Water and Your Health – Debunking the 12 Common Myths About Water! Part 1 of 2

When I first started my career, I remembered my boss asked me about my priorities in life. In an effort to impress him, I told him that my top priority was my career. To my surprise, he told me I should get my priorities right. He then went on to explain his philosophy to me. He told me that different people may have different priorities, and still be successful. However, for long term success in life, the priority must always be HEALTH, FAMILY and CAREER in that order. He then went on to explain why.

Today, this philosophy makes a lot of sense to me, and it is something I live with. You see, we can have the most wonderful family and career but without health, these won’t last very long. However, when you are healthy, you will have more energy to work better and spend more time with your family. We can also have the toughest day at work, but with a family that supports you, at least we have something to look forward to when we get home.

With this in mind, I will begin a 2 part series on Water and your health. This is a topic close to my heart. Water has so much impact on our life but most people think health is just about eating the right food and the right amount of exercise. Most of us take water for granted, especially when we live in a country where clean water is abundant and easily accessible. This 2 part article will serve to highlight the importance of water to our health and to debunk 12 common myths about water we’ve been brought up with!

Have you ever been to a doctor, especially if you are down with a flu or fever What’s the one thing almost all doctors say just before they let you out of their clinic… almost without fail and like clockwork Drink more Water If you have not been to a doctor, then you must have heard your mother or grandmother say that. Water seems to be the age old, surefire cure for almost anything… and with good reason too.

Consider these facts! 75% of the earth’s surface is covered by water. 75% of your body is made up of water. Most of us can live for months without food but we can only live for a few days without water and a few minutes without air! Does it then surprise you that besides air, Water is the second most important element of life

What’s even more interesting is this We complain about air pollution all the time, yet we are drinking some of the most polluted water in the world! You see, most of the time, we are victims of the environment we are in with regards to having fresh air. It is not practical to bring with us our own tank of fresh oxygenated air wherever we go. However, the cleanest distilled water is only as far as your nearest 7-Eleven convenience store. Yet we choose to complain about something beyond our immediate control but completely ignore another where we can have full control!

We travel the world to seek the freshest air. Most of us can almost immediately tell the difference when we are put in a room of fresh oxygenated air vs a room of stale air. When the air is stale, we immediately feel sleepy, lethargic and our body system wants to shut down. There’s even fresh evidence that fresh oxygenated air can cure cancer. Cancer cells are cells which mutate in their effort to stay alive in an environment of low oxygen. These cells cannot survive in a highly oxygenated environment!

So with these evidences, we all know that fresh oxygenated air is vital to our health. What about water Our body needs the cleanest water to survive, just like it needs the cleanest air. When we feed our body with dirty air, our lungs have to do the extra work of cleaning the air out before using it. Similarly, when we feed our body with polluted water, our kidneys and liver have to work extra hard to clean them before we can use them. Pollution in the air causes lung cancer. Pollution in the water causes Kidney stones and hardening of arteries. Yet, everyday, more people are pouring water down their throats which has been contaminated with minerals, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, salt etc… than just drinking pure H2O.

Why is this so The only reason I can think of is that we’ve been educated wrongly on the concept of water. Check out these 12 common myths about water!

Myth No 1 – Mineral Water is good for you!

There are two types of minerals in water, organic and Inorganic minerals.

1. Organic minerals – these are once living, or are living and can bring life to cells. These contain carbon, and their electrons spin clockwise, just like those of the human body. Additionally, these cells can form an ionic bond with the body and can easily break down into materials to help with bodily function, such as tissue repair.
2. Inorganic materials – These were never living, without carbon and cannot bring life to cells. The body treats these metals like toxins and are tightly held together; they cannot be easily broken down. And, their electrons spin counter-clockwise, out of sync with the rest of the body.

What most people do not realise is that Mineral Water contains mostly in-organic minerals and these are not useful to the body. In fact, in-organic minerals can cause health problems such as hardening of arteries and kidney stones. Dr. Norman W. Walker, who wrote a book on this area of water (Water can undermine your health), says that of a person drinks two pints of water a day in a 70-year life span, it will total 4,500 gallons. If it is not distilled, Dr. Walker estimates this water will include 200 to 300 pounds of rock, including lime, magnesium and other mineral deposits that the body cannot use. He does note that much of this will be collected by the body’s water, blood and lymph systems to be eliminated through excretory channels. However, some of will stay in the body, causing those problems mentioned above much like in-organic minerals in tap water causes pipes to clog up

Even if water contains organic minerals, we get most or all of the minerals we need from the food we take in. One single banana contains more organic minerals than one bath-tub of water. So if you think you can benefit from the organic minerals in water, you’d have to drink several bath-tubs for it to be any good!

Myth No 2 – Tap water is good enough!

In many developing countries, tap water is definitely not good enough. However, does that mean that if you live in a developed country with drinkable tap water, then it is good enough Well think again! Each day, tap water runs through miles and miles of lead, copper, aluminium or plastic piping. Lead piping is the most notorious as lead is poisonous to the body. Aluminium in water has been strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease. However, whatever material the piping is made of, water is one of the greatest solvent on earth and will somehow dissolve some of the piping materials into the water you drink. Furthermore, tap water contains chlorine but more about this later.

I live in Singapore and Singapore has some of the cleanest tap water in the world.. Even with the cleanest water in the world, accidents can happen. There are reports of pipes which carry sewage water connected wrongly to drinking water pipes etc… One of the best ways to tell if there are too much inorganic substances in the tap water is to look for leaks. If mini stalactites starts to form at the area of slow leaks, it immediately tells us that there are too much inorganic minerals in the tap water, most probably from the piping which brings the water to your household.