Category: Digestion

A recent Japanese study showed some interesting data with regards to proportions of essential fatty acids to the incidence of Crohn’s Disease. Nutritional experts know that our typical North American diet has more than adequate levels of omega-6 fatty acids or alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), as it is sometimes called. In those with a diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease, researchers found much higher levels of ALA than in participants used as controls.

Another interesting facet of the study showed that there were lower than normal levels of EPA, or eicosapentaenoic acid when the disease was active. Whether lower ingestion of omega 3 fats containing oily fish, resulted in active episodes of Crohn’s disease is not clear, but the drop in EPA blood levels and total polyunsaturated fatty acids certainly increased disease activity.

It has been clearly shown in clinical studies that a higher ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 in the body produces a specific kind of inflammation in the intestinal tract of Crohn’s Disease sufferers. In vitro studies show this is called “arachidonic acid-induced inflammatory cytokine production.” Conversely, studies also show the anti-inflammatory capabilities of omega-3 oils derived from fish. As higher levels of omega-3 essential fatty acids were ingested, symptoms of intestinal distress reduced.

People in active stages of Crohn’s disease require special diets so as not to inflame the intestinal tract more than it already is. By adding increasingly larger amounts of fish derived omega-3 fatty acids as the gut tolerates it, these sufferers showed decreasing amounts of systematic disease. Endoscopy examinations showed a decrease in inflamed tissue as the ingestion of fish derived omega 3s was tolerated and increased.

In one clinical trial, intestinal mucosa was found to contain three times the level of EPA from fish derived omega-3 fatty acids that the control group and arachidonic acid levels were signigicantly lower. In another study EPA levels were up to 7 times higher.

Clearly, diet seems to have a strong correlation with the incidence of grumpy bowel disease. Irritated tissues from higher than tolerated levels of inflammation break down the tissues in the intestines creating food intolerances, pain, diarrhea and even bleeding. Care must then be taken to reduce the irritation by adding more bland foods into the diet and beginning a tolerable supplementation with omega-3 fats.

Researchers are providing new hope to Crohn’s disease sufferers by providing them with ways to reduce inflammation naturally without the use of pharmaceuticals which may have uncomfortable side effects. Check with your health care provider to see if supplementing your diet with oily fish is a good preventative to your flare-ups to Crohn’s disease.

The intestinal tract needs a lot of water to break down the food you eat. If you don’t chew your food properly, it will take more effort to break it all down into useable nutrients. The process of liquefying food stuffs into dissolved nutrients is totally dependent on available water in the body. Dissolved nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal walls into the blood stream and transferred to the liver for processing. The leftovers that cannot be further broken down are moved along the intestines to be eliminated. The body compacts the remnants, withdrawing some of the water and pushes it down the chute.

The amount that the stool is compacted depends on the amount of available water in the body. If there is lots of available water, then the material remains soft and holds some of the water used to process it. This lubricates its passage and makes life a lot less complicated and a lot more comfortable. The last segments of the small intestine and all of the large intestine are controlled by water regulators which pull water from the leftovers that might be needed by the rest of the body. If water is in short supply, the instruction will come down the pipe to rescue and conserve as much water as possible. It will squeeze every drop of water from the leftover material as possible. It will slow down the movement of material through the intestines to allow for the reabsorption of as much water as possible. The body goes on a water conservation alert. One part of the body where water loss is prevented is the large intestine, through changing the consistency and the rate of flow of the excess material. This can make the material more compacted and more firm, even hard, making it difficult to eliminate. This is what is called constipation.

To prevent constipation or to clear it up, it seems that drinking more clean healthy water along with some extra fiber is an obvious solution. But you drink lots, you say. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean coffee, tea, sports drinks, carbonated anything, or even lattes. It means clean, non-chemical, alkaline, water, preferably ionized, highly oxygenated and mineralized.

When you are chronically constipated you become prone to all kinds of other conditions which can be extremely uncomfortable – diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, polyps and of course, the big “C.” The mucus lining dries as well causing material to stick to the intestinal walls, creating a breeding ground for parasites and bad bacteria. If your stool smells you are toxic and if you are struggling with constipation, you are dehydrated.
There is a valve between the small and the large intestine called the ileocecal valve. It is highly affected by the volume of body water. When water is in short supply, the valve can shut for periods of time to allow the small intestine to reabsorb water from its contents. Sometimes it can shut so tightly that there is pain around the area of the appendix where the valve is located. The pain can be distressing because it can present several possibilities of disease. Expensive procedures can be undertaken to get some answers when it is only water that the body needs.

Our ancestors drank river and stream water. It bubbled over the rocks gathering minerals and oxygen and the sun shone on it, filling it full of negative ions. Today, in remote areas of the world, long-lived pockets of society still drink this type of water today. They are healthy and strong well beyond most of the population. We can’t move to these remote places but we can drink similar healthy water.  The  Hydra Water pitcher  makes that fresh mountain stream available to you anytime and you don’t have to hike to get it.

This water is called Cerra  alkaline, anti-oxidant  ionized water. If you want to improve your health you need to try this amazing water.  You’ll get your life back and your pipes will work.

Notice the blood cells in the picture. An expert in live blood microscopy would tell you that some of the platelets are sticky and sticking together. This is usually a result of undigested protein in the blood from poor digestion. This makes the blood acidic. Also notice that the blood cells have indents in the middle which is usually a result of nutritional deficiency, particularly Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid. An expert could probably tell you other things about this picture as well, especially about how the blood pH is very sensitive and must be maintained within very narrow ranges. The condition where the body becomes overly acid is called acidosis and it can affect our health in very profound ways. When our body pH drops it usually starts with diet which makes our bodies more sensitive to stress. Both acidity and stress makes us fat. Our bodies create fat cells to protect us by storing fat away from vital organs to protect them from the acidic irritation. But what has this got to do with our blood. The blood and lymph are our transport systems that carry nutrients and wastes from one place to another inside the body. It also carries acidic toxins to the fat cells for storage. If the blood has to carry acidic waste out of harm’s way, it can affect the bloods ability to flow smoothly, causing it to clump together or stack like you see in the picture. You can see some of the blood cells are stacked like a roll of coins while others just seem to be sticking together. Excess, long term clumping can cause blood clots to form which can be very dangerous. Excess acidity in the blood also affects the blood’s ability to carry oxygen and rid itself of carbon dioxide. Your body cannot get enough oxygen to burn with fuel in the cells so you become fatigued and exhausted. It becomes hard to function and you become winded more easily. An acidic body terrain provides an ideal environment for yeasts and fungus to grow, which can infect the blood stream and make you feel unwell. Sugars and refined carbohydrates are the prime culprits for yeast and fungus overgrowth. Since your blood stream is the main pipeline in the body, it is important to take very good care of it. Excess acids can scar and irritate the insides of the blood vessels making them sore and inflamed. This is the main cause of phlebitis and contributes to varicose veins. By making modifications to your diet and getting plenty of   Cerra water, you have the best chance to have healthy blood. As we get older, our digestive enzymes can become less evident which can cause leaky gut syndrome or dysbiosis, as it is called. Adding a good quality digestive enzyme supplement to your regimen you can eliminate the clumping of the blood, making it’s deliveries much more efficient. Lots of vegetables grown above ground, especially green leafy ones help keep the body and the blood healthy and vibrant. Fresh fruit, particularly the dark purple varieties are full of anthocyanins, the most powerful antioxidants known that help eliminate free radicals in the blood and body. Good, clean water, particular Cerra alkaline, anti-oxidant micro-clustered  water helps to keep the blood from being overly sticky and allows it to flow better. Evaluate what you are eating and drinking so you can keep your pipelines clear and flowing smoothly. After all, if your blood vessels get plugged, you can be in serious trouble. Prevention is your best medicine.

