WATER
FOR HEALTH AND LONGEVITY
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
October 2018, L.D. Wilson
Consultants, Inc.
All information in this article is for educational
purposes only. It is not for the
diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
WARNING: We do not
recommend Deer Park Spring Water at this time. It may be contaminated.
Table Of Contents
Recommendations
Drinking Water
Principles
Shower and Bath
Filters
II.
DETAILS – WHICH WATER TO DRINK
Municipal tap water
Well water
Spring water
Distilled water
Reverse osmosis
water
Carbon filtration
Other types of
filtration (including alkaline water, open water and others)
Summary
Water is not only
the most essential substance next to oxygen for human life. It is also complex, often containing
hundreds of dissolved minerals and chemicals. It is indeed a marvelous substance.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The reasons for these
recommendations are given later in this article.
1. Adults needs to
drink about 3 quarts or 3 liters (about 96 ounces) of water daily. If you weigh over about 250 pounds,
have a very physical job, do a lot of physical exercise daily, or perhaps if
you live in a very hot and dry climate, you may need a little more.
Drinking more than
this, by the way, is not as good.
If you need to drink more than about 3 quarts or 3 liters of water
daily, and yet you feel dehydrated or thirsty, or if you have pain in your
kidneys or leg cramps, most likely you are drinking the wrong kind of water.
Here is what to do:
- Avoid reverse osmosis water
- If you are drinking spring water, try a
different brand. Alternatively,
drink carbon-only filtered tap water if it is safe to drink. Most tap water hydrates the body.
2. Do not count other beverages as part of
your water intake, except mild, non-caffeinated teas. Coffee, caffeinated teas, coconut
water, juices, or other beverages do not hydrate the body nearly as well as
water.
3. The
best kinds of water to drink are either spring
water (this is usually best) or in America one can
drink tap water filtered with only either carbon or a sand filter.
4.
Drink a variety of spring waters. If you drink spring
water at all, alternate between the following four types of spring waters:
1. Electrical. Simply Sedona, Evian and Simple Truth
Artesian water.
2. Magnetic. Examples are Icelandic
Glacial and Iceland Springs, Artesian
Spring (Canada), Mt. Doug Spring (Canada).
3. Soft. Examples are Alaskan Spring, Sno
and Ice Age Glacial Spring Water
(Canada).
4. Hard. Examples are Crystal Geyser, Mountain Valley, and Fiji.
Other Good Brands:
European: Evamor, Aqua Panna,
Volvic, Voss (and not the others).
American: Ozarka,
Resource, Walmart, Trader Joes, Whole Foods (365),
Deep, Sprouts, and Alpine Pure.
Canadian:
Canadian
Springs, Salt Spring Island Water, (B.C).
Asian/Pacific: Hawaiian Springs, Waikea, Ka-Vita, Eternal (from New Zealand).
5. Do
not drink with meals. Drink only very
small cup of water with meals to take your nutritional supplements, and no
more. More than this dilutes your
stomach acid and harms digestion quite a lot, in some cases.
6. An excellent
idea is to drink about a quart or a liter of water upon arising and at least
half an hour before breakfast. This will
usually provoke a bowel movement and gets the day off to a good start. When you wake up, just relax and
drink.
You may feel a little like you
are floating away, and you will urinate more than usual until the water has
passed from your system, but it is often the best way to make sure you drink
enough water.
It is also necessary to drink
water at night if you wake up.
Formerly, this article recommended against drinking water at night, but
we find it necessary, at least for some people.
WATERS TO AVOID
Please avoid:
1.
Trinity Water, as it is much too high in fluoride.
2. Deer Park spring water.
3. Many European brands. These include Perrier, and others.
4. All drinking water and purified water, including
Aqua Fina and Dasani. Do not be
fooled by fancy sounding names or fancy bottling. These are just filtered tap water or water produced by
reverse osmosis.
5. Alkaline waters of all kinds.
6. Distilled water, except perhaps for a
few days during a healing reaction. Distilled water
and reverse osmosis water will demineralize the
body. Read labels because some
distilled water says in fine print made with reverse osmosis. Stay away in this case.
Adding
minerals to distilled water damages the hydrating ability of the water.
7. Water from water machines found at
supermarkets, for example. These are made by
reverse osmosis.
8. Water from water stores.
This is usually made with reverse osmosis, in our
experience.
9.
Well water, in many cases. Some well water is fine, but it is very variable due to
agricultural and industrial contamination, and other factors.
10. Tap water, except in America where you
can safely drink it if is filtered with carbon or sand only.
Tap water is not ideal. In
many nations, it is not used for drinking. However, it often hydrates the body
well. If it is all you can afford,
then be sure to filter it with carbon or sand.
In America, tap water is
carefully regulated and is usually safe to drink. However, at least use a Britta or other
simple carbon filter to remove chlorine, and change the filter about once a
month. In other nations, the
safety of tap water is much less clear, and I would avoid it.
11.
