Water

Now that I've bored people with my spiel about how important water is to the body, I want to talk about where we might get that water from.  It's all a matter of personal preferences but it should be as pure as possible no matter where we get it from.
I checked into getting a machine that filters, oxygenates and alkalizes the water but my main objection to those are the cost of the machine and the expense of replacing the filters or the electrical grids that can erode away if the machine isn't built correctly; and some of these machines have chemicals you have to add to them.  And a real concern to me is whether the filter is really doing what I need it to do and if it is how long will it do it for?
As for me I like distilled water.  Why?  Because it's as clean as nature knows how to make it.  There won't be any harmful pathogens, no toxic metals and chemicals or toxic organic compounds; just plain water.  There aren't any expensive filters to replace or costly electrical components to burn out or leach away into the water you will be drinking  I don't have to worry about plastics leaching into my distilled water because I store it glass containers.  And if I drink it fresh from the distiller then it will often have a kind of "sweet" quality to it.
There are critics who speak out against the possible side effects of drinking distilled water all of the time and their major complaint seems to center around the idea that distilled water can leach the minerals out of your body..  I suppose that this issue may have some validity  to it but, the answer seems simple: add some sea salt to the water before you drink it.  Real sea salt has a mineral content almost in the same proportions as the mineral content of our blood.  How much sea salt?  From what I gather you won't need to add more that a quarter teaspoon full to every gallon of water.  This sea salt also has one other benefit: it tends to neutralize the slightly acidic quality of distilled water.
Sea salt:  No discussion of water could possibly be complete without a discussion of salt.  I've done some checking on the subject of the health benefits of sea salt and what I found mostly debunks my theories on it.  Basically my theory is that sea salt is healthier for you.  The Mayo Clinic says there's very little difference between table salt and sea salt other than the slight elemental differences; sea salt contains them and table salt doesn't..  Many other sites on the internet say the same thing.  But is this really the truth?
Table salt is basically sea salt with the minerals removed and that has been dried out using high heat and then has had anti-caking agents(aluminum compounds) added along with a chemical form of iodine added for the thyroid gland.  The problem with table salt is just that: it's stripped down chemically altered, due to heat, sea salt that the body may not be able to properly process without the other elements that are found in sea salt.
Sea salt is evaporated salt water that still contains the minerals found there and usually, but not always, lacks iodine.   There are many forms of sea salt and they have a wide variety of crystalline structures and often various mineral combinations that make them differ slightly from one another.  These differences come from the differences found in the various places where they are harvested from.  We need to choose a brand that we know has been harvested from unpolluted sources.  Celtic Sea Salt is supposed to be one such brand.  But, why is salt so vital to our body?
This is a quote from Wikipedia:

Normal saline (NS) is the commonly-used phrase for a solution of 0.90% w/v of NaCl, about 300 mOsm/L or 9.0 g per liter.^a Less commonly, this solution is referred to as physiological saline or isotonic saline, neither of which is technically accurate. NS is used frequently in intravenous drips (IVs) for patients who cannot take fluids orally and have developed or are in danger of developing dehydration or hypovolemia. NS is typically the first fluid used when hypovolemia is severe enough to threaten the adequacy of blood circulation, and has long been believed to be the safest fluid to give quickly in large volumes. However, it is now known that rapid infusion of NS can cause metabolic acidosis.^{[1]
 End Quote
Basically, salt regulates the water content of the cells, from the cells in the blood to the cells in our skeleton.  Higher than normal levels of salt in the blood will "dry up" the red blood cells which if severe enough will interfere in their ability to transport nutrients to the cells in the form of oxygen.  Too little salt in the blood will cause the red blood cells to absorb water which under extreme conditions can lead to them bursting which could pose a life threatening situation.  I've actually seen, under a microscope,  what both extremes of salinity has on the blood when I was in college.  The red blood cells looked smooth and kind of kidney shaped in normal saline conditions, the red blood cells resembled spiked balls under high saline conditions and the red blood cell burst when plain water was introduced to them.  
So the body works to maintain the proper salinity of the cells.  But, minor temporary changes in salinity of the blood could be beneficial to the cells as this change may help transport nutrients and wastes into and out of the cells through the movement of water in and out of the cells.  I would speculate that we wouldn't have to worry about any problems either way as long as we're getting enough  of both clean water and good salt.  The body will tell us as long as we learn to listen to it.
Here's a quote from www.health-benefit-of-water.com/}


 Sea Salt and high blood pressure

• Salt is not bad for you. It does not raise the blood pressure
  - It is the insufficiency of other minerals that normally hold on to and keep water inside the cells that causes a rise in blood pressure.
  - Contrary to the misconception that it causes high blood pressure (in conjunction with water and the other essential minerals).

  - One or two glasses of water with a little salt will quickly and efficiently quiet the racing and "thumping" heart and, in the long run, will reduce the blood pressure.

Read more: http://www.health-benefit-of-water.com/sea-salt.html#ixzz1pgILoxft

So we need to learn how to listen to our body and it will tell us.  Does this remedy from above really work?  Well, I don't often suffer in this way, in fact it's something that's rare but, on occasion, I've been roused from my sleep by this uneasy tossing and turning and found that all I needed was a drink of water and this was just my body's way of saying so. 