Have you ever heard the expression that there are certain foods that look like body parts? Well if you cut an avocado in half it looks like an eye, especially with the stone in the middle. As people get older they have two very inconvenient disorders of the eye, macular degeneration and cataracts. Macular Degeneration is an age-related disorder that blurs the vision in the part of the eye that you use for forward looking activities, such as reading, driving, sewing, walking, writing and face recognition. The macula is the central part of the eye that lets you see fine detail. It becomes damaged creating a circular blurred spot in the vision. Sometimes it advances so slowly that people don’t notice strong changes in their vision until it become significant enough to cause problems. A cataract, is a clouding of the lens of the eye by proteins that begin to clump together. It starts as a small clumping and can gradually increase. Some cataracts are age related but can appear at birth or even after an eye injury. They can have various causes, but eventually blur the sight so it becomes impossible to focus clearly or see sharply. One of the nutrients that protects the eyes is called Lutein. Because it is concentrated in the retina of the eye, having enough is very important . It is a powerful antioxidant, belonging to the carotenoid family. It is found in orange, yellow and red vegetables such as squash, tomatoes and carrots. in addition to green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, kale and collards. Egg yolk, corn and certain fruits also contain lutein. Avocados however, have stellar amounts of lutein and lesser amounts of another antioxidant called zeaxanthin. Studies have shown that lutein is found in high concentrations in the small central area of the retina called the macula. Visual acuity resides there and for your vision to be sharp, you need healthy amounts of lutein in your diet. One of the most pleasant ways to get lots of lutein is to use avocado every day, either as a spread, instead of butter on sandwiches and wraps, or to use it as a salad addition to get adequate amounts of healthy fats. Add a few tomato slices to that and you amp up the lutein even further. Raw spinach would add even more lutein. Because the mechanism for cataract growth is not really known, other than to say, a few large studies have shown that a daily intake of between 6 and 15 mg of lutein daily, reduces cataract risk by 20 to 50 percent, it is important to get enough lutein to prevent and reduce cataract risk. Combining different lutein rich foods every day will ensure you protect your eyes from blurred and impaired vision. Choose from the following list, considering that fruits have much less lutein than veggies with the line starting with apples, only having traces:

Our feet are critical for our balance, coordination and of course, walking. We take them pretty much for granted until they hurt. Then we are really aware how important they are for our comfort. Thousands of people suffer from different conditions with the feet. One of the most painful is called plantar fasciitis. This is where there is sharp or throbbing pain in the heel and under part of the foot, particularly the arch. Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common and frequently seen conditions by medical doctors and foot specialists. More people hobble in to their doctors seeking relief. The tissues on the underside of the foot become irritated and inflamed to the point that it is almost too painful to walk. The inflammation affects the band of fascia or tissue which supports the arch and runs the length of the foot from the heel to the toes. When it gets that painful, it is called a “stage 4 acidic wear and tear injury”. Steven Ross, MD, clinical professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California at Irvine, and President of the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) says that plantar fasciitis is a very common problem in adults, particularly overweight, middle age women. It does affect all walks of life. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are very active or sedentary, you can still get plantar fasciitis. The medical model explains that plantar fasciitis is a repetitive stress injury, but people who sit at a desk all day, want to know how they can get a repetitive stress injury when they are on their feet very little. The answer lies in their diet and lifestyle which accumulates metabolic acids in the body tissues. When the rate of inflammation rises high enough, certain vulnerable tissues start screaming in pain. Metabolic acids can cause burning pain much like the pain you would feel if you spilled acid on yourself, or a significant ache in the bones and joints. Metabolic acids are the waste products burped out of cells after the cell has consumed its fuel and spit out the waste. Basic high school chemistry tells us that if something is acid and you want to neutralize it, you need to add something that is alkaline or base to it. That is the simplest non-invasive, non pharmaceutical (read, no side effects) way to fix an acidic condition. You can be sure that if you have inflammation in your feet, you have it everywhere, you just can’t feel it yet. If you wait long enough without getting rid of the acids in your body, you will feel it sooner or later. The fastest way to get rid of an acidic body condition, called acidosis by scientists, is to alkalize the body. Strict alkaline diet takes between 6 to 8 months to begin to see the results, but who wants to eat five dinner salads every day or 2 pounds of kale for dinner? Wouldn’t you rather just drink  Cerra alkaline, ionized water and start to turn more alkaline within two to three days. As you alkalize, the pain reduces until it is gone, the length of time varies with how acidic you are. Other forms of treatment that alkalize the foot area only, come in the form of sodium bicarbonate injections, into the painful tissue area to neutralize the acids in the arch of the foot.Clay packs on the feet can also pull out acids. These are similar to clay packs for the face. Hot mineral salt baths for the feet, using bicarbonate salts like calcium bicarbonate, magnesium bicarbonate, etc. are comforting and do help draw the alkaline water through the skin and increase the circulation so it can be eliminated. Some forms of treatment involve soaking the feet in heated ionized acidic water for 30 minutes twice a day. It is believed that the positively charged acidic water draws into the skin, which causes the negatively charged blood to flow into the feet, thus increasing circulation to remove acidic waste. There are also ionized foot pads. These pads are worn on the bottoms of the feet at night. They actually draw the toxins and metabolic acids from the muscles and tissues of the feet as you sleep. As the toxic load becomes less, the pain is relieved. Other treatments that do not involve alkalizing include different types of exercises, stretching and foot massage. These forms of therapy can improve the circulation and increase the cellular pumping action that gets those nasty acids moving into the blood stream to eventually go down the chute. There are surgical procedures that relieve the strain in the plantar fascia but it actually transfers the problem to other areas of the foot. There is another surgical procedure that is done to relieve the tightness in the calf muscles, believing that it will reduce pressure on the heel and the under-foot fascia. I, myself am not sure why one would do surgery on an acidic condition that can be reversed simply and easily without it. 

Some foot specialists recommend orthodics or orthodic-like inserts into the heel and arch portion of the shoe. Some are custom made and some can be purchased over-the-counter. Some of the inserts that you buy over-the-counter can act by stimulating acupressure points on the bottom of the foot. It doesn’t seem to matter how long you have been having foot pain and severe the pain is, some people obtain relief within minutes. 

Believe it or not, the size of your waist-line can have an effect on whether or not you get plantar fasciitis. Toxins are stored in body fat, that is why the body makes fat. If you did not have a lot of toxins, you would not be over or underweight. By modifying your diet to include more alkaline foods and more alkaline, ionized water, your body would discharge toxins into your waste chutes and your weight would naturally find its ideal. We have other articles to reference this, so check them out. 

Dr. Ross explains that without surgical intervention, plantar fasciitis usually sorts itself out with patience, time and exercise. Nothing is a quick fix and quite often the surgical treatments don’t work as they are intended. Dr. Robert. O. Young says that approximately 99 percent of those with plantar fasciitis, who alkalize with diet and  drink alkaline, ionized water will see relief much sooner without surgery.  Cerra Water is  the fastest and safest way to flush out acid buildup in  your feet and bring your body into a alkaline balance.