Multiple stage filters, in most cases. We do not recommend
any multi-stage water filters. They
all tend to damage the water.
Some of them use reverse osmosis, which
removes beneficial minerals and damages the water so that it does not hydrate
the body as well.
Others use various chemicals such as zinc
or copper that also damage the water.
We would avoid them all.
Carbon and carbon block filters are safe, however, provided you change
them regularly.
12.
Other designer waters. These
include Penta Water, Vitamin Water, Smart Water, and
others. We suggest avoiding
all of these. They often begin with reverse osmosis
water and this is damaged water.
Alkaline
water is popular because it will make you feel better for a while. However, it is always damaged water
that may not hydrate the body as well, and is much more yin, which is a
damaging quality in all cases.
Other cautions about water:
1. Always read labels carefully to see if
bottled water is actually spring water, or just filtered tap water. Unless it says spring water,
it is not spring water.
2. We do not suggest water that has been altered by adding minerals, prayers or by other
processes. Many of these are available today. They often do not hydrate the body
well. Also,
most of them begin with tap water and use reverse osmosis to filter the
water. This is not good.
Plastic bottles. In
our experience, spring water that comes in plastic bottles is perfectly safe. If this bothers you, you may be able to
have it delivered in recycled plastic bottles, or you may find a local spring
by visiting http://www.findaspring.com.
3. The second best type of drinking water is
usually carbon-only filtered tap water if it is safe in your nation. You can also use a Berkey
sand filter. Use the following
cautions with tap water:
A. Do not drink softened water, whether it is softened by salt tablets or potassium tablets.
B. Be careful with well water. Most of it is not that good in the
United States, and elsewhere.
C. Use only a carbon filter or other natural
filter. Do not use a multi-stage
filter to remove fluoride, lead, etc.
These usually damage the water in some subtle way, in our
experience.
D. If your tap water contains toxic metals or
toxic chemicals, the following may help:
1) let it sit for a day to let the minerals settle to the bottom. Then pour off and drink the water
without the minerals. OR 2) boil the water. Then let it sit for a day, and then
pour off and drink the water after the minerals have settled on the bottom of
the pot.
4. To be well-hydrated,
stay away from all substances that tend to dehydrate the body. These are 1) caffeine in any form, 2) sugars and sweets of all types, and 3) alcohol in any form and amount.
Sugars includes
fruits, juices, fructose, rice milk, almond milk, soy milk, rice syrup, honey,
agave nectar, other sweeteners, coconut milk, coconut water, coconut crme and
all other sweet foods and beverages of any type.
The only juice we
suggest is 10-12 ounces of preferably fresh or store-bought
carrot juice or 1-2 ounces of wheat grass juice daily. For the fastest development, do not
drink other juices.
7. Water for cooking.
For steaming, any type of
water will do. For boiling, any type of water will do, provided that you are not planning to drink the water. We do
not recommend boiling food because some minerals are lost into the water.
If you
plan to drink the cooking water, as occurs with pressure-cooking, or in soups,
then the best would be spring water or carbon-only filtered tap water if it is
safe to drink.
We do not recommend
watery soups. Too much water with
food dilutes the digestive juices.
If you want to have soup, it should be thick and not watery, or have
only a small cup of soup as an appetizer.
DRINKING WATER
PRINCIPLES
This
is an important part of this article.
Otherwise, the recommendations below will not make sense.
1. The type and amount of water one drinks is an
essential aspect of health and healing. Every week, we encounter a person who is
not progressing on a development program due to drinking an improper type or
not enough drinking water. If this
continues for several years, it can ruin ones health.
2. Using any amount of CAFFEINE, SUGARS
(INCLUDING FRUIT AND JUICES), or ALCOHOL tends to dehydrate the body by causing
water loss.
3. The material in this article is based wholly on clinical experience. Theories abound regarding which water to
drink and how much. We dont
consider them too much because ultimately, what is important is what works in
the body to promote health.
4. Water is more than a beverage. It is a particular type of energy that we need in a certain amount on a
daily basis. If we do
not obtain it, health is negatively impacted.
5. Pure water processed only by nature is a type
of whole food. It not only
flushes toxins from the body and supplies many needed minerals, but impacts the body in many other subtle ways. Like other whole foods, when it is tampered
with, water loses most of its precious healing properties.
6. Water processing. It
is okay if spring water is filtered with carbon,
carbon block, or a sand filter.
Also okay is ozonating water or passing water
by an ultraviolet light.
Sparkling water. Sparkling
water (water with bubbles) is fine.
Adding simple (non-sugar) flavoring found in some sparkling water is
also okay, though not ideal.
Other processing is not good. This includes multi-stage filters,
alkalinizing water, adding minerals, adding sodium bicarbonate, or other
additives.
Copper
pipes. Running spring water
through copper or steel pipes also does not ruin it, as many health authorities
contend.
7. Most people do not drink enough pure water. Adults need about 3 quarts or 3 liters
daily, and perhaps a little more if you weigh over 250 pounds or 110 kilograms,
do physical labor or vigorous exercise daily, and perhaps more if one lives in
a very dry or hot climate.
