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Monday, March 18, 2013

Water, pH, and Otto Warburg

Remember back in the day when bottled water didn't "exist"?  You know, back in the days when your only choice on the shelf was a bottle or can of your favorite poison pop (or "soda" - for those of you who say that)?  Now if you walk into your local grocery store, gas station or otherwise, you see plethoras of water bottle packs - bundled up ones, refrigerated ones, tall ones, small ones, it's a wonder.

We can figure that this came out of someone figuring out a good way to make money via marketing and bottling convienent ways for people to take water on the go (the people who find it much more difficult to fill up their own personal reusable water bottle, I suppose).  The old phrase "drink 8 glasses of water a day" birthed to us this new water revolution and gave us plethoras of Ice Mountains, Aquafina, Ethos, etc.

Now.  As you know, I am very glad that people are being made aware that they should drink water - especially instead of poison, er, pop.  

But.

Are all waters created equally?

Some say they are spring water.  Some say they are purified through reverse osmosis.  Still others are ionized and have a higher pH than what you can get out of your tap.  Is this all crazysauce or does it actually matter?

Let's work through this one, eh?

Okay.  So, I took a fantastic trip to Virginia last fall and I went into a gas station to get a gallon of water to fill up my water bottle as I traveled (I usually drink about 2L of water a day so I figured this was the easy way to go).  I had a couple minutes as I was waiting for someone in my family to get out of the bathroom so I decided to try to figure out the difference between why one bottled water cost $0.43 and the other was like $1.99.  

What I saw was disturbing and hilarious.

I picked up one and started to read the label.  I am guessing they have to tell you their source, because if they weren't required to do so, I am pretty sure they would not have broadcast this.  I scanned my eyes down to read this: Source - Town X, New Jersey municipal water department.

Whuuut?

It's a dude bottling city tap water!  What on hilarious earth!

I can just see the commerical now: "Mmm, delicious, refreshing, cold water - and I get it from Vince's kitchen sink in New Jersey!"  Awesome.

Then there's spring water, right?  Supposed to be from a spring.  I guess we just have to take their word for it, whatever their definition of a spring is and whatever cleanliness level it might be, I really have no idea.  So that could be good.  Or not.  I have no idea.  Do they boil it?  Are there like little bits of fish parts in it?  I am guessing it can't be straight from a spring, right?  That might be problematic?  Dirt?  Although - I must say - those things aren't bad for you inherently, so don't get me wrong.

Next up: reverse osmosis.  Now I can tell you right here, reverse osmosis has the reputation for being the cleanest water possible.  It goes through several filters - carbon filters, precarbon filters, etc, etc, etc, you can get filters that remove flourine, chlorine, the whole periodic table minus the two hydrogens and an oxygen. It can be pristine.

But.

(Oh why must there be a "but"?!)

The water is deadsicles.  Like meh.  Like it is merely the definition of "wet".  Which, at first, you think, oh, good.  Clean water.  Happy!

But.

(Again?!)

There are people out there who say that reverse osmosis water is devoid of minerals and actually strips the inside of your body of those that are there.  That's scary and not really what we're looking for.  (These same people say that anything is better than chlorinated, flouridated, municipal tap water, though.)  So companies make reverse osmosis mineral drops to add to your pristine water in hopes that everything will be returned to your body in perfect form.

I like that idea.

But.

(F'REAL?!)

There are people who swear up and down and sideways that any of the above are straight up horrid for you and you may as well sign yourself up to be first in line for cancer and the entire host of degenerative diseases (not to be too dramatic).

At this point, are you feeling lost in a sea of desperation, not knowing what on earth it's even worth and you're about to say "Forget this!" and go back to drinking pop?  Hang with me for two seconds here - I have something good to say in a minute.  Don't despair.  And don't touch the poison.

So I go to this naturopath and chiropractor.  She is def not conventional, but the crazy stuff she does works somehow.  Seriously.  She was the first person who told me about this other type of water - the higher pH water - alkaline water.

Now, I have to filter it through my brain here.  She sells these machines so you have to realize that she is making money off of them (and thus wants people to buy them), but she genuinely believes in it.  You know how some people are just pulling a sales pitch on you and you're sure they're just saying the whole gammut because dollar signs are dancing joyfully, prancefully, wildly in the back of their eyeballs?  This is not her.  This lady LOVES this water.  Like, I am pretty sure if you said you would take it away from her and not let her use it anymore, she would  have a life crisis and punch you in the face and key your car.  As in, if it were a man, it would be her husband.  She is in LOVE with this stuff.  Like, she gives it away free to everyone who will come in her office and take it.  And people do.  This one dude folded down all of his minivan seats and was loading up about 50 gallons of it and putting it in his vehicle.  This is a common sight there.