Meniere’s disease is a disease of balance. The person gets the perception that they are spinning or that their surroundings are spinning. It can be very disconcerting, as it is like you spun yourself around really fast, then tried to stand still while keeping yourself upright. Balance seems to disappear and the sensation of falling is very real. Sometimes vomiting accompanies the dizziness, just like the feeling you experience being on a fast spinning carnival ride. One of the unfortunate effects of Meneire’s is hearing loss. Nystagmus, which is an involuntary side to side eye movement, which usually accompanies Meniere’s can also affect vision acuity. In the inner ear, balance is maintained by the semicircular canals which are filled with fluid and act like gyroscopes, keeping us balanced and upright. These canals are regulated by cranial nerve VIII, which emerges from the brain stem in the brain. Part of the action of Meneire’s disease involves a swelling of the endolymphatic sac, which is part of the semicircular canal. The endolymphatic sac controls the filtration, excretion and maintenance of fluid in the semicircular canals. There is currently inconclusive scientific proof as to the cause of Meniere’s disease, but all of the clients in my clinic have responded to Cerra anti-oxidant  alkaline, ionized water. That points a finger at dehydration. It makes sense because inflammation caused by acidosis and dehydration can cause tissues to swell. Some evidence points to middle ear infection, syphilis, head injury, viral illness, respiratory infection, stress, fatigue, use of OTC and prescription medications, allergies, smoking, alcohol use and genetic factors. All of the above creates acidity in the body with the exception of genetic factors which only govern 35 percent of what is going on. The other 65 percent is within our power to change. I will continue to offer Cerra  Water to Meniere’s sufferers to see if they all respond to the alkaline, ionized water. It is a very specific kind of water, made in water pitcher with a very special filter.  This simple Cerra Water pitcher  changes the tap water into alkaline, super-oxygenated, super hydrating, high antioxidant water that rids the body of free radicals, free radical damage and toxins. It actually restores the body to its most natural pH, which is near neutral. Most importantly, it stops the dizziness, nystagmus and vomiting in its tracks.  Try out the Cerra Water and  see for yourself.

Multiple Sclerosis or MS is a progressive disease that seems to have no real medical cause, at least from what the medical community is prepared to accept. They do agree, however that it appears to be an auto-immune disease. In other words the body’s immune system starts attacking itself. In the case of MS, the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord where the myelin sheath on the nerves of the body is damaged or destroyed. The myelin sheath is the insulating skin covering the nerve core that facilitates the movement and transmission of nerve impulse signaling along the nerve. MS is the progressive deterioration of the myelin sheath throughout the body and its subsequent signaling failure. Nerves in the body give us signals as to conditions in our environment, in addition to helping to create movement so we can move about and get from here to there. We also interpret our world through our nervous system. MS affects the ability of nerves and nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord and body to effectively communicate with each other. Nerve cells communicate by sending electrical signals from one axon, or nerve cell, to the next. Axons are long nerve fibres which are covered by an insulating skin called a myelin sheath. When myelin is lost or damaged, there is signal disruption as the axons can no longer efficiently or effectively conduct signals. As the integrity of the myelin is compromised, scars form and create what is referred to as white matter where the damage occurs. Now that the progression of MS has been explained, I will take you on the path of how auto-immune disease is created. Although the medical community deems MS, idiopathic – of unknown origin, scientific studies show that auto-immune disease starts in the gut, mainly the small and large intestine. We all have some idea that the gut processes food that eventually becomes fuel to give us energy and nutrients. Despite the activities that go on inside the digestive tract, the tissues can be fairly delicate. The intestinal tract, for example has a single layer of epithelial cells that provide a lining, which provides a barrier of sorts between the external environment – the contents of the gut, and the host – the body. These epithelial cells stand tightly shoulder to shoulder and end to end. When fuel, in the form of processed foods is ready to be absorbed, a series of protein signaling takes place. These tight-junction proteins, such as occludin, claudin 1, and zonula occludens 1, signal the intercellular spaces to open creating gaps between the cells which allows intestinal contents to pass through. Unfortunately, sometimes abnormal stimuli occur, increasing the amount and duration of these openings. This is called leaky gut syndrome. When this occurs, partially digested food, microbes and toxins can pass through these epithelial gateways. The body then amasses its immune response believing it is being invaded by an unrecognized force. In 2006, Dr. J.B. Medding and his research team in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, developed a series of experiments which show how leaky gut syndrome causes auto-immune disease, MS being among them. Depending on where the gut is leaking, will depend on what kind of auto-immune response develops. Other researchers, working parallel to the protein signaling group, have discovered that body acidity may play a role in the abnormal signaling function of these proteins such as occludin. Drinking Cerra  alkaline, ionized water and/or reducing metabolic acids through a moderated alkaline diet seems to reduce the leaky gut and return the immune response to normal. The scarring of the myelin is significantly reduced by reducing metabolic acids in the body. Dr. Robert O. Young, a world authority on the acid/alkaline balance, believes that metabolic acids and acidic dietary habits are at the root of MS and all other diseases. Unfortunately, symptoms of leaky gut can be very subtle until the point where significant damage has occurred. Once partially digested foods and microbes are in your blood stream they can trigger abnormal reactions that cause irritation and inflammation to your brain and nerves, in addition to other parts of your body. Left unchecked, MS is the result. Of great concern to those of us with experience or expertise in the area of auto-immune disease, is the fact that the Western Diet is creating more and more symptomatic disease, particularly auto-immune disease and yet most doctors and even the public are missing the acid/alkaline connection. Exacerbating the acidic problem is dehydration. Over 70 percent of the North American population is dehydrated enough to affect their health is some fashion. In the early stages of MS, if the body terrain is brought back into a slightly alkaline position and the water balance is corrected, the MS sufferer may find that their symptoms go entirely into remission. As long as the proper conditions remain, and free radicals are continued to be neutralized, MS can be a former condition, becoming a distant memory.

While most people want their nails to look presentable, some people turn them into fashion accessories, getting artificial fingernails, using striking polish colors or having decorations applied or painted onto their nails. Despite our need to manicure them, nails play a very important role as a window to our overall health. They obviously protect the underlying tissue and we use our nails to scratch places that are itchy. Looking at fingernails can show sign of ill health and nutritional deficiencies. Some Eastern practitioners diagnose directly from the look of the fingernails. Nails are made up of layers of a protein called keratin which is also found in our hair and skin. The nail and its surrounding structures are made up of six parts. The nail plate is the part we clip, file and decorate. It is the hard protective piece and the most visible part. Under the nail plate is the nail bed. The skin surrounding the nail plate and the nail bed is called the nail folds. The tissue overlapping the base of the nail is called the cuticle and that pale crescent moon at the base of each nail, under the nail plate is called the lunula. Your nail grows from a matrix of cells under the cuticle at the base of the nail bed. It is the quality, growth pattern, color and texture of the nail that indicates health challenges. The American Academy of Dermatology reports fingernails grow between 2 and 3 millimeters every month, a little more in summer, and the nails on your dominant hand grow faster, too. Along with healthy growth, strong smooth nails point to a strong healthy body. A trained eye can see subtle changes in the body by looking at the fingernails. To feed your fingernails and keep them healthy and beautiful, eat foods containing omega-3 essential fatty acids, iron rich foods and lean proteins. The foods you eat for your nails will also support smooth glowing skin and silky hair. To the trained eye, nails can show some nutritional deficiencies or even problems that are not nutritionally based. Pale or whitish nail beds are seen as an iron deficiency. Serious anemia can result in misshapen nails that look thin, concave and have raised vertical ridges. Other nutritional deficiencies can cause other nail anomalies. Stress and anxiety can cause habits like nail biting. Studies show that approximately 50 percent of kids and teens in the US from 10 to 18 and 23 percent of adults aged 18 to 22 bite their nails. A nervous habit, nail biting, does nothing for the appearance of your nails and could be an entry point for infection if any of the surrounding skin is broken. Hand washing to keep the area clean is a good habit to get into. If you happen to bang your finger hard or get it caught in a door, you could do trauma to the nail and the nail bed, causing various forms of discoloration in the nail plate or in the nail bed itself. As the nail grows, the discoloration moves up the nail bed until you can clip it off. Sometimes with a serious bash, the nail will turn black and will come off. Some nails remain permanently cracked vertically, if there is serious damage to the nail bed under the cuticle. If you haven’t injured your nail and you have unexplained discoloration, it is wise to have it checked out by your medical professional. Allergies, infections, psoriasis, contact dermatitis and even melanoma can cause distortions and color change in a nail. Getting manicures and pedicures can be dangerous in shops that have poor hygienic discipline. You can pick up all kinds of infections from equipment. The American Academy of Dermatology shows that nail and surrounding skin fungus infections affect approximately 12 percent of Americans while a smaller percentage suffer bacterial and viral wart infections. Skin viruses are the cause of wart infections, which can sometimes be eliminated by soaking the feet or hands in water as hot as you can stand for 30 minutes, three times per week. Otherwise, they require an intervention by a medical professional. By observing changes to your nails, you can usually tell if there are warning signs that you need to pay attention to. The first change you may notice is changes in nail color. If it is not due to discoloration from nail enamel, then you need to pay attention. White nails may be an indicator of liver disease, half white, half pink nails may indicate kidney disease and red nails may indicate heart disease. Yellow, thick, slow growing nails that look like they may detach from the nail bed could be a sign of lung disease. Since lung disease causes low oxygen levels in the blood, a condition called clubbing can occur, where the fingertips enlarge and the nails begin to curve around them. Another nail change is called pitting, where tiny dents in the nail plate occur. This is seen in approximately 10 percent of psoriasis sufferers. Pitting can actually lead to nails that split and crumble. Damage to the cuticle can also occur. Lines in and under the nail plate are another type of nail change. Irregular red lines that appear at the nail base may suggest lupus. Melanoma can appear as dark lines under the nail plate. Being observant about changes to your nails can keep you abreast of what is going on inside you. By looking after your diet and your health, healthy nails can be one of the nice benefits.  Many people are finding that by drinking Cerra  Water not only is their skin improving due to the super hydrating and alkalizing   effects but that their nails  are stronger and healthier than ever.   Drink Cerra Water for better skin and nails.