Trying to find a source for what you need can be a challenge but, here's a good place to find almost anything you want:  Grandpa's Mart

Here's to your health

 

Way of Kings

Ultimate Health

I can't treat, diagnose or cure any disease except my own.  There, got that out of the way.
I've been actively working on several physical limitations of mine for the last several years.  The progress has been gradual but steady and recently that gradual progression increased it's pace.  It's these changes that have prompted some of my posts and that includes this one.
I was going to include everything in one post but, I have a tendency to go on way too long so I'm breaking it up into pieces and I'll devote a little more energy into each piece.
Our bodies are made to be in motion.  This gift of motion can only be fully realized through one thing only and that is through health.  In fact our health and our ability to move are intricately linked and you can't have real health without the ability to move under your own power.
I'm going to include a list of things that I believe that we must do to achieve and maintain our health and our ability to move:

• Drink lots of good clean water.
• Eat the right kind of foods
• Breath properly
• Quality Rest
• Plenty of movement
• Stretching
• Messaging
• Blinking

I've listed things in a rough order but, all of them are important.  I covered Water before in one of my previous posts but, this item is too important not to make further comment.
Water is essential to our life.  We start out to be about 98% water at conception, 90% at birth, 75% at middle age and if we live long enough we'll be about 50% at death.  Is there a link between dehydration, aging and degenerative disease?  I think so.  If we shortchange any part of the body of the water it needs to function we shortchange the whole body.  I don't believe that there is any metabolic process in the body that doesn't somehow rely on water.
Many of us don't even like to drink water, instead we prefer flavored beverages, many of which are really harmful for us if we are dehydrated because those beverages have a diuretic action on the body and this only serves to exacerbate the existing dehydration.
Our ability to move as anything but a newborn infant is directly linked to our level of hydration.  Newborns can't walk as their musculoskeletal systems are too fluid and water doesn't walk it flows.  Our ability to move under our own power comes as the muscles and bones begin to solidify.  Then after about the age of twenty five we begin the battle in earnest to keep ourselves properly hydrated.
Have you ever noticed how old people move about, that is those who are still ambulatory and not just getting around in their power chairs?  Their stride is short and halting, most often being nothing more than a short shuffle.  Their ability to balance is compromised by muscles that are no longer able to function properly.  Why?
It's my firm conviction that they are suffering from a lifetime of dehydration.  The bones are dry, the joints have dried up and rubbed away through friction, the muscles, ligaments and tendons have shortened and become inflexible just like leather that has dried out in the sun and every other vital system has been compromised due to this dehydration along with those mentioned above.
Can kidney stones form when there is an adequate amount of fluid to keep the kidneys properly flushed out?  Will the skin dry up and become leathery if it is properly moisturized?  Will the eyes continue to be "bright" if there is enough moisture to produce tears?  Will toxins be able to build up in and under the skin if the circulatory system is able to carry them away?  Will the sinuses and lungs be able to keep themselves clear and functioning properly if there is an adequate amount of water in the body?  This is only a partial list of things that come to mind concerning water and the body.
There are several rules of thumb as to how much water to drink.  Some say: eight glasses of water a day and others say one half ounce of water for every pound of body weight and there are even some who claim that we shouldn't have to drink any water at all as we should be able to get what we need from the food we eat.  Which one is right?
In my opinion none of those are right.  The closest one would be the one that says we need one half ounce of water per pound of body weight but this is only a guideline as the body will tell us the real amount we need.  Our level of activity could increase the amount we need above what the guideline says.  We have to learn to listen to what the body is telling us.
Our bodies don't have any way of talking to us except through comfort and pain.  We are comfortable, that is without disease, when we are doing what the body asks and we experience pain, that is we have disease, when we fail to attended to the bodies needs.  A dry mouth is not just a cry but a scream from our body to give it water.  Stiff aching joints or the presence of kidney stones may be the body's anguished cries for water.  Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are the body's last gasps for water.  In fact it's astounding as how many ways the body has of asking us to drink water all of which would be unnecessary if we only drank what the body requires.   Can the body cure all diseases by just providing it with enough water?
No it can't and that's why I created the list of things I believe to be necessary for real health but to a large degree I consider water to be one of the most neglected nutrients in our diet.
A better guideline for drinking water:  We need to drink water when we first wake up even before we get out of bed.  How much water?  Until the mouth feels fully hydrated which can take a while to determine.  We don't want to drown ourselves with water by drinking a half gallon at a time but drinking a quart or more over fifteen or twenty minutes won't hurt. Then we need to respond by drinking water every time we begin to feel like the mouth is drying out. Warning: the mouth should never be dry to the point where you can't make spit.  There are times that we shouldn't drink water: we shouldn't drink any water one half hour before we eat, not while we're eating and nothing during the two hour period after we eat. It'll take time to learn to recognize our bodies requests for water.
Drinking water when we first wake up helps to create adequate amounts of fluids to help flush out the kidneys that have been holding urine all night and will help to give the lungs and sinuses the extra moisture they need to clear themselves and will also give the bowels an adequate amount so it can clear itself.  We've been breathing all night long and the lungs, sinuses and kidneys are the major users of water during this time.  The air we breath has to be moisturized with every breath we take and that moisture is lost to the atmosphere as we exhale.  The point is that we lose so much water as we sleep that we need to break the water fast with enough water to put things back on track which includes giving the body enough water to make enough saliva to mix with the food and enough water so that the stomach will have enough digestive juices when the food gets there.

This should be a good enough place to stop with this subject of water; enough to get you started on the right track.  There are is a good book on this subject written by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj entitled "Your Body's Many Cries for Water"

If we learn to listen to the body it'll respond and say thank you by being comfortable. More with the next post.
Katrael.

Well, it looks as if I got more than my hand slapped and that's like it should be.  What am I talking about?  I have another blog at Wordpress.com.  I tried, for the second time, to include an affiliate link.  I wouldn't have done it if I knew they would shut my blog down.  Oh well, if they don't reactivate it then I'll put all of my efforts into this blog.  I had the Wordpress blog first and that's why I put so much energy there.  I'm going to check this blog platform out to see if I can include affiliate links in it.  There is more than one way to skin a cat.