What is Healthy Water II?

Posted on | June 4, 2009 | No Comments

Yesterday we started with the question, what is healthy water, and why is is healthy?

So today I am going to start with the great question about water, which is:  How much water do I need to drink.  We have all asked that question at one time or another “How much water do I need to drink.”

Considering that after air, water is our second most important nutirent, this is a very important question.

Unfortunately tha question is much more complicated than it would first appear.  There are a number of key factors involved in that.  The key in this question is what is your caloric intake?   You see the second largest factor in the amount of water is that your bodies uses water as a tool when digesting food and energy distribution.

The Primary use of water is for thermal management. So depending on the weather you may use or lose up to 3+ litres of water per day.

So a list of water usage in your body includes, 

• Food intake.
• Climate.
• Activity level.
• Environmental toxic load.
• Airconditioning (dries you out).
• Length of day (believe it or not).
• Lubrication.
• Moisturising skin and lungs.
• Shock absprbtion. (very active people use more for this)
• Cleaning and toxin removal from cells.
• Transport of energy, nutrients and toxins.
• Etc etc….

But you start to get the idea.

This means that almost any advice that you get regarding amounts to drink is flawed advice as it takes none of the above into account.

In fact the original 8 glasses of water a day was an off the cuff comment by a doctor given in response to an interview question in north Eastern USA around 30 years ago.  It has little relevance to most peoples water requirements.  Especially if you are living in a temperate or tropical climate.

The simplest and best advice that you can be given regarding water, and this does not apply to people with kidney disease or other such issues, is:

Drink enough water to need to urinate every 2-3 hours during the day.

This will cover most situations.   As your body flushes toxins it ramps up and down depending on load.  Also this will bypass the amount of water that your body is using for cooling and keeping your lungs moist.  If you continue to have enough foe your kidneys and liver to process toxins out of your system then the other issues are covered.

What is Healthy water?

Posted on | June 3, 2009 | No Comments

Healthy Water! What is it? and why is it healthy water?

For over 40 years I have wondered at the concept of healthy water.  

It first started for me during an epidemic in Queensland of fever spread by mosquitoes from local water tanks.  Became full blown when I started working as a water treatment plant operator for local government.  And has continued during my profession as an health and nutrition educator.

Have you ever wondered, what is healthy drinking water? And why is it healthy water?

On the surface, it seems an easy question to answer.  

• We need water without toxins, such as flouride, mercury, cadmium.  
• We need water free of waterborne pathogens, such as giardia, dengue fever, and cryptosporidium. 
• We need water free of  cholera, dysentry and schistamiosis. 
• We also need it to be free of human poisons such a Bisphenol A and pthalates. 
• And we want it to be relatively free of manganese, iron and chromiun so that it is tasty and easy to drink.

On the positive side

• We need water that contains electrolytes such as potassium, magnesium and calcium so it is easy to absorb.  
• It needs to be delivered to us in an easily used form.
• And it needs to be relatively expensive so that all can afford it.

Once all of these questions are answered we need to start looking at questions such as:

• What is a healthy water bottle?
• How do I store water safely?
• Are there other issues?

I am going to spend some time over the next week or 2 answering some of these questions.  

If you have any questions feel free to leave them in comments.

Francis

Water and Wellbeing!

Posted on | June 1, 2009 | No Comments

Symptoms and Self Deception.

Posted on | May 31, 2009 | No Comments

One of the most common questions I get asked is why I tell people to ignore medical issues. While this is not quite my message, it is certainly a good question.

As a Public Health Nutritionist my focus is on avoiding issues. One of the frustrating issues in my professional practice has been peoples fascination with the outcomes of low quality diets, activity, hydration or sleep.

These outcomes include, obesity, overweight, arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, fatigue, depression, artheriosclerosis, stroke and cardiovascular disease. 

Now, while I absolutely encourage people with any of these conditions to see a medical professional, and Australia has some of the best in the world. My contention is that all of these conditions are symptoms of an underlying cause. And it is the causal issue that we need to address.

So here is my rule of thumb. See a medical professional to deal with those symptoms but do not get fascinated by them.

Redesign your life, have fun and focus on what works.

Artificial Sweeteners!

Posted on | May 31, 2009 | No Comments

Did you know that aspartame is a neurotoxin.
Yepp kills nerve cells and destroys their ability to conduct messages around your brain and body. 
I go back to my old hobby horse. If you cannot see what it was when it was alive, do not put it in your mouth.

We seem to be surrounded by research done by employees of, or contractors too, big multinational companies who only publish information and research that helps them to make money. 

Research that is done is not done with our health in mind, and it cannot and does not look at the synergistic affects of different chemicals that we are being encouraged to eat.

If you want to increase your health then learn how to prepare meals from fresh ingredients and do not regularly use prepackaged food or modified materials.