Osteoporosis is where the bones in your body become porous from mineral loss. The lack of bone density leads to bone weakness and a higher risk of fractures from fragile bones. There are a number of risk factors that are attributable to osteoporosis including, menopause, lack of Vitamin D, smoking, steroid use, chronic, excessive alcohol intake, lack of exercise, genetics and low intake of calcium-rich foods. Recent scientific research is showing that although the risk factors can contribute to bone loss, there is one main root cause. It is an acidic body condition called acidosis. It is endemic in North America. It is caused by our poor diets and our dehydrated body condition. Osteoporosis affects 1.5 million Canadians and 15 million Americans and those numbers are growing as our populations age. It affects one in four women and one in eight men over the age of 50. The implications are staggering personally, economically and in families. As people age, their dietary habits tend to change. They don’t want to cook like they did when the family was all at home. Some people eat out more and some people cannot even afford what they think is a good diet. Recent research is showing the role the bones play in regulating the body’s acid-base balance. The bones are a ready storage of alkaline minerals. They are the ambulance, the first aid kit of the body. It is there to band-aid the blood when it needs it. The blood is very delicate and will only remain healthy within a very narrow pH range. It can be affected very strongly by temperature, acidity and alkalinity.  The blood pH should between 7.38 and 7.42. If our diet is too acid-forming and doesn’t supply the body with enough alkaline material, then the body starts regulating its pH using “buffers.” You remember from your high school chemistry, the role of acids and bases in their ability to neutralize the other. When the body pH lowers into the more acidic state, particularly the blood, because of diet metabolism or extreme exercise, then the kidneys signal the body to release mineral from the bone storehouse. Over time, the results could be very significant. In a perfect world, the body would be able to regulate the pH of the blood with the proper diet. North Americans are too acidic from our diets, hectic, stressful lifestyles and our toxic environment. Lack of exercise contributes to our acidic condition as everything sits and stagnates. When the body accumulates excess acidity, it will buffer it any way it can. It will pull alkaline minerals from the bones, organs and teeth in order to protect the blood. It will even grow fat cells to store it in to protect vital organs. To encourage the minerals to stay in the bones and maintain a less acidic pH, at least within healthy ranges, one must make a conscious effort to improve their diet and lifestyle. A low, or acidic pH is usually caused by too much stress, too much dietary protein, not enough fruits and vegetables, medications, external toxins and lack of exercise. An acidic pH also changes the way the cells in the bones work. Cells that break down bone called osteoclasts, become activated and cells that build up bone called osteoblasts become inhibited. When pH is acidic, more bone is broken down, resulting in mineral loss. Over time, the result is osteopenia, followed by osteoporosis. The good news is there are ways to reduce acidity. The first is by increasing fruits and vegetable consumption. It has been shown that by increasing fruits and vegetables, the body becomes more alkaline even though most do not contain large amounts of calcium. If you are not fond of leafy dark green veggies or the chewing that is involved, you may want to try a balanced land and sea green product.  One tablespoon of the greens is equivalent to the fibre and antioxidant equivalent of five dinner salads…without the chewing. You just mix it in water or fruit juice and take it morning and night. The protective effect of greens may be due to the amount of alkalizing substances they contain. Because of this, the green leafies help to keep the body in an anabolic or rebuilding state, which helps the whole body and not just the bones. Add a biologically active Aloe product to your daily regimen and you have a mineralized collagen rebuilder which will strengthen weakened bones and make the bone more resilient and less brittle. The fastest way to  buffer the acidity is to  drink Cerra alkaline , anti0oxdiant. This will give your body  give your body more tools to stop leaching minerals from your bones. By keeping the body in a rebuilding state, you prevent it from ‘stealing’ minerals from the bone. By decreasing the amount of calcium and other minerals taken from the bones, it is entirely possible to reverse the severity of osteoporosis or reversing it altogether, in a safe, natural and scientific way.

Since so much of our body consists of water, water affects every cell of our body. You bones even need water. They are just a little denser than some of the other parts of your body. One of the parts of your body that is particularly vulnerable to dehydration is the discs in your spine and the cartilage in your joints. The lack of proper hydration can affect your back to the extent that it becomes painful. Let me explain. Between every two vertebrae lies a disc. The outer part of the disc is called the nucleus fibrosis. It is made up of tough fibrous material. Inside of this is a soft gelatinous substance called the nucleus pulposa. That inner substance is mainly water. During the day when you are upright, gravity squeezes water from your spine, the greatest squeeze being in the lower spine. When you go to bed at night, the body tries to replenish the spinal water. If there is not enough, your hydration there will be impaired. To illustrate this, if you measure your height just before you go to bed, then drink a large glass of water. When you get up in the morning, measure your height again. You will find that you are between ¼ inch to ½ inch taller than when you went to bed. Regular movement and exercise during your waking hours helps to move the water in your body and hydrate it where necessary. As long as your body is hydrated properly and your acidic levels in your body are reduced, your body can do it’s job of keeping itself hydrated, including your spine. When there is not enough water to fully hydrate the gelatinous layer, then the whole disc can become compromised. The outer layer can crack, causing some of the inner jelly to squeeze out. This is called a herniated disc and can be caused because the outer tough coating bears about 25 per cent of your weight and the inner gelatinous layer supports 75 per cent. If you pick up something heavy, you can put added strain on your discs. When the inner portion of the disc is dehydrated, it cannot support it’s share of the weight, so more and more of the load is carried by the outer ring which is simply not designed to carry it. This can cause ruptures or herniations with resulting pain and swelling. Prevention is a great idea. Drink half your body weight in ounces of  Cerra  healthy, clean, alkaline ionized water to eliminate dehydration and maintain or improve your back health. Give your body enough water to work with and it will reward you with a pain-free life.