8.
Desirable drinking water qualities, in their order of importance, are:
a) Ability to hydrate the
body. This is the most underrated quality of
drinking water. Some types of water, such as reverse
osmosis and even distilled water, do not hydrate the body as well as
others.
This means that for
some reason the body cannot use the water very well. One could say it is biologically unavailable to the body
cells. This is a complex phenomenon,
but it is true.
b) Purity. This means the water
does not contain too many toxic metals, toxic chemicals, radiation, other
harmful energies, or biological toxins such as bacteria, fungi, parasites or
viruses.
c) More yang. Yang is a physics
quality that means warm, compact and with downwardly and inwardly moving
energy. This quality of water
depends mainly on its mineral content and its acidity.
The best water from
this perspective contains the alkaline reserve minerals, some trace and
ultra-trace minerals, and has a fairly neutral pH or
acidity level.
d) The correct minerals.
This is very important, as well.
SHOWER AND BATH
WATER FILTERS
This article is about drinking
water. For showers and baths, any
filter is okay. A number of
companies sell filters that remove some chlorine, and perhaps fluoride or other
elements from shower or bath water.
These are fine to use, as is a
whole house reverse osmosis system, as long as you dont drink the water. Most of the shower filters I have seen
use KDF or other types of filters. This is fine for showers and baths.
II.
DETAILS – WHICH WATER TO DRINK
Finding
pure water to drink has been a problem for humanity for ages. Water for drinking either comes from surface water sources such as rivers and
lakes, or from underground wells, springs
or deep aquifers.
Water is often
classified as hard or soft. Hard water just means it contains more
calcium or lime. Soft water means
it contains less dissolved calcium and often other
minerals. Surface water tends to
be softer water, while ground water tends to be hard in many cases. Popular types of water I will discuss
are:
1. Tap water
2. Well water
3. Spring water
4. Distilled water
5. Reverse osmosis water
6. Carbon filtration
7. Other types of filters and
treatments. These include water softeners,
electrical processes and others.
Let us examine each method in more detail.
1. MUNICIPAL TAP
WATER
Tap water in most locations
comes from either large wells, or from lakes, rivers
or reservoirs constructed specially for the purpose of supplying drinking
water. Building and maintaining
the water supply is often the most costly public service
provided by cities and towns.
Most cities are proud of their water system and do not hesitate to
recommend it for drinking. In the
United States, in particular, public drinking water is
heavily regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA.
Advantages of tap
water. Most important, tap water seems to
hydrate the body well, in most cases.
It also contains a wide variety of minerals that provide vital trace
minerals for the body, in most instances.
It is also inexpensive and convenient. In the United States, but not in most nations, tap water is not contaminated with bacteria, viruses and
parasites. However, in other
nations tap water may need to be boiled to kill pathogenic micro-organisms.
Disadvantages of
tap water. These include contamination with
metals and toxic chemicals, and the addition of more toxic chemicals used to
sanitize the water. Among the
contaminants are small quantities of toxic metals and hundreds of toxic
chemicals depending on the location.
Another important contaminant is the residue from dozens of medical
pharmaceutical drugs. These are explained in the sections below:
Excessive
toxic metals. Many city water supplies, especially
wells, contain some excessive amounts toxic metals or
toxic amounts or forms of other minerals.
Common toxic metals include arsenic and lead, which are found in many
pesticides and herbicides and find their way into the wells and other water
supplies. At times, these are
difficult to remove from large amounts of water, so they are
just left there even if the water violates environmental standards,
especially in poorer nations.
Other minerals that often
contaminate drinking water include too much iron, manganese, boron and copper
depending on the location.
One way to remove some of these
easily is to let a pitcher or pot full of tap water sit for a day and some of
the metals will settle to the bottom of the pot. You can then pour off the water, leaving most of the
minerals in the bottom of the pot.
You may lose some beneficial minerals this way, but it is one way to
remove some toxic metals, as well.
Medical
drugs in the tap water. Today, most
city water also contains residues of many medical drugs that do not break down
fast enough and are recycled in the water supply. This is a complete horror that has not received nearly the
publicity it deserves. Most
medical drugs including many antibiotics, heart medicines, birth control pills,
and hundreds of others pass right through the body unaltered. They do not biodegrade quickly, and are
literally recycled in many communities and go back into the drinking water.
Chemicals used to
sanitize water – chlorine, aluminum, copper and fluoride. Cities and towns often add
aluminum compounds to water to make solid matter clump and fall to the bottom
of holding tanks used at most water treatment plants. While it removes solid matter, aluminum finds it way into
the drinking water. Excessive
aluminum is found in most people's tissue mineral
tests. High levels are associated
with memory impairment and dementia.
Copper or bromine. City water companies may also add
copper and other chemical compounds to reduce the growth of certain harmful
algae and molds in reservoirs.
While copper is a nutrient mineral, most people have too much of it in
their bodies. Vegetarian diets are
high in copper. Weak adrenal
glands cause copper accumulation.
