By Katie Mickey
Hydrating the body’s cells the way nature intended is no small feat in today’s world of chemically treated, dead, acidic water. With 22 pages of contaminants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, present in our state’s water supply, that then pick up an additional load of rusty, heavy metals from our 50- to 60-year-old steel waterways on the way to your home, water that comes from your tap is not exactly the way nature intended it. Moreover, drinking plastic, bottled water is no improvement, despite images of running streams most bottled water comes from a municipal source and the plastic packaging off-gases chemicals into the water that mimic the estrogen hormone, which are carcinogenic and disruptive to humans’ sensitive endocrine systems.
Filtering the water that enters homes has become the best option for hydrating the body’s cells. The question then arises: what form of filtration is optimal for hydrating our cells? Five years ago I did my research on this question and settled on distilled water or evaporated water — akin to rainwater — water with no contaminants and no minerals. After a couple years of drinking demineralized water my kidneys and adrenals stopped functioning properly and I took up the question again. What is our best option for hydrating our cells the way nature intended?
In the last few decades, researchers have studied the habits of centurion’s living in pristine, high altitude areas fed by glacial, mountain streams. What they found is that these centurions from various parts of the planet drank water with the same unique qualities. Water that is oxygen and hydrogen-rich, mineralized, ionized and alkaline.
Pre-industrial revolution this form of water was available in every fast, flowing stream or river, now it is only found in remote places and in homes or businesses with state of the art water filtration systems.
So what exactly does it mean to have hydrogen, oxygen and mineral rich H20? Hydrogen, oxygen and mineral rich water, is water that has been tumbled and vortexed over the riverbeds, boulders, and rocks in streams and rivers and thereby restructured. While many systems may claim to oxygenate, hydrogenate and mineralize the water being filtered, few actually mimic the tumbling, mineralizing action of a mountain stream.
And what does it mean to ionize water? Ionizing water reduces the surface tension by shrinking the size of the water molecules so they hydrate on a cellular level and adds a negative charge to the water that neutralizes free radicals. Free radicals are positively charged molecules that cause premature aging and disease. Whereas negatively charged water has extra electrons, which it donates to neutralize free radicals and flush them from the body. Again many systems, may claim to ionize water, but they typically do this by electrolysis, whereas state of the art systems now exist that mimic how nature ionizes — tumbling water over rocks and pebbles.
And what is the value of alkaline water? When the body becomes acidic, the biological terrain becomes ideal for disease organisms to multiply — all cancerous bodies are acidic. Alkaline water helps restore the body’s natural pH balance. Many of the common filtration systems such as reverse osmosis and distillation create acidic water. A state of the art filter will mimic the Ph of glacial streams.
More and more scientific research is affirming that many intractable health problems can be linked to the myriad of chemicals, pesticides and heavy metals that are now being stored within body tissues. For optimal health it is essential to detoxify the body from these environmental toxins. Water is an essential feature of any attempt to detoxify the body, be it through sweat, exercise, diet, supplementation, chelation or body work. Drinking ample water that can actually get into the cells and pull out the positively charged chemicals, pesticides and heavy metals stored in the tissue is essential.
Anyone grappling with health challenges or seeking an ideal state of health can benefit from drinking ample water the way nature intended. If you would like to experience hydrating your cells with water the way nature intended, you are welcome to stop by the Santa Barbara Body Therapy Institute at 516 North Quarantina St. and sample a glass of hydrogen, oxygen rich, mineralized, ionized, alkaline water. For more information about how to filter water in your home or business the way nature intended it, go to www.perfectwaterworldwide.com or www.sbbti.com.
Since 1990, Katie Mickey, H.H.P. R.P.P., has been the owner and director of the Santa Barbara Body Therapy Institute, a vocational school offering Holistic Education in Massage and Bodywork. During the last 25 years, she has trained more than 3,000 students in massage, bodywork and holistic health.