It is a universal desire of mankind to live a long, pain-free healthy life. Science finally discovers the common cause of aging, pain and degenerative adult diseases. Now you can learn the scientific natural way to extend your life without pain. When we are under severe stress or over-exert ourselves, we create large concentrations of acidic wastes in particular area(s) in a short time, too fast for the normal body process to disperse them. This is the cause of pain. Also, when that happens, because acid coagulates blood, the capillaries around the concentration get clogged; therefore, blood cannot get into that area to carry out the wastes. It is a vicious cycle. Unattended, the pain can last for a long time. We take pain-killers to alleviate the pain; but we know very well that it does not remove the cause of the pain but fools our brain so that we do not feel the pain. When the effect of the medicine wears out, the pain returns. Furthermore, these pills create negative side-effects. Concentrated wastes must be dispersed to eliminate the cause of pain. Massage, vibrators, hot baths, magnets, and far-infrared heating pads are all effective means. However, far-infrared pads are the best, because FIR heat expands the clogged up capillaries to allow warm blood to penetrate into the area and pull out the concentrated acids (such as lactic acid) and disperse them to the cooler area by blood circulation and heat transfer. When there is a small area of either very hot or cold temperature, the body tries to even out the temperature by forcing the flow of blood. Hot baths and far-infrared sauna can help also; however, since they heat the whole body, the process of transfer is slow. Concentrated deep-penetrating heat on the painful area is the fastest way to disperse the acid wastes and relieve the pain. We commonly misunderstand that an inflamed area is hotter than the rest of the body and we use an ice pack. The ice pack cools the affected area, thus forcing blood to flow into the colder area to maintain uniform body temperature. But since the capillaries are closed, the blood flow is slow. When there is an injury, the inflamed area is hot because a large amount of nutrients is being burnt rapidly. That is how a concentration of waste products gets formed. An ice pack may work better at that time. Usually that is not the time we feel pain. The pain starts a little bit later when the blood circulation around that area stops. It takes longer to reduce the swelling and relieve the pain with ice than with a localized far-infrared heating pad. Alkaline water neutralizes acids; however, it cannot penetrate into the painful area because of the clogged-up capillaries surrounding the area. Once heat pulls the acids out, alkaline water can then neutralize them and dispose of them safely through the kidneys. CONCLUSION Aging, degenerative diseases and pains are all caused by a common cause: the accumulation of non-disposed acidic wastes.  Alkaline water is the solution to neutralize these wastes and help the body eliminate them safely. However, when it comes to pain or long-term chronic conditions such as arthritis, it needs the help of a far-infrared pad to relieve the pain fast. Cancer generally develops deep inside the body where there are no nerve endings for us to feel the pain. If a concentration of acidic pool is formed in such a place, we can go on living without feeling anything there. Left alone for a long time, cancer cells can develop and grow. By the time we feel something, it could be too late. This is why doctors tell us to have regular check-ups to detect such a growth at an early stage. I urge you to drink alkaline water regularly so that such an acid accumulation does not stay there for too long. In order to live and extend a healthy life without pain, we must use the double-prong attack of far-infrared pad and alkaline water. The ultimate goal of living a long and pain-free life is to get the acidic wastes out of the body. The far-infrared pad disperses concentrated acidic wastes and alkaline water helps the body dispose of them safely. Posted in Pain

Chronic arthritic joints (rheumatoid) and their pains are signals of water deficiency in the affected joint cartilage surfaces. Normally, the cartilage that covers the surface of the bones in joint cavities receives water and nutrients through the bone. In dehydration, the bone marrow takes priority over the cartilage for the water that goes through the bone structure. Under such circumstances, the water requirements of the cartilage have to be satisfied from the vessels that feed the capsule of the joint. The nerve-regulated shunting mechanisms and the increased circulation and swelling of the joint capsule produce the pain. 

The local pain is a primary indication that the painful joints are not fully prepared to endure pressure until they are fully hydrated. The arthritis pain also indicates that the pressure-bearing and normally well-lubricated gliding properties of the cartilage contact points are decreased because of lack of sufficient hydration. 

Water held in the cartilage of a joint is the lubricant that protects the contact surfaces of the joint. Proper cushioning only happens when there is sufficient water in all of the tissues surrounding a joint. Otherwise unnecessary grinding and wearing happens which takes the body time to repair. Read any of Dr. Batmangheligj’s books or even his article on the internet. He is a pioneer in water metabolism.

Dr Batmanghelidj’s books go on to explain in detail how long standing, low grade dehydration plays a fundamental role in the presence of other ailments such as High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Chronic Fatigue and Depression, Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke. One element that Dr. Batmanghelidj doesn’t cover, is the acidic state the body goes into as it metabolizes the typical North American meal. Body acidity causes what is called silent inflammation. In other word, you don’t realize it’s happening until years later when it starts to rise up into radar range and you then notice it as symptoms. There are many ways to address body acidity, where it finds its favorite spot in your muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons. First, you can change your water, from chlorinated tap water and acidic bottled water to Cerra alkaline, ionized water. You can gradually add a few tablespoons of greens powder to your diet. You can start juicing vegetables to start off your day. You can add many more vegetables to your diet and cut your animal protein intake. Look after yourself. Do your research. Only you can change your inner terrain. You need to alkalize and you need to hydrate your body by changing your diet and drinking half your body weight in ounces of clean, alkaline water. You will be surprised what will disappear.

Sunflower seeds are so nutritious but did you know that you can grow your own sprouts that you can eat fresh, giving yourself a source of enzymes, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. This food is a real powerhouse of nutrients that is well worth the effort of growing them. There is nothing like live food to give you high quality nutrition that pack as punch like nothing else can. To grown your own sunflower sprouts, the method is slightly different than other forms of sprouting, which I cover in another article. You need to go to your local nursery and buy two plant trays. These are the kind that you find two rows of bedding plants sitting in. You will need one with holes in the bottom to let water drain and one that has a solid bottom. You will need two pieces of cheese cloth or unbleached canvas cut to fit the bottom of the tray with holes in it. Canvas actually works better than cheese cloth as the roots of the sprouts will get tangled up in it, where they won’t with the canvas. Lay one piece of canvas in the bottom of the tray with holes. Put the tray with holes into the solid tray. Reserve the second piece of canvas for use in a day or so. Sprinkle raw unsalted sunflower seeds in the shell over the canvas. Sit the tray on your counter out of the sunlight. Using a jug or bottle, pour water into the tray until the sunflower seeds are covered with water. If you have alkaline, ionized water, it is preferential to use that. Use a pH 7.0-7.5 pH water to soak your seeds and water your sprouts. Poke any that float under the water and let soak overnight. Beside your sink, lift the tray with holes out of the solid tray and let the water drain into the sink. Dump the water out of the solid tray and put the tray with holes back into the solid tray. Pour more water into the tray until the seeds are submerged again. Change the water twice a day, until the seeds start to sprout. Once the seeds begin to sprout, empty the water out of the bottom tray, rinse the sprouts in the tray with the holes. Wet the other piece of canvas and lay it over the sprouted seeds. Rinse the seeds twice a day and replace the canvas until the first leaves begin to appear, then remove the canvas until two leaves are about the size of your smallest finger nail. Your sprouts are now ready to eat. Sunflower sprouts can be added to your juices, salads, sandwiches and wraps. You can eat them out of hand or you can mix them into your soup, just before you eat it. They are full of vitamins, including A, B-complex, D and E. They also contain lots of minerals including iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, phosphorus and zinc. Sunflower sprouts are also an awesome source of lecithin which helps convert fatty acids into a more easily digestible form that is water soluble. The green in the sprouts is chlorophyll which helps build blood, reduces inflammation, activates enzymes, deodorizes the body and revitalizes cells. Sunflower sprouts also contain protein, which is easy to digest. You can eat them usually within 5 to 7 days. To store uneaten sprouts, wash them, then drain them, wrap them in paper towel or a clean kitchen towel, put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate them. You can re-rinse them and rewrap them every couple of days to maintain their freshness. By rinsing the canvas, you can start your next batch and have them ready to eat by the time you have eaten this batch. By eating fresh sprouts on a regular basis you are providing your body with one of the great super foods.

