jon VanZile

Ray Kurzweil is at war. A healthy 57-year-old who can rattle off streams of his own vital statistics, Kurzweil believes that humanity is standing on the brink of immortality—and all that is holding us back is our own evolutionary biology. Thus Kurzweil fights a war against a protein-based machine—the human body—whose basic design is about to become obsolete. He figures he needs only to hold off disease and aging long enough, maybe 20 more years, to reap the rewards of a revolution in health technology that will rely on advanced gene therapy and robots the size of blood cells to grant life everlasting. While his ideas might seem far-fetched, he points out that space flight and mass agriculture would have been inconceivable to earlier generations. Instead of believing in doubt, Kurzweil has chosen to believe in the future, and he backs up his vision with sound science and impressive credentials. Ray Kurzweil As a teenager, Kurzweil attracted attention for writing a computer program that composed piano music. After attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he went on to a lucrative career as an inventor. His inventions, which include an optical character recognition program and a text-to-speech voice synthesizer, earned him the government’s National Medal of Technology and the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, the nation’s largest award for invention. More recently, however, Kurzweil has turned his attention to two favorite subjects: health and technological innovation. His interest in both subjects has very personal roots. “In my mid-thirties, I was diagnosed with type II diabetes,” he recalls. “Because my father died early of heart disease, I also had a disposition for high cholesterol. I followed the conventional treatment for a while, but it really made things worse and caused me to gain weight.” Gaining weight and unhappy, Kurzweil decided to approach the problem like an inventor, as “someone who could find a solution to the problem.” He immersed himself in the scientific literature and soon designed a health program, based on diet modification and nutritional supplementation, that reversed his diabetes without medical intervention. This program became the subject of a bestselling book, The Ten Percent Solution for a Healthy Life, published in 1994. Since then, Kurzweil has taken his theories even further. With the rate of technological innovation increasing exponentially, he believes it is only a matter of years—decades at most—until futuristic technologies will entirely reverse-engineer the human machine. “We’re beginning to understand biology and health, disease and aging, as information processes,” he explains. “We’re learning very precisely the sequences of steps concerning genes, proteins, and enzymes—and the sharing of information from one biochemical step to the next—that underlie aging and disease.” Terry Grossman, MD The trick, Kurzweil says, is to live long enough for scientists to unlock the biological riddle of aging. To do that, he advises people to use every weapon at their disposal to defy aging. These weapons include the most sophisticated, up-to-the-minute health information available and extensive dietary supplementation to replace nutrients lost to the aging process. Kurzweil himself takes 250 supplements every day, while closely tracking and monitoring about 50 different measures of his own health. At any given time, he knows his exact levels of cholesterol, HDL (high-density lipoprotein), LDL (low-density lipoprotein), triglycerides, homocysteine, and C-reactive protein, as well as his blood concentrations of various antioxidants and nutrients. “I haven’t aged much in the last 15 years,” he says. His program is presented in Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever, a new book he coauthored with Terry Grossman, MD. According to Kurzweil, “Radical life extension is close at hand.” Bridges to the Future To make their theories easier to understand, Kurzweil and Grossman have developed three “bridges,” each of which must be crossed before humanity reaches immortality. The first bridge is classic life extension, based on the most advanced science available today. It draws on much of the same science reported each month in Life Extension magazine. In fact, Kurzweil is a regular reader of Life Extension and supports the Foundation’s products. “Bridge One involves learning about how the body’s different systems work,” Kurzweil explains. “Insulin resistance . . . methylation . . . atherosclerosis . . . cancer. They say that aging and disease are 80% genes and 20% lifestyle. That’s only true if you follow the usual, watered-down, compromised approach. If you’re aggressive, you can overcome almost any genetic disposition. “Atherosclerosis is the perfect example. Only 25 years ago, scientists had only a rudimentary understanding of heart disease. Today, however, we understand atherosclerosis as an inflammatory condition that may begin in childhood and can be treated and even reversed through healthy lifestyle decisions, including frequent exercise, dietary choices that reduce inflammation, and aggressive supplementation with nutrients that reduce cholesterol. “A lot of people feel that they shouldn’t take a supplement or medication unless it’s a last resort. That’s not the case. Evolution is not on our side. We need to aggressively reprogram our biochemistry, and that’s what my program does.” Because every person’s biology is different, Kurzweil’s program is individualized, but based