Water, we need it daily to survive and today there are many choices.
Alkaline water systems have come on the market and are attracting attention, but are they healthy or harmful? I always believe that if people are informed they can make their own choices. So lets take a look and you can make up your own mind.
What kind of water did man drink in the past?
Stream water. When the water source was below ground a well was dug and people pulled the water up and drank the water, which came from an underground stream. Yes there were other sources of water, springs, lakes, etc., but the majority of water was from some kind of stream. This water was purified by running over, around and through soil, rocks, sand, clay, and other ground matter. This is the way water is cleaned in nature.
But what was the pH level of these waters?
Stream water ranges from 6.5 to 7.5 pH give or take a few tenths. Water is considered neutral if it’s pH is 7.0. It is interesting that average stream water void of pollution has a 7.0 pH. Now here is something to pay attention to. Healthy human blood has a pH of 7.35 – 7.45, if this range drops below 7.2 or above 7.6, survival can be impaired.
Why did I mention all this pH stuff?
Well it was to lay a firm foundation. Nature offers us water, which is needed for daily operation at a pH that is very close to what our body operates at. Wow, problem solved! Drink stream water! Great, but most stream water is polluted. A water filter system is needed and should be used by just about everyone today. If you want to read more about your choices on water filters see A Guide To Water Filter Systems.
Alkaline water now hits the scene with claims that it is able to heal many health concerns.
This alkaline water has a pH of 9.5, which puts it way past the water sources that anyone can find naturally. The people selling these expensive machines that produce alkaline water claim that they help change the pH of the body and thus render the body free of sickness. A search to find studies found no mention on the FDA, CDC, EPA, or other medical websites. It is interesting to note when doing general searches on the web about alkaline water studies the results listed speak about the hoax of alkaline water health. Where are the formal scientific studies?
There are naturalistic doctors that use alkaline water when treating some cases of disease, but keep in mind after the treatment is completed the use of the highly alkaline water is discontinued.
Yet there are many testimonials about how people have been helped by alkaline water. Here is what I think can be happening. Most people do not drink the correct amounts of water daily on a continual basis and suddenly they are hydrating themselves, which makes them feel better and there maybe some healing. But these results may very well be short lived.
Water, when consumed at proper levels, aids in detoxifying the body and this will result in a person feeling much better.
I have seen people properly hydrate and detoxify resulting in healing a multitude of issues. Drinking the correct amount of normal pH water daily will make you feel better, but the water did not heal you. It allowed your body to finally act correctly and move toward better balance, by getting the trash out. Just the fact that more water is available to the body increases body healing and balance. Now lets add the fact that most Americans have a diet that is made up of mostly processed foods. These foods because of their content tend to move the body to more of an acidic level. Adding alkalinity to the body will help reduce these acidic levels with some benefit being seen. IN NO WAY DID THIS FIX THE REAL PROBLEM, and in the long run it will actually cause more issues. The real problem is diet!!! By continuing the consume a highly processed diet low in natural foods the body will always be fighting to achieve its balance.
The alkaline water will actually put a burden of extra work on the body over time.
The body is always working to achieve “homeostasis” (balance). Before the body can use this alkaline water it will have to be balanced, or in other words made neutral in pH. Over time the benefit of detoxing the body will be overrun by the extra energy that is required to be used in this “balancing” of alkaline water.
At Cooking God’s Way we believe in looking to nature to see how things are provided to us. When applying this view to water, alkaline water is not natural. Good, clean, pure water is natural (well it was before man goofed it up). Using this way of thinking a water filter system that removes the pollution without altering the water’s natural state would be ideal. This is why, out of the many water filter systems on the market, we like the Berkey Water Filtration System, read our review.