Water – What you should know before reaching for the TAP!

We all know water is good for us & we all learned at school that our body is made up of about 70% water. Blood is mostly water, and your muscles, lungs, and brain all contain a lot of water. Your body needs water to regulate body temperature and to provide the means for nutrients to travel to all your organs. Water also transports oxygen to your cells, removes waste, and protects your joints and organs.   

We get it, water is important! But is all water the same?

Reasons to drink water….

Water acts as a nourishing agent. Water circulates through the blood and helps transport nutrients and oxygen towards organs and cells. It acts as a solvent for many nutrients and essential salts and makes them available for absorption by the body.

Water is a cleansing agent. It carries metabolic wastes away from the body – otherwise known as urine and sweat. This is one of the most important functions of water in our body.

Water helps with energy. Being dehydrated can leave you feeling all but energized & feeling tired - even mild dehydration of as little as 1 or 2 percent of your body weight. If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated; this can lead to fatigue, muscle weakness, dizziness and other symptoms.

Water helps lower the blood pressure. When you lose more than optimal levels of fluid due to various conditions (not drinking sufficient water, heavy exercise, illness, etc), the body tries to adjust for the loss of water by constricting blood vessels so that the rate of loss of water (due to sweating and respiration) is reduced - which in turn leads to higher blood pressure.

Water minimizes the risk of heart disease. This follows from the above point - increased dehydration causes your cells and tissues to absorb water from the blood stream and thus decreases the volume of the blood flow. Increased blood pressure is a sign of a heart that’s working harder than it should - it tries to pump more blood to excretory organs to compensate for the reduced volume.

Water keeps your skin looking and feeling good. In the process of sweating, it acts like a detox for your skin by removing impurities in the skin and cleansing it. Dehydrated skin cells can cause skin to appear wrinkled.

Water helps to ensure adequate electrical functioning – it helps you think. Electrical functioning your brain and nervous system function properly. Your brain and nervous system send out electrical signals to function properly.

So what is water?

Water is a chemical compound with the chemical formula H2O – meaning each molecule of water comprises of two Hydrogen atoms & one Oxygen atom.  Sounds great, but when we turn to the tap it’s a little bit more than that!  The Water Authority is required to treat our water supply with a range of chemicals in order to comply with the relevant regulations. These chemicals include:

Chlorine

Chlorine is used as a disinfectant to remove potentially dangerous bacteria and other micro-organisms. However, it is Chlorine that is responsible for the sometimes questionable taste, smell and odour in our drinking water. Chlorine has also been identified as a potential carcinogen – excellent! (Not!)

Fluoride

Fluoride is added to supposedly protect against dental decay particularly in young children. There is a considerable amount of research that suggests fluoride may have adverse effects on human health.

Aluminium

Aluminium is added to our water supply to act as a flocculant, ironically to make the water look clearer.

But isn’t fluoride good for us?

The sole justification that favours fluoridation is that it apparently reduces tooth decay. 
However, many studies have found no beneficial difference between those that drink fluoridated and those that don’t drink fluoridated
water. In fact, one study showed decay was greater in those that consumed fluoridated water regularly! Moreover, dental health in Europe has improved since
1970 without fluoride.

In tests on laboratory animals, fluoride has been shown to enhance the brain's absorption of aluminum - the substance that's found in the brains of most Alzheimer's patients.  Remember aluminum is also added to tap water!

Dental fluorosis is when a discoloration of teeth occurs due to excess fluoride. It is the first indication that the body is getting excess fluoride. But bones also collect fluoride and can develop skeletal fluorosis. Since 1990, numerous studies have reported an association between fluoridated water and hip fractures. Fluoridation is also known to increase osteoporosis (brittle bones), with three different osteoporosis studies showing associated hip fractures with fluoridation. Excessive fluoride has been shown to damage the musculoskeletal and nervous systems, leading to limited joint mobility, ligament calcification, muscular degeneration and neurological deficits.

So, what are the alternatives?

First thing that comes to mind is bottled water.  This negates the issue of added chemicals, however you need to be careful of plastic bottles! Many of the brands of bottled water available come in plastic containers, plastic containers created with a chemical compound called Bisphenol A (BPA). BPA mimics estrogens, binding to the same receptors throughout the human body as natural female hormones. Tests have shown that exposure to BPA can promote human breast cancer cell growth as well as decrease sperm count in rats, among other effects. These findings have raised questions about the potential health risks of BPA, especially in the wake of hosts of studies showing that it leaches from plastics and resins when they are exposed to hard use or high temperatures (as in microwaves or dishwashers).  It is suggested that these plastic bottles should not be reused, nor stored in areas where they are likely to be exposed to heat.  Glass bottles are a far safer option.

So, what about filtered water? By drinking filtered water you will be greatly reducing the risk of colon cancer, rectal cancer and bladder cancer through the removal of chlorine and chlorine products, many water filters also eliminate heavy metals found in water from pipes. Filtered water consumption also reduces the risk of gastrointestinal disease by removing some nasty bacteria that are prone to infesting our gut lining and wreaking havoc in the bowels. It’s really your last line of defense against up to 2000 toxins that may be present in a sample of drinking water delivered to your house via tap. Water filters are easy enough to use and don’t take much preparation. 

Another option, that may seem completely crazy at first, and like a whole lot of work, is to find a source of water and collect your own.  Yep, that’s right, there are springs all over the place where you can go – with glass bottles, and collect your own water straight from nature.  No added chemicals, just real water. You will be able to taste the difference to tap water – no added chlorine!  It’s also cold & refreshing – guaranteed to make you feel AMAZING at the first sip.  You need to make sure the water is from a real source though, real spring water will not be contaminated with bacteria.

Just remember, Water is the recommended fluid to satisfy thirst and is nature's choice. It is calorie-free, inexpensive and readily available and regardless of what sort of water you chose to source & drink, just by choosing to drink water instead of other beverages will have a positive impact on your health.

Do you have your own website or blog?  Check out the Tonic Superfoods Affiliate Program.  By spreading the word about Tonic Superfoods on your site, you are not only helping people in their health journey, but you can make money!