At first, I was wondering what on earth this was all about and why are all these weirdos picking up water.  I talked to her about it, and then pursued my own research.

Have you heard of Otto Heinrich Warburg?  (You'll be surprised to hear that he is German.  I know, you couldn't tell.)  This dude was probably the most brilliant scientist in the 20th century.  He won a Nobel Prize in 1931.  He was a physiologist, medical doctor and a Nobel laureate, served in an elite regiment in World War I, won the Iron Cross for bravery, was nominated THREE different times for three different things for a Nobel Prize (totally unprecedented) and was the premier biochemist of the last century.  His dad was homies with Einstein and the highest prize in science in Germany now bears his name.  Total failure, eh?

(What on earth does he have to do with water, Daisy?)  Glad you asked.

He figured out what causes cancer.  (Why do more people not know this or talk about it, I'll leave to you to think over, but may I just suggest it is a lucrative industry? *cough* pharmaceutical companies *cough*)  He experimented and found that every cancer cell "breathes" out fermentation, whereas healthy cells have aerobic respiration (they breathe out oxygen).  Beyond this, he found that cancer cells only survived (and were "born") in an acidic environment (with pH levels less than neutral - usually around 6.0) and alkaline environments bred healthy cells.

(Finally, it's coming together.)

Think: what is necessary to ferment something?  The presence of sugar (and a yeast - a simple bacteria).  Ponder that one for a moment.

The pH of water can be changed a couple ways - if it is run over minerals or if it is electrically split to do crazy stuff with the oxygen molecules.  (No, I am not a scientist.  If you want to find out more about how that works, do read it.  I have, but I am not solid enough in it to be able to explain it all to you.)

If you constantly bathe your body in a bath of alkaline substances, by this discovery, you stand a good chance of health and wellness.  If you bathe your body in a bath of acidic substances, you stand a good chance of cancer and other sickness.

Do you remember the pH scale from chemistry?  Low numbers mean acid, high numbers mean alkaline.  Too far on either spectrum, your body is going to have a serious problem.  Each number on the pH scale doesn't mean you went up "one".  It means you just multiplied by ten.

So a pH of 6 is TEN TIMES more acidic than something with a pH of 7.  Even though it looks like one.  Seems like not a big deal.  But it is a giganto deal.

Got it?  That's all the chemistry I'm going to explain for today.

So, here's what I want to show you.

7.0 is considered neutral.  Smaller than that, you're in acid territory.  Higher than that, you're in alkaline territory.  If you get close to 0 or 14, you're going to die and whatever it is is pretty much going to peel your skin off.

Want to hear the pH of some things?  You so do.  

Stomach acid (the stuff that would burn holes in your eyes if it were let out) is a 1.0.  Mineral water is about 8.5 (so it's alkaline).  "Good" coffee is between a 4.9 and 5.2 (hello, acid, how are you doing today?  You're about 100 times more acidic than tap water!)  Coca Cola Classic has a pH of 2.5.  TWO POINT FIVE.   TWO POINT FIVE!!!!  That's only about 100,000 times more acidic than tap water.

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND.  I know, I'm being a bit dramatic, but I am in total shock.  Okay, not total shock because I've known pop was hideous for you, but this is crazy nutso off the charts hideosity.

(Told you to step away from the poison!)  Just say it again, one hundred thousand times more acidic.  Cancer lives in acid.  Cancer breathes out sugar fermentation.  Word 'em up, if it ever were time to swear off pop, I think you better do it now!

Anyway, sorry.  Had to show you.

All of this to say, I guess I can see the benefits of having a slightly higher pH for your water (not a 13 or something, but an 8.5 might do ya just right).

Something to ponder, anyway, right?  (And if you've got a good source of well water, you're the luckiest of all.)

Peace, love and drink up?
Ms. Daisy

3 comments:

  1. So, my hubby read my blog and said "bathe" in it? You mean shower and bathe? No. I mean - if you bathe the INSIDE of your body in acid, it's not good. Anyway. Did you know what I mean? Ah well. I knew what I meant...

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