Let’s start with the most simple and basic fact about the human body.

Ninety-nine percent (99%) of all molecules in a human body are water molecules (*). Yes, you read that right.

If you are “into” health, you might have heard or read that your body is 60% or 70% water. If you dig a little deeper, you will find that unborn babies have a water content of 90%. You will also learn that as people get older, the percentage of water content drops as you age. All of that is true. So how do these figures jive with the 99% water molecule figure? Water molecules are extremely small compared to other molecules in your body. Therefore, while 99% of the molecules in your body are water, they only make up 60% to 70% of your body Mass depending upon your age. “According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%” (**). The percentages of water in the previously noted body parts refer to Mass, not the number of molecules.

Now that you realize that water makes up 99% of the molecules in your body, hopefully a light just come on for you. Water plays a role in every major function in your body from transportation to communication to…well….everything.

If you are properly hydrated, you will perform better both physically and mentally. I have read scientific studies that indicate that being as little as 2% hydrated can drop your mental capacity by 10% to 15% (sorry, I don’t have the reference handy). Stay hydrated and you will feel better, and you will look better (your skin is 64% water and wrinkles form on skin just like a fruit when skin dries out).

OK…..you get it…..water is the most important thing that you voluntarily put into your body.

How much water should you drink?

For starters, everybody should be drinking a lot of water. According to the USGS (US Geological Survey’s Water Source School), ” Generally, an adult male needs about 3 liters per day while an adult female needs about 2.2 liters per day. Some of this water is gotten in food”. (**) To put those numbers in perspective, that means that the average woman (2.2 liters) should drink about 9 (8oz) glasses of water per day and the average man should drink about 13 glasses per day if you exclude the 1/2 liter/quart that the average diet provides per day from food.

Unless a doctor or trainer tells you otherwise and you are not an infant, the only liquid you should be drinking is water as it hydrates you and doesn’t put any stress on your body to remove sugars etc. Of course, you should drink more water if you are a big person as size matters. You should drink more water if you live in a hot climate to offset water loss from sweating. The same goes for those living at high altitudes. Anyone who exercises regularly at work or at play requires more water as it is widely suggested that you should consume one liter of water for each hour of vigorous activity.

If you want to lose weight, consuming more water can help. Replacing calorie laden snacks between meals and in the evening will hydrate you and fill your cravings without adding unwanted calories. Your brain doesn’t differentiate the signals it receives from being hungry or thirsty. Since very few of us are actually starving, the cravings you get are probably your body crying out for water, not food.

Of course, you can drink other liquids, but my question to you is: “why would you when water is the perfect drink”. Creatures in nature only drink water they seem to do just fine with water.

 

Here are a few things that will hopefully appeal to your natural sensibilities:

1) Water from nature or from your kitchen tap is not getting cleaner or healthier.

2) While you can count on governments providing you with “safe” drinking water (as in water that won’t immediately make you sick and potentially kill you), don’t think for one second that governments have the money to provide healthy drinking water. People are always complaining about high tax bills. As long as people don’t keel over and die from drinking their tap water and they neglect to understand how important proper drinking water is to their health, don’t expect your municipality to go the extra mile.

3) Advertisers are smart and they prey upon your fear, on your vanity, on your weaknesses, and on anything else they can think of to convince you to buy their products

4) Drinking water should be inexpensive as we are surrounded by water and it doesn’t cost much to make it clean and healthy.

There should be viable alternatives to the insanely high prices being charged for bottled water if you remove packaging, shipping, the middlemen, and corporate profits.

Here is something that you may not have thought about

Clean water doesn’t mean healthy water. Reverse Osmosis systems designed to essentially purify water thereby making the water clean, also remove alkali metals such as Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, and Sodium.  They also don’t produce hydrogen gas (H2) which may be the most important missing ingredient from healthy water.  Unless you live in an area that has unsafe drinking water, don’t use a RO system.  If you do have to use a RO system, remineralize your water after it passes through the holding tank of your RO system, or take some form of Cal/Mag supplement like everyone that sells RO systems for a living.

 

Final Thoughts

1. Drink lots of water.   In fact, there is no reason to drink any other liquid.
2. Consuming at least as much water as your body burns off each day is critical to your health and you should never be underestimate its importance. The fact is that most people don’t drink enough water and it ages them more than they will ever know.
3. Clean and healthy water that is rich in hydrogen gas  are the attributes that you want to look for when searching for the “best” drinking water.  Check out the HIM machines at www.brilliantz.com .  They sell great H2 products at 50% less than the leading brands as they sell direct to the public and they don’t pay commissions to salespeople.
4. If you can’t afford specialty drinking water systems, pour tap water into a pitcher and let is sit for about 15 minutes in the open air. The smell and taste will improve as the chlorine will dissipate into the air. If you want to achieve the same result but faster, install a basic carbon filter under your kitchen sink or buy a Brita type filter as they will remove the smell and odor immediately.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. If you like what you have read, please share the information with people that you love.