Water for Health

(Water is an enormous topic; a powerful elemental; a relentless force of nature; and the limiting factor in all biological systems. There is no one thing that shows the inextricable connection between our health and the health of our planet. Nothing that demonstrates how much we are one small piece of a gigantic whole system. Nothing that shows so clearly how anything we do to our world we do to ourselves. 

 

Confining the discussion to the context of physical health and immunity, as I have attempted to do here, has been a challenge. Water is bigger and more important than any container we can use to confine it. This is just one tiny portion of subject that can easily fill and overflow numerous essays, books, and even libraries.)

 

Getting enough clean water to maintain good health and strong immunity presents more than one unique challenge. Apparently, human beings have a very poor sense of thirst compared to other animals. Talking, our uniquely human communication strategy, requires a well lubricated throat and mouth. This means relying on our sense of thirst is not practical. By the time we feel thirsty we are probably already dehydrated. Additionally, thirst is often misperceived as hunger or, sometimes, even sleepiness. 

 

The ultimate challenge is there is no source of “clean” water.* The water quality available to us today is a clear indiction of the slide down from peak industrialization. In the 1960’s and 70’s when I was growing up, it was taken for granted that you could turn on the tap anywhere and get potable water. Murmurs of concern about water quality started circulating in the late 70’s. Chlorine, at first, then in the mid 80’s, seemingly endless referenda on fluoridation abruptly ended when they finally returned a “yes.” 

 

Today, in many places in North America, the tap water is absolutely undrinkable. In most others the “potable” water is a toxic stew of chlorine, fluoride, and water soluble plastics used as clarifying agents to precipitate particulate matter. If you are fortunate enough to live at a high elevation the rainwater is likely as good as it gets anywhere on the planet. Not clean but cleaner. 

 

No matter where you are, if you are setting up your own water supply, rainwater is a better choice than surface water or ground water.  However wells are still the easiest and most common method of providing water in rural areas. Setting up a rain catchment system is likely to be a DIY project and in some areas there are legal barriers that limit this option. 

 

If you are dependant on municipal water, as most of us are, getting a domestic water purification system is one of the best investments you can make in your health. Domestic systems, especially those that include comprehensive multiple filtrations required to eliminate both chemical and biological contaminants are expensive but in terms of maintaining personal health they are well worth it. 

 

There are multiple options available and the internet is full of information about systems ranging from high tech to primitive, including many DIY options. Low tech systems typically address the sediments and biological pathogens but have limited effectiveness against industrial pollutants. Some of the tests using living plant materials have shown amazing results for clarifying and eliminating pathogens. Unfortunately they haven’t done the tests for chemical contaminants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSBwJNDDUfc&t=34s

 

Boiling water, the simplest purification method, is problematic in the context of industrial toxins, because the water, and anything with a higher evaporation point, boils off while pollutants with a lower evaporation point become more concentrated. Distillation catches the evaporated water but any pollutant that evaporates sooner also likely condenses sooner as well and it will be reincorporated into the “pure” water. 

 

Distilled water is devoid of minerals and drinking water that is too pure can have a devastating effect on your electrolyte balance. Sugary electrolyte drinks are not the best solution if strong immunity is the goal; sugar is an immune suppressant. Fruit juice isn’t ideal either. Juicing concentrates the fruit sugars; the fibre and other important nutrients are lost in the pulp. Making lemonade and using diluted fruit juices, or herb and juice combinations, in summer coolers works well.

 

Teas and broth soups are much better choices. Drinking “tea”, real tea from the tea plant has many well documented health benefits. Other “teas,” infusion of herbs or herb combination, are not as well documented and each herb and herb combination has it’s own properties. Mint is extremely common and popular and there are many other widely used herbal teas. The trick is to avoid the ones that rely on heavy doses of added sugar (real or artificial) to make them palatable.

 

The amount of water you need to stay hydrated and maintain effective detoxification and elimination is going to vary depending on your  size, your activity level, and the ambient temperature. Obviously if you are working hard in the heat, you’ll need more water. Many other things, even how much talking you do, can vary your water requirements.

 

You’ll need more water if you are eating heavy, concentrated food. A meal of meat and potatoes or pasta and cheese is going to require more digestive fluids to process than soup, salad, or stir fry. A diet that is heavy in sugar, salt, coffee, alcohol, and processed food is going to increase the need for water.

 

Sugar, salt, and fat are ubiquitous in processed food. The evolutionary reward system that makes us crave them has been subverted to sell us nutritionally deficient chemically laden fake food. This reward system has no “off switch” and when the reward is delivered without the nutrients it is intended to flag, it  leaves us wanting more and more.

 

Refined sugar whether it is cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup contains none of the nutrients our bodies need to process it. It has an immediate detrimental effect on the immune system and, since it also causes a immediate spike and subsequent drop in blood sugar levels, just about the time your immune system is recovering the craving for another sugary snack sets in.

 

Alcohol is liquid sugar as far as the immune system and blood sugar are concerned. It’s also an extra burden on the liver. In the context of  the toxic overload we carry and it’s impact on the immune system, overloading the liver is the worst thing to do. 

 

Alcohol and coffee are both diuretics too. More water will be needed to dilute them and to make up for the extra water losses. The “need” for an afternoon coffee is deceiving. Early afternoon naps or siestas is a universal behaviour pattern among non-human primates and among most humans as well. 

 

Salty snacks also mess with the body’s water requirements. The kidneys respond to hormones signalling too much salt by reabsorbing water. Reabsorbing water increases the probability that water soluble toxins will also be drawn back into the system. Water lost sweating or talking can also trigger the kidneys to increase water conservation. 

 

The need for water increases when the dietary salt is excessive but a consistently high salt level in food reduces our ability to detect salt. The tastebuds become less sensitive and more is needed for food to register as salty. Obviously, salt consumption adequate for working in the heat will be excessive when you are sitting and relaxing but your tastebuds won’t be able to track that easily when your overall salt consumption is high.

 

So how much water do we need? Tricky. The standard recommendation of 8 glasses of water a day is probably a good baseline for people in the temperate zone: about 2 litres with additional water from food and other beverages. If your urine is darkly coloured or has a strong smell, drink more water. If your joints are creaky in the morning, drink water. If you feel thirsty or have a salty taste in your mouth, drink water. 

 

Make water your beverage of choice. Toast your good health and immunity; drink water.

 

 

 

* There is a wealth of information about using biological systems for bioremediation and restoration of water. The work of John Todd https://www.toddecological.com/ and his former wife Nancy Jack Todd https://www.oceanarksint.org/ have documented an abundance evidence of the effectiveness of biological systems for repair and restoration. Todd’s work, a lifetime of active development and deployment of biological systems for municipal and industrial waste water treatment, is inspirational.  

Premier mycologist Paul Stamets, author of  the book “Mycelium Running,” has developed fungal filtration systems for point source pollution from agriculture and investigated the myco-remediation of oil spills and toxic waste dumps. 

Another excellent resource on bioremediation is the book “Earth Repair: a grassroots guide to healing toxic landscapes” by Leila Darwish.