on concepts that will be familiar to readers of Life Extension. Following are some of the program’s key recommendations. You are what you drink The human body comprises various fluids, ranging in pH from very acidic (stomach acid, for example) to rather alkaline (pancreatic fluid), and many bodily fluids have very narrow parameters. For example, the fluid within our cells ranges in pH from 6.8 to 7.1, while blood pH exists in a very narrow, slightly alkaline band of between 7.35 and 7.45. Any disruption to this careful pH balance is dangerous. Unfortunately, it is easy for the body’s fluids to become too acidic, because many metabolic processes produce acidic by-products. According to Kurzweil, good health depends on maintaining a slightly alkaline pH level, so he recommends avoiding acidic beverages such as soft drinks and drinking purified water that has been treated to adjust its pH level. This promotes powerful detoxification and health-promoting effects, says Kurzweil. Reduce your glycemic load This concept is receiving more attention as scientists continue to unravel the relationships between blood sugar, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, conditions that have one thing in common: excess carbohydrate intake. Kurzweil recommends dramatically reducing carbohydrate intake, especially for those with type II diabetes or insulin resistance. Not all carbohydrates are equal, however. Simple carbohydrates, such as refined sugar, cause a rapid elevation in blood sugar, thus provoking an insulin response as the body produces extra insulin to bring the blood sugar level down. Over time, the body’s system for controlling blood sugar breaks down and diabetes develops. Diabetes and heart disease are closely associated.To prevent this vicious cycle, Kurzweil recommends that people avoid simple carbohydrates, opting instead for foods with a lower glycemic load. The glycemic load is calculated by multiplying the number of grams of carbohydrates in a given food by its glycemic index (which measures how quickly the food is converted into glucose and released into the bloodstream). The glycemic load is an accurate measure of how much insulin your body will have to produce to neutralize the carbohydrates in a given food. Carbohydrates with a low glycemic load include peanuts, carrots, lentils, and kidney beans. By contrast, carbohydrates with a high glycemic load include all candy and refined sugar, white rice, potatoes, pasta, and white bread. Carbohydrates should account for no more than one third of total caloric intake, says Kurzweil. People with diabetes or insulin resistance should limit their carbohydrate intake even further. Choose your fats wisely It is well known that Americans eat too much fat, but only recently have many people begun to pay attention to the kinds of fat they eat. In Kurzweil’s view, fat itself is an outdated form of energy storage in humans, one that made sense when calories were scarce, hunting was uncertain, and winters were long. In today’s era of abundance, however, fat storage is yet another example of biology sabotaging our well-being. Kurzweil’s program admonishes people to stay away from unhealthy saturated and trans fats, but also recommends that we pay more attention to the kind of healthy, unsaturated fats we eat, particularly omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids, found in plant-based oils, and omega-3 fatty acids, abundant in sources such as fish, walnuts, and flaxseed, are both unsaturated fats, though they act very differently in the body. Omega-6 fatty acids encourage inflammation, while omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory. Inflammation has been linked to a host of degenerative conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and arthritis. The modern American diet, which typically is high in processed plant oils, encourages consumption of far too much pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. The Kurzweil program recommends high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, such as ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), EPA (eico-sapentaenoic acid), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). EPA and DHA especially have been shown to lower triglyceride levels dramatically. At the same time, Kurzweil’s program recommends incorporating certain omega-6 fatty acids such as GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) in the diet to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart attack and stroke risk. Another healthy omega-6 fatty acid is DGLA (dihomogamma-linolenic acid). Kurzweil recommends that fat make up no more than 25% of daily caloric intake, and that virtually all of this should be in the form of healthy fats. Saturated fats should account for no more than 3% of total calories. Visit http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2005/sep2005_report_kurzweil_01.htm for the rest of this story.

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The Real Water Club - Real Water

I love the idea of Real Water Concentrate from The Real Water Club. It comes in a 4 ounce dropper bottle that is convenient and extremely portable. It is wonderful to know that every time I have a drink I am giving my body exactly what it needs to reverse aging and ill health. You can order Real Water Concentrate from The Real Water Club. Membership to The Real Water Club is free and the Real Water Concentrate is only $39.95 for a month’s supply.

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