Birth control pills raise copper and copper intra-uterine devices can
drastically raise one's copper level.
Copper toxicity is
extremely common and can cause depression, anxiety, mood swings, panic attacks,
fatigue, headaches, skin rashes and even cancer. Over half the mineral analyses I
see reveal elevated levels of tissue copper. For more on copper, read Copper Toxicity Syndrome.
The fluoride abomination. Although laws in America such as the
Clean Water Act of 1974 prohibits adding any substance to drinking water except
to make it safe, many communities in the USA and Great Britain, in particular,
have been convinced by ignorant and corrupt health authorities to add fluorides
to their drinking water. These
chemicals are poisons, and are sold as rat poison, in
fact.
Fluoride
does not reduce tooth decay in most studies of it. Any health authority who
reviews the data in an unbiased way would never recommend adding fluorides to
drinking water. In fact, some
medical studies show more tooth decay in fluoridated areas. All nations except the United States
and some parts of Great Britain and Australia have given up the practice based
on the research and on the principle of people's right to choose whether or not
to have their water medicated . Adding fluoride has nothing to do with
the safety of the water, and in fact makes it much more toxic.
Fluorides
are very toxic chemicals, considered as toxic as mercury or lead. Also, the
compound often used, hydrofluosilicic acid, is not
pure fluoride but rather a smokestack waste product from fertilizer factories
that is about 30% fluoride. It
contains heavy metals, kerosene, benzene, radioactive substances and other
toxins.
Adding smokestack
waste to drinking water is, in the author's opinion, criminally insane. Anyone who drinks it is foolish and
insane. The facts are available to
anyone who cares to learn about them.
Naturally occurring fluorides are almost as bad
and should be avoided at all cost.
For more on fluoridation, read Water Fluoridation
on this website.
Chlorination of tap water. To remove bacteria, viruses and other
microorganisms, almost all city water companies add chlorine to the drinking
water in America. This works, but
chlorination is highly toxic to human beings and animals.
Some researchers
assert that a major reason for the drastic rise in heart disease in the early
20th century in Europe and America was the addition of chlorine to
the drinking water. Chlorination
of drinking water probably also contributes to cancer and other illnesses, as
chlorine is so toxic.
Ozone as an alternative. A few American cities including Los
Angeles, and some parts of Europe, use ozone to purify their water supply. Ozone is O3, an unstable form of oxygen
that is known to kill almost all pathogenic
organisms. Its only drawback is it
does not stay in the water as long as chlorine does.
Ozonation is much safer,
cheaper and more healthful than chlorination. It will come into wider use as scientists realize the damage
chlorine does to humans, animals and plant life.
Summary. Tap water, if unfiltered, often has too many toxic metals
and chemicals in it to be good for drinking. This is variable depending on location. If tap water is filtered with
carbon only (see below), then it will hydrate the body and can be used
for drinking, but is not usually as good as a high
quality spring water. Note that
carbon can remove some chlorine, but not fluorides.
2. WELL WATER
Well water can be fine, but
often it is contaminated today. This is especially the case if one
lives in a location that either is or was used for
industry or for agriculture.
Sadly, this includes most of the Eastern USA and the Midwest USA, and
many parts of other nations as well.
Even
if your location is pristine, wells can easily become
contaminated, especially with minerals such as iron, manganese, and
occasionally others, too.
State
testing laboratories cannot or will not test for hundreds of toxic chemicals
and they often dont even test for contaminants such as high levels of
manganese. I know this to be a
problem in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, in the United States, for example,
based on many hair mineral test results.
If
you have a well, try to check carefully before using it for drinking
purposes. Most of the time, I find
I have to tell people with wells not to drink their well water, unfortunately.
3. SPRING WATER
That
which is called spring water can be from various
sources:
-Some is
melted glacial ice. This
water usually has a low level of total dissolved solids and minerals. An example is Ice Age Glacial water,
Icelandic spring water and Whistler Glacial water.
- Some is from reservoirs.
- Some is from aquifers, which
are large underground lakes, essentially.
- Some is from streams that flow
through the earth and bubble up to the surface in certain places.
It is good to drink a mix of
these waters, as they are all somewhat different.
Most spring water has been evaporated from the earth and in this way distilled. Then it has fallen to
the earth and been mineralized and filtered by passing through layers of rock
and soil.
Regulation. In most nations, spring water is highly regulated by the
government for purity and mineral content.
Warning: Some Arrowhead spring or
drinking water may contain added lithium.
This is not healthful, and not easy to identify. For this reason, I would avoid all
Arrowhead spring or drinking water.
Advantages of spring water
and deep artesian well water.
The main advantages appear to be that it often hydrates the body well
and, if it is a quality water, it is low in toxic
metals, toxic chemicals and pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and
other micro-organisms. It has been
filtered by the earth in ways we do not understand well, but which can work
very effectively and often better than any human-invented means of filtering
and purifying water. Another
advantage is that it usually contains a wide variety of trace minerals that the
human body needs desperately today since the food supply is
generally depleted of minerals today.
