Drink the "good" water: a real headache

Did you know that your body was 99.1% water?

Yes, 99.1% of the molecules in the human body are water molecules.

And the rest ? These are "ions", essentially.

Ions are mineral salts such as potassium, magnesium or sodium: they represent 0.5% of our molecules.

Which leads the chemist Marc Henry to say funny:

"  A human being is a tube crossed by water and ions. The organs, the rest, are the 'Christmas decorations', but the fir is water and ions .

If you're not used to hearing this, it's normal.

Usually, you are told that water accounts for 60 to 70% of your body weight .

That's right, but the proportion of water molecules (99.1%) is the most important figure for your health.

In fact, water is everywhere:

Two-thirds of our water is housed inside our cells (intracellular fluid);

A little less than a quarter of our water surrounds our cells (interstitial fluid);

And the rest is contained in the blood circulating in our body (5 liters of water for a man of 70kg)

You understand why 2 or 3 days without drinking are enough to wither!

Evidence: water must be your "queen" drink

We lose "naturally" between 1.5 and 3 liters of water each day.

It is therefore vital to compensate for this loss with food and liquids containing water.

I will come back to the end of this letter on what foods to focus on - and you will see that it is at least as important to "eat" water as it is to drink it.

But with regard to the "liquids" to swallow, I want to remind you of this obvious fact: water must be your main daily drink!

Really, forget about sweet drinks like fruit juices and sodas, except "holiday".

A recent study published in the journal Alzheimer & Dementia has further confirmed: in addition to their damage on your weight or blood sugar, sugary drinks are associated with a loss of brain volume , a loss of memory and probably Alzheimer's after path.

So of course, if you love to squeeze an orange in the morning, it's not me who will tell you to stop this little pleasure.

A single orange is less than half a glass (about 100 milliliters), so it will not hurt you much unless you're diabetic.

But you must still know that this half-glass contains the equivalent of 2 sugars ... like a coca-cola! (Eat whole fruits instead of juices, because the fruit fibers slow down the passage of blood sugar).

Your main "liquid" must be water, at room temperature or in the form of herbal tea, tea or infusion.

Where it gets a bit complicated is when you have to choose which water to drink .

One certainty: tap water is NO

Certainly, tap water is not likely to "poison" you, in any case not in the short term.

Because in Western countries, wastewater treatment plants do an excellent job of removing all dangerous bacteria from running water.

The only problem is that to kill the "bad" bacteria, the treatment plants usually use chlorine .

Chlorine kills bacteria in sewage plants ... but it also kills the good bacteria in your own body  !

If you swallow, the chlorine may disturb your intestinal flora filled with bacteria essential to health ... with long-term painful consequences (I refer you to my letter on the intestine if you are not convinced).

And then chlorine is known to increase the "oxidative stress" of your cells ... which increases your risk of cancer [2] - and indeed, chlorinated pool swimmers have more bladder cancers. [3]

Another small "surprise" at the treatment plants is that they can use alumina sulphate to sanitize the water ... so that small amounts of aluminum can get into your tap water.

I remind you that aluminum is a "neurotoxic", which means it can damage your brain.

This is not a simple "theoretical" risk: in 2000, the INSERM PAQUID study in Gironde and Dordogne even revealed that high levels of aluminum in tap water could double the risk to develop Alzheimer's disease.And that's not all.

The other big problem with sewage treatment plants is what they do not do .

Most stations do not filter pesticides and drug residues , so you find them in your tap water.

And that's how you end up daily swallowing infinitesimal doses of contraceptive pill, doliprane (paracetamol), anti-depressants and antibiotics.

It is not me who says it, but an official report of the National Agency for Food Safety, Environment and Labor (ANSES), dating from 2011. [4]

In some French municipalities, the level of a very dangerous herbicide, atrazine, exceeds even the allowed thresholds (look rather this disturbing report ).

But even when the official thresholds are met, no one can guarantee that such a "cocktail" of chemicals is harmless.

And when we see that some freshwater fish "feminize" under the effect of all these pollutants, I tell myself that it is better to avoid drinking this water!

Last thing to know about tap water: the pipes may contain "  phthalates  " (an endocrine disruptor) or even worse, lead (a dangerous neurotoxic) if your canal system is old - to be clear, inquire at your city hall or your trustee!

So must we rush to the bottled water?

A conviction: bottled water is clearly a "lesser evil"

I know that plastic bottles are bad for our planet, alas. And that drinking spring water weighs heavily on small budgets.

I also recognize that plastic bottles are not 100% ideal for health.

Substances such as antimony, formaldehyde or acetaldehyde could migrate into the water when the bottle heats up a bit - so do not put your water bottles in the sun or next to a radiator!

But let's be clear: compared to unfiltered tap water, there is no picture .

Since 1991, water bottles (PET) no longer contain dangerous phthalates. And unlike the big water bottles that you find in some offices (to avoid!), They also do not contain bisphenol

Especially, spring waters and mineral waters do not contain dangerous toxic substances such as pesticides, drug residues or dangerous metals such as lead or aluminum!

Just avoid drinking too much fluoride water every day, like Vichy St Yorre and Vichy Célestins.

On the other hand, contrary to an accepted idea, you can drink waters rich in sodium bicarbonates , like Badoit or Quézac, without risk for your heart: they are not likely to increase your blood pressure  (it is the chloride sodium that is bad, not baking).

