Healthy Water is Everywhere - -
Right??

The short answer is: Absolutely NOT!

Why is healthy water so hard to find??

After all isn’t all water the same? We live in the United States, and we know our government is always looking out for our best interest, right? Can't we just turn on the tap, and pure water, that's rigorously tested and government-approved, comes pouring out, right?

Uhhh...wrong!!

In spite of the fact that "simple" H2O and O2 are the human body's two most critical requirements, when it comes to these vital resources, most of us take them for granted. Our own Centers for Disease Control says:

"Water is the most precious global commodity with its many uses for drinking, recreation, sanitation, hygiene, agriculture, and industry."

People assume the air they are breathing and the water they are drinking are healthy and beneficial!

After all, aren't there government regulations in place to protect our healthy water supply and make sure that it is safe?

Well, yes and no –- While we're not going to get into a political discussion here, we do have to face the fact that our government has significant pitfalls. Former U.S. EPA Chief Carl Browner says:

"The way we guarantee safe drinking water is broken and needs to be fixed."

Just like so many other things, there are regulations in place, but both the physical and bureaucratic systems to carry them out are in disrepair!

In addition to our water monitoring systems deteriorating, the disease-killing chemicals that are purposely added to our water and the pharmaceuticals that have been dumped in, result in their own negative side effects.

Some people still haven't "gotten" the message about the need to drink water, yet for those who have, the options that have been offered - may I say, pushed? - are creating havoc in our bodies, our environment AND our wallets!

There are thousands of books and millions of websites addressing this issue of healthy water. Yet, it is so critical that we felt we must weigh in on the subject and try to shed some light on a solution.

In this article on healthy water, we’ll look at:

1. The importance of proper hydration
2. Why all water is not the same
3. Contaminants in our drinking water
4. The dangers of chlorine
5. How bottled water may be even worse than tap water
6. An introduction to water filtration
7. The importance of balanced pH in healthy water
8. Pi Mag water and what makes it such a uniquely healthy water

Let’s take a closer look at each of these areas....

The Importance of Proper Hydration

First and foremost is the fact that the human body is 75% water.

Also, the brain is said to be 85% water and is extremely sensitive to any dehydration or depletion of its water content.

The esteemed Mayo Clinic states:

Water is your body's principal chemical component, making up, on average, 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.

So how much healthy water do you really need? According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, women should consume 91 ounces a day, and men need 125 ounces--a good deal more than the 64 ounces (eight cups) generally recommended.

Stephen Rice, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., a sports medicine specialist at the Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, N.J. states, "Approximately 45 to 50 percent of daily water intake comes from drinking fluids, about 35 percent from eating food and the rest from metabolism."

Unfortunately, unless you are a vegan, or at least a vegetarian, you probably do not eat enough high-water-content foods to meet your fluid-from-food ratio.

The rule of thumb that we live by is simply this:

Drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of energy-rich, healthy water each day!

So for example, a 150 pound person, should drink 75 ounces [a little over 2 quarts] of water a day.

If you like to play with technology and want to get some additional feedback about your personal need for healthy water, about.com has a fun little water need calculator - it not only asks your weight, but also activity levels and health concerns that might affect your water needs.

Healthy Water vs. Other Fluids

At the end of the about.com analysis, it will state that "any" fluids you drink will count toward your required daily ounces. I categorically disagree with that! Not only do your kidneys have to work overtime to filter the other substances in coffee, sodas, juices, but the additional calories or chemically-derived fake sweeteners in soda are especially harmful to our bodies!

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body’s Many Cries for Water (1992), says:

In advanced societies, thinking that tea, coffee, alcohol and manufactured beverages are a desirable substitute for the purely natural water needs of the daily 'stressed' body is an elementary but catastrophic mistake. While these beverages do contain water, they also contain dehydrating agents. They get rid of the water they are dissolved in plus some more water from the reserves in the body....

Soda and caffeine-containing beverages don't replace water needs of the body. Caffeine is a dehydrating substance. It does not allow the water to stay in the body long enough. Within an hour you will urinate more than the cup of beverage that you drank. When children are given fruit juice and soda to the exclusion of water, it only compounds the dehydration problem. At the same time, a cultivated preference for the taste of sodas will automatically reduce the free urge to drink water when sodas are available.

That being said, to be fair, I won't tell you that I never drink anything but healthy water --

I just don't count it in my daily quota of liquid intake!

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