There is a force that pushes the blood through your arteries to oxygenate and feed your cells. The measurable force is called blood pressure. Without getting too technical, there are two measurements to the blood pressure. When you get your blood pressure taken, it would look like 120/80. Healthy blood vessels exhibit pressure within normal ranges. When the pressure rises above normal ranges, you have high blood pressure and of course, if the pressure goes below normal ranges you have low blood pressure. High blood pressure is called hypertension. How does high blood pressure happen? It usually starts with dehydration. I know, it sounds strange. If you drink fluids how can you possibly be dehydrated? You may be interested to know that about 70-80 percent of the population is chronically dehydrated, according to recent scientific studies. In the average population, an acidic body condition usually comes first. You get that way just from eating the typical North American diet. Unless you eat lots and lots of raw vegetables, your diet is quite acidic to start with. Add to your diet, acidic tap water, more acidic bottled beverages (including water), coffee, tea, all carbonated beverages, junk food and snacks, and you are well on the way to a chronically acidic body. It’s almost like dehydration and acidity are brother and sister. When the body becomes acidic, it doesn’t matter how much you drink of the common beverages, your body never really becomes hydrated properly. If the blood pressure rises above the normal range then the heart has to push that much harder against the pressure. It forces the heart to work harder and it can tire the heart over time.  If it is just a little while, the body is able to cope. Over the long term, the blood vessels must thicken to withstand the increased pressure. This causes them to become inelastic and then the body has to work harder to circulate the blood. Now, you’re pregnant. As the rapidly dividing cells of the fetus mature and differentiate, they need to fill with water. The amniotic sac fills with water. As the increased demands for water increase, mom needs to drink more good water to keep up her hydration and meet the demands for the growing fetus. Somehow mom just can’t keep up and mom becomes dehydrated. The tap water contains chlorine or chlormaine which is another dangerous issue which will be covered in a later article. Chlorinated and/or bottled water is also very acidic and does not support long term health. As the demands for water increase, you must increase your alkaline intake and well as your water intake. If your dehydrated acidic state continues, your blood pressure must rise to compensate for the increased  water demand. There is now more  water required as the amniotic sac grows and the baby gets bigger. The wisest move is to increase your water intake and alkalize as much as you can. Cerra alkaline, ionized water provides the alkalizing properties you need to keep your body healthy, plus more available oxygen to help baby develop optimally in addition to supplying you. The small particle size of the water, called microclustering, provides very efficient hydration capabilities, six times more hydrating than tap or bottled water. The greatest benefit is that it works fast, unlike alkaline diets that take months to take effect or regular water which has large cluster sizes which are hard for the body to absorb. To have a healthy heart and blood pressure, especially when you are pregnant, drink half your body weight in ounces and alkalize your intake of food and water. The most efficient and fastest way to do that is to drink Cerra alkaline, ionized water. You’ll end up with an exceptional pregnancy with an exceptional baby.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham, examined the birth records of 400,000 babies. They found an alarming increase in birth defects in areas where the water is highly chlorinated to disinfect it. The problem with the water is worse in the winter time when higher turbidity rates are present. The chlorine combines with the organic matter in the water and forms carcinogens called trihalomethanes which are particularly dangerous to pregnant women. Trihalomethanes or THM’s can be absorbed through the skin when showering, ingested while drinking or breathed in just by standing beside boiling water. They are readily absorbed by the body and pass through the placenta to the unborn baby. At critical states in fetal development they can disrupt normal development and create a defect. The highest incidence of defects included brain and spinal cord defects, cleft palates and heart problems. The other by-product of chlorine that is of concern is haloacetic acids which were not addressed in the Birmingham study. The safest way to have a healthy baby is to drink water that is alkaline, has a high oxygen content, a high negative ion content and has a high antioxidant value. That can easily be attained by drinking alkaline, ionized water. After all, our ancestors used to drink that kind of water all the time. They didn’t have the high incidence of birth defects we have today. Now, our population is too dense to drink water out of the local stream, but scientists have created a machine that gives you this type of healthy water consistently and it filters out all those harmful chemicals that can cause birth defects in your little bundle of joy. Why take a chance on your health and the health of your unborn child by taking unnecessary risks. Find out how you can deliver a baby that will be developmentally ahead of other children and will have above average IQ. A calm, alert baby is the dream of every mom. You can have it all and your vibrant health, too. Posted in Pregnancy

When sperm meets egg, it’s not long before an amniotic sac forms to cradle the baby is a cushion of water. The placenta is the highway that transports nutrients to the fetus from the mother. The fetus receives nutrients through the placenta to grow those trillions of differentiated cells. When the nutrients are consumed, they create acidic wastes which are transported out of its rapidly growing body via the placenta. The mother is only connected to the fetus by the placenta and umbilical cord, so that all that acidic waste from the baby lands in her body. There is no blood vessels connected to this acidic waste stream to transport it to her kidneys and bowels so her body becomes acidic very quickly. Because blood is so vital to life, mom’s blood must maintain its narrow range of pH. When the mother’s body is acidified with her own metabolic waste and that of her baby, the body must raise the pH to keep her healthy. To do this, it starts to draw alkaline minerals, from her bones, organs and teeth. If the acidification is too strong and too sudden, nausea and vomiting can be the result. Scientific studies in Japan have shown that the over-acidification of her body is the cause of a lot of the complications of pregnancy like gestational diabetes, morning sickness, food cravings, binge eating, high blood pressure, toxemia and so on. Japanese doctors found that drinking alkaline, ionized water relieves morning sickness and other gestational symptoms. If the mother has lots of alkaline reserve in her body in the form of alkaline mineral and/or alkaline, ionized water, she would have little or no pregnancy-related illness or complications. Japanese researchers found that when there is more acidic discharge from the fetus than there is alkaline buffers, the chances of the baby being born with jaundice are very high. Pregnancy can age a woman considerably because of the acidic body state. Skin can produce stretch marks and wrinkles, bones can become weaker, blood pressure and diabetes conditions can linger and teeth can become loose in their sockets. Even complications like a rise in cholesterol, uric acid build-up, kidney and gall stones, swelling of hands, feet and legs due to poor circulation can all be pregnancy related. They can linger long after the baby is born and sometimes even for years. The muffin waist that women can’t seem to get rid of keeps growing over the years, too, all due to an acidic body condition. It is so important to inject an external boost of alkalinity to stop the tug of war in our internal acid/alkaline balance. Besides eating a large plate of dark green leafy vegetables at every meal which a lot of people turn their noses to, you can drink Cerra anti-oxidant,  alkaline, ionized water to flush your system of acidic waste. By drinking half your body weight in ounces, you are flushing your body and your baby of acidic waste. You baby will be more healthy and comfortable in the womb and you will be more comfortable and healthy in your own body. It is the easiest and fastest way to get your pregnancy into the comfortable zone so you and baby can enjoy this precious time together.