Disadvantages to spring water. These
include its cost, having to buy it in plastic bottles, inconvenience of having
to carry it home, perhaps questions about its purity and safety in some cases,
and variability from spring to spring.
Government regulation. The television
news often tells us that spring water is unregulated in many nations including
the United States. This is not the
truth in the United States, or in many other nations. Spring water must meet certain strict government criteria to
be allowed to be sold and to be labeled as spring
water.
Summary. I have found pure spring water to be the best type of
drinking water in many cases because it hydrates the body well, and it
supplies many needed minerals.
Overall, it is clean and healthful when approved by the government, and
it has other invigorating properties due to the natural processing it has been through.
4. STEAM DISTILLED
WATER
Distillation consists of boiling
and evaporating water and then recondensing the vapor
or steam back into liquid water.
This is a very natural process, and is exactly what occurs when water
evaporates into the air and then falls to the ground as rain.
When water is distilled in nature through evaporation, all solid matter
is left behind and only pure H20 rises into the air to form clouds that
eventually drop their moisture as rain.
This is natures premier water filtration system, in fact.
When water is distilled by mankind, by boiling it and recondensing it, all solid matter is left behind except
chemicals that volatilize at a lower temperature than the water. Most industrial distillers have methods
to capture these substances to prevent them from remaining in the water.
For this reason, I
find that industrially distilled water is the very best, not home distillers of any kind. I do not recommend buying a home
distiller for this reason.
Advantages of distilled water. Distillation does not significantly
damage the subtle properties of water such as its spin, moment, specific
gravity and other subtle qualities of the water. In fact, distilling is the best and really
the only way to remove the memory of damage to water that is known to occur
when water is contaminated in any way.
Good quality
distilled water is free of most chemicals and all toxic metals. It is also free of pathogens such as
bacteria and viruses.
Problems
with distilled water. These are many and
include:
1.
Distilled water acts as a chelator in the body. This is a very serious problem, in our
experience. Distillation (as with
reverse osmosis) creates a "hungry"
water. This means it is devoid of
minerals and, as
a result, distilled water tends to attract to itself whatever
minerals it touches.
When one drinks
distilled water, as soon as it enters the body it begins to grab onto and hold onto minerals. This process is called chelation.
When the distilled water passes out of the body through the kidneys,
some of these minerals are lost to the body. Since it is a mild form of chelation,
if one drinks distilled water for more than a few weeks or months, over time it
will remove some vital minerals from the body. This is extremely harmful today because most of us are low
in vital minerals to begin with.
2.
Distilled water lacks nutrient minerals.
Almost everyone is already low in nutrient or vital minerals, and we
need to obtain more of them any way we can. One can absorb some minerals from drinking water. In fact, good water can supply 30 or 40
trace minerals that the body needs in small quantities. Unlike spring water or even tap water,
distilled water is lacking minerals, so it is less desirable for that reason.
3.
Distillation produces a slightly acidic water. Some people do not like this fact. However, it is not quite the
truth. Used for short periods of
time up to three or perhaps even 6 months, distilled water often removes so
many toxic chemicals and metals from the body that the overall effect is
alkalinizing, even though the water itself may be slightly acidic in its pH. In other words, it does not matter that
the distilled water is acidic, provided the long-term effect of the water is to
make the body more alkaline.
However, if
distilled water is continued for more than a few
months, it begins to leach out some vital alkaline reserve minerals that are
the ones responsible for making the body more alkaline. Therefore, long-term use of distilled
water will eventually cause the body to become more acidic if it is used for more than a few months.
4. Metal contamination. A
minor problem with distillation is that metallic distillers, even stainless
steel ones, can possibly give up some chromium, nickel, molybdenum, and iron
into the water. It is not a lot,
however, as most is bound up in the stainless steel. An all-glass distiller would be superior, if such a machine
were available. I have not heard
of such machines, however.
Adding
minerals to distilled water. Some doctors and
some designer waters begin with distilled water and add minerals to it to
offset the problems of drinking pure distilled water. However, mineral science is very complex and there are over 40 trace minerals that our bodies need in minute
quantities in many cases.
No one, in my view, is very good at figuring out 1) which minerals to
add, 2) how much of each, and 3) in what form to add them.
Also, as explained
above, water is type of energy and a type of whole food. Any time you alter it, some of its
properties may be damaged or destroyed. I have reviewed dozens of water
products on the internet and elsewhere. None are very good, in my view, or
worth the money. For this reason,
I do not advocate adding minerals, sea salt or anything else to any drinking
water.
Summary: Most people should avoid distilled
water for the reasons listed above.
I rarely suggest it for a short time only to help with a healing
reaction. Drinking distilled water
for longer than this, however, always results in vital mineral deficiencies.