So for me, no doubt: mineral water or spring water is preferred over tap water.

But we can do even better  :

The ideal? Filter the water - but no matter how!

Having a good water filtration system at home is ideal on all levels: it's economical, it's good for the environment and it's good for your health.

The only problem is that it is very difficult to navigate through all the filtration systems that exist.

The simplest - but the least careful - are the filter jugs, type Brita.

They have the merit of perfectly removing the chlorine from the tap water, which is already a very good thing.

But for other toxic pollutants, the efficiency is far from perfect.]

In addition, this type of filter can release doubtful substances at the very beginning (never drink the first 2 liters) ... and at the end of their life: when they are worn out, the filters can release the filtered toxins into your water (it is necessary to so change them well in time!).

If you choose this type of filter, it is better to install them directly on your kitchen faucet, because the results of filtration seem a little better than in the carafe.

But if you can, the ideal is to install in your home a "reverse osmosis" filter, which purifies your water PERFECTLY.

With reverse osmosis, you are sure to swallow no toxic residues in your water!

Initially, it is true that it represents a serious financial investment. But after a few years, you will have largely paid for it compared to bottled water.

And now, you know everything about the water you should drink .

All ? In fact, no, not quite.

I told you the basics ... but for you, my dear readers who are passionate about health, I would like to go even further on the issue of ideal water .

And I would like to speak to you about two very delicate subjects, which do not reach scientific consensus .

I will expose them without prejudice, hoping that the most "knowing" of you will bring their lights commentary on this article .

Let's start with the question of minerals in water, which tears supporters of natural medicines.

Two irreconcilable camps: mineralized water vs. little mineralized water

Some naturopaths and scientists recommend drinking only very slightly mineralized water .They do not advocate totally "pure" or "distilled" water, but they strongly advise against water containing a lot of minerals, like Contrex for example.

They do not even recommend Evian water, which is not very mineralized.

Only filtered tap water or waters like Montcalm or Mont Roucous find through their eyes.

Water, they say, is made to "cleanse", not to bring minerals. According to them, the minerals of the water would be badly assimilated by the body and would end up "to foul it"!

There may be some element of their reasoning that escapes me ( tell me in comment  !), But one thing is certain: it is not scientifically true that the minerals of water, as the magnesium or calcium, are particularly poorly absorbed - many studies have shown.

In the other camp, on the contrary, it is recommended to drink water rich in minerals , to fill any gaps.

For example, if you lack calcium, Contrex can give you an interesting dose. If you like sparkling waters, the Badoit is fairly well balanced in minerals, while a water like Salvetat is interesting for its richness in silica.

In this camp, one is very wary of waters too weakly mineralized.

My friend Dr. Jean-Paul Curtay likes to mention an extreme case of their danger: if you run a marathon, you lose a lot of minerals through perspiration ... and if at that moment you drink a liter of pure water (without minerals), your cells may become waterlogged and you will start to swell ... in the brain, this can cause brain swelling ... that can kill you!

These are the two sides who are fighting each other ... but it is not so difficult to reconcile them.

One thing is certain: avoid pure water after intense physical activity, and opt for mineral water.

Apart from this particular case, my opinion is that you can perfectly drink water very weakly mineralized daily ... as long as you are full of vitamins and minerals elsewhere!

I come to the second big "dilemma" of the ideal water, even more sensitive:

The mystery of life: must we drink "living" water?

A whole stream of thought argues that water should ideally be "re-energized" to achieve the best health effects.

Bottled water, from this point of view, would be "dead water", devoid of energy.

It would even be confirmed by certain measurement units (such as the "Bovis") that would make it possible to evaluate the vibratory energy of food and water ... and which would confirm the interest of the "dynamisation" of water.

Honestly, I admit to being incompetent on this subject.

If I had limited mind, I would say that it is not serious because not recognized by the scientific community.

But now, I also know that a lot of things that seemed mysterious and unscientific at the beginning were finally demonstrated rigorously.

The microbes, invisible to the naked eye, seemed implausible to the doctors ... until the Pasteurian revolution. The same goes for waves, quantum particles, and so many discoveries that have revolutionized science.

So, I absolutely do not reject the idea that it would be good to "energize" the water.

To be honest, I'm regularly tempted to get a filtering and revitalizing water fountain - although I can not be sure of its benefits.

A very well done Internet page lists the various existing models on the market:

I invite you to read it while keeping your critical mind - the author may be right but I can not guarantee it!

Again, if you have convictions (and arguments) on the subject, feel free to share them with everyone here .

One last conclusion: do not forget to eat water!

Finally, I would like to talk about a water that ALL agree: it is the fruit (whole) and vegetables (whole or juice)!

It is an ultra-natural way to hydrate and ingest "living" water, naturally rich in vitamins and minerals!

State-of-the-art doctors like Dr. Mercola even believe that fruit and vegetable water has specific properties (it would be "structured water"), which is beneficial for health.

That's why you have to take full advantage of this form of water that everyone likes:

All year long, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables - and especially vegetables!

In winter, drink soup very regularly; And in summer, do not hesitate to gorge yourself with watermelon (not very sweet) to hydrate you, as well as vegetable salads filled with water like cucumber;

... and do like me, get yourself a big organic vegetable juice in the morning when you wake up! A cucumber juice, fennel, zucchini, carrots, beets, water is healing!