It’s so nice that you and your honey have decided to have your own sweet bundle of joy. Just like you get ready by quitting smoking, letting go of those weekend cocktails and smartening up your diet, you need to prepare your body in one other important way. Once you understand how your body works, you can avoid a lot of the “side effects” of being pregnant and even avoid a lot of the fussy baby problems after delivery. When you eat food, your body burns it as fuel in the cells which give off little puffs of metabolic exhaust. This metabolic exhaust is chemically acidic and the osmotic pumps in your cells and your lymph must have enough water available to push the acidic waste into your elimination system. At each meal, your pancreas secreted approximately two quarts of enzymatic juice that is essential to digest your food. Your blood and your brain also require lots of water. Your body is an expert recycler but you still lose water to breathing, urinating, perspiration and defecation. It needs to be replaced to the tune of half your body weight in ounces every day. Caffeine-containing beverages such as coffee, colas and tea don’t count as part of your fluid intake because they act as diuretics — they make you urinate more so you actually lose water. Fast forward to the time of conception and the next nine months, a period of supersonic growth in your baby and lots of changes in you. Now you are processing metabolic waste for two and your baby is demanding more and more fluid in the amniotic sac. There is much more waste to be eliminated so your body is working at peak efficiency. You need to give your body all the tools it needs to be able to work at peak efficiency including good healthy water. As you sleep, your body is creating more acidic waste, your demand for water dehydrates you throughout the night and by morning you are nauseated, headachy and maybe even hanging over the toilet…all because your body is dehydrated and acidic. The baby pushes all its metabolic wastes into your blood stream and away from itself. Most medical professionals believe that pregnant women get dehydrated from the nausea and vomiting associated with morning sickness. Scientific studies are showing that it is the other way around. You body wants to be naturally neutral, somewhere in between acid and alkaline. In order to get rid of that rising mountain of acidic waste you need to put alkaline water and alkaline foods into your body. By doing so, you begin to neutralize your inner terrain. It’s basic high school chemistry. Alkaline foods include those green leafy vegetables that your mother told you to eat when you were a kid. The darker green they are the more alkaline, they tend to be. One of the best ways to get your vegetables and alkalize quickly is to juice vegetables with half an apple and drink it as soon as possible after you get up, along with a liter of healthy water. The best combination, I have found is to juice a cucumber with one large carrot or two medium ones, two large handfuls of spinach, a handful of parsley, half a beet and half an apple. If you are adventurous you can add two large kale leaves. Some experts suggest you can drink 3 quarts of freshly made vegetable juice a day. You will feel great and you will get a good load of enzymes to boot. One of the things that is usually joked about when a woman is pregnant, is the cravings that she gets at the oddest times. By following an alkaline lifestyle, most or all of those cravings disappear. You won’t be hunting for that jar of dill pickles or rocky road ice cream. When I was pregnant a few years back, I was told not to eat anything strong tasting until I stopped breast feeding because it would transfer to the baby and the baby wouldn’t like it. Recent research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia shows that babies accept and like flavors that they become familiar with while in the womb and while breastfeeding. “Flavors from the mother’s diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother’s milk,” said
Julie Mennella, a researcher at the Monell center. “A baby learns to like a food’s taste when the
mother eats that food on a regular basis.” “Babies are born with a dislike for bitter tastes,”said Menella. “If mothers want their babies to learn to like to eat vegetables, especially green vegetables, they need to provide them with 
opportunities to taste these foods.” What better way to introduce them while the baby is still in the womb. You get to reap the benefits of alkalizing while you introduce your baby to healthy eating right out of the gate. Another way to alkalize successfully and efficiently is to drink alkaline, ionized water. It is loaded with extra oxygen and it acts like an antioxidant, scavenging free radicals constantly. It is broken into small cluster sized molecules so your body instantly absorbs it, especially after a long night of toxic build-up. Recent studies show that by using the Cerra  alkaline, ionized water, you literally reduce your risk significantly of experiencing preeclampsia (the new terminology for toxemia) during pregnancy. You get less water retention in your hands and feet. Your blood pressure stays within normal ranges and you don’t lose protein in your urine. Most pregnant women drinking alkaline, ionized water as part of their lifestyle, experience the dream pregnancy where they are relatively comfortable and they just glow. Add a healthy alkaline diet and life just doesn’t get any better. Your alkaline water and food intake can affect the baby profoundly. Not only is the baby gaining an appetite for healthy foods, the baby’s immune system is much stronger and the baby is more robust. These babies tend to be less fussy and more serene. They have less sensitivities and are more alert, intelligent and advanced for their age. Some reports tell of babies of a few days old, having greater motor control and strength, even lifting their heads while laying on their stomachs. These babies don’t cry a lot. If you eat lots of vegetables your baby will get the taste of those vegetables through your milk and when they start solid food, they will be more receptive to green beans, peas and spinach. Unlike “normal” babies, who push those foods out of their mouths, your baby will love it and want more. So, if you would like a serene baby, who is robust, healthy, more intelligent and advanced, in addition to a pregnancy that you just sail through, drink Cerra alkaline, ionized water and eat your vegetables. 

It’s a great marketing gimmick: A bottle of water with a clean, blue label showing images of snow-capped mountains and the claim, “Pure water, perfect taste.” That’s the image created by Pepsico’s Aquafina brand of water, and many consumers leap to the incorrect conclusion that Aquafina is sourced from mountain spring water. In reality, Aquafina comes from tap water. Yes, the same water you get when you turn on your kitchen faucet. Of course, Aquafina is filtered, purified and perhaps even enhanced with trace amounts of added minerals, but it’s certainly not mountain spring water. It’s just processed tap water — the same stuff that fills your toilet bowl when you flush. Both the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the FDA believe there’s really no need to require bottled water manufacturers to admit their products come from tap water. No surprise there — both these organizations routinely act to protect the interests of powerful corporations, and when it comes to bottled water, the biggest companies are often those sourcing the lowest quality water (such as tap water). This idea that consumers should not be informed their high-priced bottled water is really just filtered tap water is consistent with the aims of food, drug and beverage corporations, who almost universally agree that consumers should be given less information, not more, about the products they’re swallowing. Over the last several decades, corporations have vigorously opposed truth in labeling laws and regulations, including those requiring the labeling of trans fatty acids, sodium content and even ingredients lists! (If the food corporations had their way, all ingredients would be considered “proprietary formulas” and not listed on the label at all.) This bottled water issue brings to light the apparent deceptive practices of some of the largest suppliers of bottled water products. By avoiding the honest labeling of the source of their water while relying on snow-capped mountain imagery, these companies quietly mislead consumers into thinking their water products are from a pristine, natural source such as a mountain spring. CAI pressures PepsiCo to tell the truth PepsiCo only agreed to tell the truth on their bottled water labels after being pressured by Corporate Accountability International (CAI), a non-profit organization that helps protect consumers from corporate abuse. See their website at http://www.stopcorporateabusenow.org CAI rallied consumers from around the world to complain to PepsiCo about the current labeling of Aquafina, and thousands of consumers slammed PepsiCo’s phone lines so hard that the company was forced to shut down call center operations. CAI told NaturalNews that within 30 minutes after the call-to-action announcement went live, PepsiCo’s consumer phone lines were no longer being answered and would not allow callers to leave voice mails. Pepsi executives reportedly held an emergency meeting and made a decision to add the phrase, “Public water source” to Aquafina labels.  Reluctantly admitting a small part of the truth Even then, the phrase “public water source” isn’t very descriptive. To some people, the phrase simply implies that Aquafina is itself a public water source. It’s not the same as admitting, “Aquafina comes from tap water,” which would be a far more honest way to label the product. But PepsiCo seems to have no interest in advertising the source of their Aquafina product, and my guess is that the “public water source” text on the label will be really small and difficult to read. It’s much like the labeling of side effects of prescription drugs: They bury the bad news somewhere that most consumers won’t ever look. Aquafina is currently the top-selling bottled water brand in the United States. According to CAI, 4 out of 5 consumers now drink bottled water, and 1 out of 5 drink it as their sole water source! (Gee, that’s a lot of plastic going to landfill, too…) The bottles used to package bottled water are almost always made from plastics containing bisphenol-A (BPA), a carcinogenic chemical that often leaches into the water and gets swallowed by consumers. Click here to read our articles on BPA, a chemical widely believed to contribute to certain cancers. This contamination factor, however, is true for all products stored in plastic bottles, not merely water. Sports drinks, sodas, fruit drinks and even “healthy” smoothie drinks packaged in plastic all share a common risk of BPA contamination.  Bottled water vs. public water infrastructure The widespread shift towards bottled water products is increasingly causing consumers to lose faith in public water infrastructure, which ultimately leads to public reluctance to support investment in public water supplies. This concerns many cities who are worried that a lack of public support will cause funding for water infrastructure to erode. These people tend to describe treated municipal water as remarkably pristine and safe for human consumption. In my opinion, however, tap water should never be swallowed without filtering it, since tap water contains scary levels of toxic chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride, a dangerous water additive chemical often contaminated with arsenic. (Click here to learn the truth about water fluoridation.) So I wouldn’t drink from the public water supply in the first place, but neither do I rely on bottled water. I use a water filtration system to clean tap water before I drink it. (Coincidentally, this is similar to what PepsiCo does when creating Aquafina water, except PepsiCo uses plastic bottles, where I only drink out of glass or stainless steel.) You can get clean public water in places like Hawaii, Oregon and anywhere that’s close to the mountains, but most folks in first world nations are getting tap water that’s far from pristine. The public water infrastructure in the U.S. may be among the best in the world, but that’s not saying much. I won’t even shower in U.S. public water without using a chlorine filter on my shower head.   My view on PepsiCo Since this story has much to do with PepsiCo, I thought I would offer my personal opinion on this corporation. In my opinion, PepsiCo is a highly destructive corporation that is partially responsible for obesity, diabetes, depression and bone disorders among hundreds of millions of people around the world. Through its aggressive (and deceptive, in my opinion) marketing campaigns, lack of corporate ethics and ready willingness to exploit human beings for profit, PepsiCo has risen to be one of the most financially profitable yet ethically bankrupt organizations on the planet. If PepsiCo were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, humanity would be healthier the very next day. PepsiCo’s brands include: (followed by my opinion statement about that particular brand) Frito-Lay: Dangerous junk food that contributes to obesity, heart disease, cancer, depression and other serious diseases. Pepsi-Cola: Toxic beverages that destroy bone mineral density and poison consumers with chemical sweeteners in diet drinks. Gatorade: Crap sports drinks that contain artificial colors made from petrochemical derivatives. Tropicana: A low-end fruit juice brand engaged in deceptive labeling for many of its products. Quaker: This is perhaps the only tolerable brand in the PepsiCo portfolio. Oatmeal is essentially good for you, although instant oats and all the sugars found in many oatmeal products make it a rather high-glycemic food that’s not recommended for most people (especially diabetics or obese people). Put it all together and you have a collection of some of the least healthy foods and beverages on the market today. When future historians examine today’s epidemics of obesity and diabetes, they will no doubt scrutinize the role of companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, both of which are partly to blame for modern disease epidemics. Both companies, by the way, continue to engage in routine marketing of junk foods and sodas to children. Pepsico is a corporation that won’t even list the acrylamide content in their fried foods. Nor will it publicly admit that high-fructose corn syrup has any link whatsoever to obesity. PepsiCo, in my opinion, is a corporation living in a deviant reality, unwilling to take responsibility for its role in poisoning the population through its toxic food and beverage products. That’s my personal opinion of PepsiCo, its brands and its products. Personally, I wouldn’t buy anything made by PepsiCo. I have no desire to financially reward this company by purchasing its products. If anything, we should all be boycotting PepsiCo products (and Coca-Cola, for that matter) and getting our water from somewhere else. When traveling through airports, of course, I am sometimes forced to buy Aquafina or Dasani, as nothing else is available. This is the only time you’ll ever see me drinking out of a PepsiCo bottle. If I were in charge around here, I would immediately ban all advertising of junk foods, sodas, snack foods, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals and other harmful substances. It’s the only sane thing to do if we care about the future of our children. Of course, such advertising bans will never actually take place because corporations run the government. See my CounterThink Cartoon, Government of the People for a humorous depiction of this current state of affairs. And as far as Pepsi’s water brand goes, I think it should be renamed to AquaFib