5. REVERSE OSMOSIS
WATER
Reverse
osmosis or RO is by far the most common manmade method of purifying water on
earth. It involves passing water
at high pressure through a plastic membrane with tiny holes in it. Most minerals and chemicals are too
large to pass through the membrane and remain behind, resulting in the
formation of a largely mineral-free, chemical-free and
pathogen-free water.
The design of most
RO units includes a way of back flushing the membrane constantly to hopefully prevent excessive buildup of solid matter on the
plastic membrane. This is
important or the membrane would be destroyed
quickly. The membrane usually
lasts about a year, at which time the water quality deteriorates and the
membrane must be replaced.
Gases, such as
chlorine, can pass through the membrane.
For this reason, most reverse osmosis units also usually contain pre-
and post-filters. The pre-filter
extends the life of the membrane by removing larger particles and certain
chemicals. The carbon post-filter
further purifies the water, removing chlorine and other gases that may pass
through the filter.
RO
is the most commonly used methods of producing pure water on planet earth. It is used in
almost all home and commercial "drinking water" machines such as
those in water stores, supermarkets and health food stores. It is also used
industrially in bottling plants for soda pop, soups, juices, beer and many
other drinks. It is also used on
all ships, some aircraft, and in many other applications. It is much cheaper than distillation.
Advantages of reverse osmosis water. These include its low level of toxic
metals, toxic chemicals and pathogens, and its low cost.
Disadvantages of reverse osmosis water. Unfortunately, RO water has many
disadvantages:
1. RO
water, in general, does not hydrate the body well. This is its worst aspect. It is unfortunate, but we see it over and over again.
The plastic membrane must damage the water in some subtle way that we do
not understand.
2. A
residue from the plastic membrane seems to find its way into the water, and
then into the body. This is a consistent finding in everyone who drinks RO water. So it adds a new toxin
to the body, even though the water is quite pure in other ways.
3. The
water is extremely yin in Chinese medical terms. This may be because
it lacks minerals and because it is contaminated with
plastic from the RO membrane. The
yin quality is harmful and best avoided.
4.
Reverse osmosis water is severely mineral deficient
and has an acidic pH. As with distilled
water, it does not supply the body with needed trace minerals, and it may have
a mild chelating effect. This
means that it may remove some vital minerals from the body.
The acidic pH is
also a slight problem.
Summary. Water filtered by reverse osmosis or RO
is not good drinking water, in our experience. It does not matter if someone has added minerals back to the
RO water, boiled it, or done other things to it like praying over it or
energizing it in any way that I have seen, so far.
These methods do not
seems to undo the damage to the water that occurs due to passing it through the
plastic RO membrane. Please avoid
all water made this way for best hydration.
Bypassing the RO membrane on a home water filtering system. Many people have an
RO filter on their home or just their sink. If you wish to use this system for carbon filtration, it is fairly easy to bypass the RO part of your filtering system,
in most cases. This will allow you
to keep using the carbon filtration part of the system, which is fine.
The procedure is to
open up the cylinder or container on your filtration system that contains the
RO membrane. Then remove the RO
membrane, and close up the container tightly. In most cases, this is all you need to do.
An alternative
method is to remove the small tubes or pipes going to the RO membrane container
and simply bypassing the RO part by re-connecting the tubes in a different
way. Either of these methods
should work okay.
DO NOT
ADD MINERALS TO REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER (OR TO ANY DRINKING WATER). The reasons for this are:
Very few people know which minerals they need to add. Commercial preparations such as
electrolyte solutions often do not contain optimal mineral levels for each
person.
Adding salt or sea salt to water may detoxify the body a little,
but is a dangerous practice, long term, because the high sodium content can unbalance
the minerals in the body by competing with other mineral absorption.
Most
mineral preparations are not pure enough and many, such as coral calcium, can
contain some toxic minerals as well.
Reverse osmosis water, in particular, is extremely hungry and
adding minerals to it will cause them to be absorbed into the water easily, and
then cause them to be absorbed into the body cells quickly and thoroughly. This is good if the minerals are pure,
but most are not pure enough, no matter what they say on the bottle. As a result, the person
is slowly but surely poisoned by the toxic minerals.
I find it best to
obtain minerals primarily from cooked
vegetables. Other mineral
supplements that are excellent are kelp, 10-12 ounces of carrot juice or a fresh
green juice mixed with it, a quality sea salt in your food, but not in your
water, and dried vegetable capsules like Juice Plus and other vegetable
capsules.
However, I do not
like many green powders and super-foods that contain a lot of spirulina, blue-green algae and chlorella, as these appear
to be somewhat toxic and are often chelators. Barley grass and wheat grass, although
not as good dried as fresh, also seem to be excellent sources of minerals. Another good one are
raw dairy products (but only raw dairy or organic dairy, which is not as good,
but better than the other pasteurized dairy products).
Raw vegetables do
not allow the body to absorb enough minerals from them, so I find it is much
better to eat mainly cooked vegetables.
