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Health & Wellness

2012-08-02 09:16:26

The importance of water for good health

Q- Every month you answer questions about health issues. Your answers always focus on the importance of what you call “maintaining a proper pH level” in your body, and to do that, you always recommend drinking high pH ionized water from a home water ionizer. I want to be healthy, but I am curious. Is drinking high pH ionized water the only way for me to maintain a proper pH level?

A- That is a great question, and it is a good wake-up for me because it makes me realize that I may be too narrowly focused in the advice I am giving. The answer to your question is “No.” Drinking high pH ionized water is not the only way to keep your body’s pH at a healthy alkaline level. It is just the easiest. The more of the right things you do, the better your overall results will be. I will use today’s column to explain what I mean. When it comes to health, balance is everything. All you have to do is take a look around you to see that with our modern lifestyles, most people are suffering from imbalance. They are obese, tired, prematurely aging, suffering from various diseases, and more. Perhaps some of you reading this have similar issues. The fact is that half of us will die from heart disease or diabetes, and a third of us will die from cancer. The obvious clue is right there in the top three killers (cancer, heart disease and diabetes). Research shows that all are linked in some way to diet. The vast majority of people experiencing illness or less-than-optimal health have pH levels that are overly acidic. The primary factor creating this low-level acid condition is what they eat and drink. For most people, their health is directly related to their diet and their lifestyle. These are the choices people make every day. The problem is that the typical American diet is acidifying. This means that our diet consists primarily of foods which have the effect of making our bodies overly acidic. It also means that the liquids we drink have the same effect. Whether it is coffee, alcohol, soda, energy drinks or most bottled water, all these beverages are highly acidic. Most people don’t know that many of the foods and beverages they regularly consume have a negative impact on their body’s pH balance. The human body is a naturally alkaline environment. When people consume an overly acidic diet, they alter their body’s pH balance, which makes them susceptible to illness and disease. In fact, when their body’s pH balance becomes too acidic, they are at an elevated risk of suffering from heart disease, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases. A great way to support a healthy acidic-alkaline balance in your body is to consume a diet that is composed of 60% to 80% alkaline foods. For proper nutrition, it is still necessary to consume some acidic foods. However they need to be limited to less than 40% of your diet. The following are examples of the alkaline foods that should compose most of your diet: • Dried fruit such as raisins, apricots, dates and bananas • Fresh fruits such as citrus, pears, grapes, blueberries, kiwi, mangoes and papayas • Sweet potatoes, carrots, raw brussel sprouts, celery and tomatoes • Salad greens including lettuce, raw spinach, and cabbage • Green vegetables such as raw broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, raw peas and raw green beans • Assorted vegetables such as beets, peppers, cauliflower, squash, zucchini and cucumbers • Natural fats like almonds and black olives • Certain grains like buckwheat, corn, and sprouted grains • Herbal teas and fresh vegetable juices While alkaline foods are extremely healthy, it can be very difficult to maintain a highly alkaline diet. It means that you must strictly limit meat, fish, dairy products, breads, highly processed foods, snack foods, sugary foods, coffee, alcohol, soda, and bottled water. Unfortunately, these acidic foods we are told to avoid or severely limit are the favorite foods for many people. These foods make up the majority of many people’s diets, and to voluntarily cut back on them is a difficult sacrifice that many people are not ready to commit to making. We know that a diet that is too heavily acidic can lead to health problems over a period of time. We also know that switching to an alkaline diet can reverse the effects of a body having become overly acidic. However, if a person is not ready or willing to make such a radical change in their diet, what other options are there? Do you remember what I said at the beginning of this article? “Drinking high pH ionized water is not the only way to keep your body’s pH at a healthy alkaline level. It is just the easiest.” Everyone needs to be drinking significant amounts of water every day for good health. Experts recommend drinking the number of ounces of water that would equal one half the number of pounds you weigh. Simply switch from the acidic beverages you are drinking now to the fresh clean taste of high pH ionized water. Drinking the water from a home water ionizer will help give you the benefits of a healthy alkaline diet without the commitment. You should still try to gradually reduce the number of acidic foods you consume and eat more of the alkaline foods. In fact, for many people, as they drink the high pH ionized water over time, they gradually lose their craving for the alkaline foods and gradually transition to a more healthy diet. As I stated at the beginning, “The more of the right things you do, the better your overall results will be.”