6. CARBON FILTERS
Carbon, also called
activated charcoal, is an excellent filtering material. It is
basically charred wood or some other natural substance. The shape of the carbon molecule causes
it to attract a few lighter minerals and most toxic chemicals. At the same time, it seems to be quite
harmless and does not add many toxins to the water it touches.
For best results,
the carbon must touch the water for a prolonged period of
time. This means that the
larger the carbon filter, and the slower the water flows
through it, the better.
Types of carbon filters. Carbon filters comes in two main types. The less costly type is simply powdered charcoal or
carbon. A better type is called a carbon
block filter. The carbon has
been compressed to form a more dense block. The compressed carbon removes more
impurities.
Advantages of carbon filtration of water. Carbon is fairly non-toxic, inexpensive and will remove quite a few
toxic chemicals and chlorine gas and other gases to some degree. Also, and most important, carbon will
not damage the water at all. It is
a very natural type of water filtration system.
Disadvantages of carbon filtration.
1.
Carbon will not filter out fluoride or most toxic metals. It will also not filter out certain
small organic and other chemical contaminants.
2. All
carbon filters clog up and stop working, in time. There is no reliable way to tell when
to change the filter. A dirty carbon filter is worse than no filter at all.
3.
Carbon readily supports bacterial and fungal growth. It can begin to occur within days of
placing the filter in use. Some
fungi are extremely toxic, though they are tasteless and odorless. One cannot tell without expensive testing whether ones
carbon filter is contaminated and when to change it. Manufacturer's recommendations are not necessarily
useful. It depends on the water
source and other conditions.
Some
manufacturers state that their carbon filter must be used
with chlorinated water to help reduce bacterial and fungal growth. If yours says this, be sure to observe
this caution.
4. In
order for carbon to work well, water must pass slowly over the carbon. If it passes quickly, toxins will not be absorbed nearly as well by the carbon. In most carbon filtering systems, the
water passes through the carbon too rapidly to be really
effective.
Carbon
block filters. A related type of
filter is called a carbon
block. It consists of activated charcoal that has been
compressed at high pressure.
It is much more dense than simple carbon.
The advantages of
the carbon block are the water is exposed to more
carbon. Also,
the tightly compressed carbon can trap larger particles, including some heavy
metals. As a filtering material,
it is far superior to simple carbon.
Problems
with the carbon block, however, are similar to those of regular carbon filters. It can become easily contaminated
with fungi and bacteria. There is
no simple test to tell if your filter has become contaminated
or how efficiently it is filtering the water.
Summary. Carbon filters definitely can help clean up tap
water and other types of water.
They must be changed regularly and frequently,
and one must understand that they cannot remove most toxic metals and some
toxic chemicals. One must also
beware of bacterial growth on carbon.
7. OTHER TYPES OF
FILTRATION AND WATER TREATMENTS
Berkey sand filters. These are okay. They work something like carbon
filters.
Multi-stage home filtering units. These are heavily advertised today as
being superior to carbon filtration.
It is true that these units will remove some fluoride, more toxic chemicals and some toxic metals as well. Popular brands include Multi-pure, Zero
Water and many others.
These units all
contain several types of filters to remove different contaminants. Many contain KDF,
along with plasticized beads and other methods, and carbon, to remove fluoride
and toxic metals.
Unfortunately, all
the multi-stage filters that I have seen damage the water and make it less
usable by the body. As a result,
it does not hydrate the body well.
I am not sure which filter medium is causing the problem at this
time. Stay away from these more
costly and heavily advertised units at this time.
Alkaline water. I know of three types of alkaline water systems. All of them have problems and, for this reason, should definitely be avoided. To alkalinize the body properly, eat loads of cooked vegetables along with kelp capsules. These contain the alkaline reserve minerals. As these accumulate in the body, the body becomes more alkaline naturally. Also, one must avoid all sugars, all alcohol, and all wheat products and most grains for a while. Alkaline water machines are totally unnatural and have a stimulatory type effect that is not the same as truly alkalinizing the body with the proper diet, lifestyle and mineral replacement therapy.
The most popular alkaline water machines are the platinum-titanium type. They include the Jupiter, I-Water, Kaagen, and many others. They use tap water, which passes through a carbon filter. Then the water passes over electrified platinum-covered titanium plates to alkalinize it. Then some machines may add a calcium solution or powder to the water to further enhance its alkalinity. Serious problems with these machines, that are heavily and falsely advertised in my opinion, include:
Yin. Drinking any water that is highly alkaline makes the body more yin. Yin means sick, cold and expanded in Chinese medical terms. It is vry harmful, even if ones symptoms improve, at first.
Cleanliness. Tap water is not a very good base water. It is quite variable, and most tap water in America and elsewhere is not of excellent quality. It contains some chlorine compounds, fluorides, medical drug residues, hundreds of toxic chemicals, toxic metals and more.
Carbon filters cannot remove most toxic metals and many toxic chemicals, no matter what the manufacturers claim. When water passes quickly over carbon, not that much is removed. Also, as the carbon filter becomes dirty, it stops working well.
Platinum is too toxic for any human exposure. While the amount of exposure is small, we have noted that after using the machine for 6 months or so, some who use it begin to develop a little platinum toxicity. While this may be okay for most people, some with delicate kidneys or liver problems will be affected. The amount of platinum absorbed will depend upon ones tap water and ones body chemistry. The more poorly nourished one is, the more platinum one is likely to absorb. Other factors such as ones age, vitality, etc. also have an effect.
White powders added to the water. One must find out exactly what it is. Most is not that pure. Avoid coral calcium powder, for example, or some other contaminated product that adds more toxic metals.
The advertising for these machines with claims that most Japanese hospitals, and most Japanese people use them is not true, as far as I know.
Water store alkaline water. A few health food stores and water stores are selling even more dangerous alkaline water. They begin with reverse osmosis water. Then they add a calcium solution or powder, often coral calcium, to alkalinize it. Problems with this methodology are:
Yin. Once again, any alkaline water seems to have a negative yin effect.
Reverse osmosis does not hydrate the body well at all and should never be used for daily drinking water by most people.
The
calcium solution or powder, especially if it is made
from coral calcium, may contain toxic metals.
Very toxic, possibly. When toxic metals are added to reverse osmosis water, the hungry water seems to take up the metals easily and drive them deep into the body cells and the kidneys.
The Alkastream alkaline water units. This type of alkaline water machine is a non-electric, counter-top or under-the-sink unit that adds a magnesium compound to tap water to alkalinize it. It avoids the costly and dangerous platinum plates, but it still makes the body too yin, uses tap water which is of poor quality, and possibly ruins the water and causes toxicity from the magnesium compounds used to make the water alkaline. Avoid this system as well. For more on alkaline waters, read Alkaline Waters on this website.
Designer waters such as I-water, Pentawater, SmartWater and
others. These are often made from reverse osmosis water, which does not
hydrate the body well. It does not
seem to matter what they do to the RO water. It still does not hydrate well.
Most of these waters
have added minerals. Not only does
this not correct the problems of reverse osmosis, but
the minerals will often unbalance the body, if they are even absorbed. These waters are overpriced, and
probably do not hydrate the body well.
So far, none of them will hydrate the body as well as a good quality
spring water or most carbon-only filtered tap water.
Open water. This is a very interesting type of water. One just adds a few drops of it to
drinking water. For more on this
topic, read the article entitled Open Water on
this website.
Minerals to add to drinking
water. This is a
popular idea, but not usually helpful and, in fact, adding salt can be
dangerous. Adding salt to water
may remove a few molecules of toxic metals, but can unbalance the minerals in
the body. Sailors know that
drinking salty water is harmful in all cases.
Other problems with
added minerals are that one simply does not know which minerals are best. Some are harmful as they contain toxic
metals. Especially avoid minerals
that are added to drinking water that come from the sea,
and those that come from land-based mineral deposits or earth mineral
deposits. In my experience, these
all contain some toxic metals and the sea-based ones contain salts that can
leach vital minerals from the body.
Ozone machines for drinking water. Adding ozone to your water will help
kill some bacteria and other micro-organisms in the
water. You will also absorb some
ozone or extra oxygen from the ozonated water. To do this, one buys an ozone generator
and places the ozone tube in a glass or pitcher of water for about 20 minutes,
and this will saturate the water with ozone.
Another, and better
way to avail yourself of ozone is with an ozonator/ionizer
air purifier in your bedroom at night.
To read about this, click here.
Water softeners.
Some people who have hard water (water with a high calcium
content) have a tank in the basement or garage, and they add either salt
pellets or potassium pellets periodically to soften the water. The water passes over the pellets and
picks up some sodium and potassium, which tends to dissociate or break up the
hard calcium compounds in the water.
The result is a water that does not leave
deposits on faucets, toilets and counter tops. The water also causes soap and shampoo to lather up somewhat
easier, and it may preserve the pipes in the house by getting rid of calcium
deposits.
Water
softeners do not purify water. If ones water is
too hard, adding salt may help.
However, it also contaminates the water. Drinking softened water has been shown
to increase heart disease. Adding
potassium seems to be even worse.
An alternative is to place either fixed magnets or electromagnets on the
pipe leading into the home, and this will have a similar effect to some degree
on the water.
HOW TO DRINK
How
much. Adults need about 96 ounces of water
daily or about 3 liters or three quarts daily. Other beverages are not as good as pure water, and are not a
substitute. One cup of coffee or
tea daily is okay, but not more.
Some mild herbal tea is usually okay, but dont overdo. Dont drink green tea, which is very
high in caffeine.
Drink
when you arise in the morning. An excellent way to
begin your day is to drink several large glasses of warm water, up to a quart,
upon arising in the morning, up to about a quart. This will supply you for several hours. Drinking a number of glasses of heated
water will often help with constipation, as well. In addition, drink about four glasses of water between meals.
Drink
away from meals. Keep the amount of
water or any beverage during or right after a meal to a minimum. This is to avoid diluting the digestive
juices.
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