During nearly 19 years of clinical practice I have had the opportunity to observe the health effects of drinking different types of water. Most of you would agree that drinking unfiltered tap water could be hazardous to your health because of things like parasites, chlorine, fluoride and dioxins. Many health fanatics, however, are often surprised to hear me say that drinking distilled water or purified water on a regular, daily basis is potentially dangerous. Paavo Airola wrote about the dangers of purified water in the 1970’s when it first became a fad with the health food crowd. Distillation is the process in which water is boiled, evaporated and the vapor condensed. Reverse osmosis or purified water is free of dissolved minerals and, because of this, has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxic substances from the body and eliminate them. Studies validate the benefits of drinking purified water when one is seeking to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks at a time). Fasting using purified water can be dangerous because of the rapid loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) and trace minerals like magnesium, deficiencies of which can cause heart beat irregularities and high blood pressure. Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals out of them and lowers their nutrient value. Purified water is an active absorber and when it comes into contact with air, it absorbs carbon dioxide, making it acidic. The more purified water a person drinks, the higher the body acidity becomes. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Purified” water, being essentially mineral-free, is very aggressive, in that it tends to dissolve substances with which it is in contact. Notably, carbon dioxide from the air is rapidly absorbed, making the water acidic and even more aggressive. Many metals are dissolved by distilled water. The most toxic commercial beverages that people consume (i.e. cola beverages and other soft drinks) are made from purified water. Studies have consistently shown that heavy consumers of soft drinks (with or without sugar) spill huge amounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals into the urine. The more mineral loss, the greater the risk for osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and a long list of degenerative diseases generally associated with premature aging. A growing number of health care practitioners and scientists from around the world have been advocating the theory that aging and disease is the direct result of the accumulation of acid waste products in the body. There is a great deal of scientific documentation that supports such a theory. A poor diet may be partially to blame for the waste accumulation. Meats, sugar, white flour products, fried foods, soft drinks,processed foods, alcohol, dairy products and other junk foods cause the body to become more acidic. Stress, whether mental or physical can lead to acid deposits in the body. There is a correlation between the consumption of soft water (purified water is extremely soft) and the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Cells, tissues and organs do not like to be dipped in acid and will do anything to buffer this acidity including the removal of minerals from the skeleton and the manufacture of bicarbonate in the blood. The longer one drinks distilled water, the more likely the development of mineral deficiencies and an acid state. I have done well over 3000 mineral evaluations using a combination of blood, urine and hair tests in my practice. Almost without exception, people who consume purified water exclusively, eventually develop multiple mineral deficiencies. Those who supplement their purified or distilled water intake with trace minerals are not as deficient but still not as adequately nourished in minerals as their non-purified water drinking counterparts even after several years of mineral supplementation. Purified water tends to be acidic and can only be recommended as a way of drawing poisons out of the body. Once this is accomplished, the continued drinking of purified water is a bad idea. Alkaline ionized Water is the best possible drinking water. Disease and early death is more likely to be seen with the long term drinking of purified or distilled water. Avoid it except in special circumstances. 

What you first have to ask yourself is, “what is your main concern with the water coming into your home”? For some people they want to filter out the chemicals and other contaminants contained in the municipal supply or coming from their wells. For others, it’s all about how the water makes their skin feel when they bath or shower. And still another group wants to see the glasses and dishes look clean without any spots from minerals. It still amazes me how many people are completely satisfied that they shower in chlorine and ammonia every day. They ignore the fact that the skin is our largest organ and absorbs small particles into the body through the pores. Yet it’s important to them that their glasses don’t have spots! I agree that drinking from clear glasses is a nicety but if I had to decide between the two I would have some spots on my silverware. One misnomer is that hard water (water with a high mineral count) causes dry skin. It’s not the minerals that cause dry skin it’s the chlorine, ammonia, chlorines and other chemicals used to kill bacteria in the water by municipal treatment plants. There have been two main types of systems installed in hundreds of thousands of homes in the last two decades, Reverse Osmosis and Water Softening Systems, to tackle the issues mentioned above. Unfortunately, both have their flaws and don’t do a complete job. Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems can be installed for the whole home but such an application is radically expensive so most people opt for an under the sink variety to deal with only the water flowing from the kitchen tap. This solution leaves them still bathing in contaminated water. But worse RO systems filter every particle out of the water over a certain size. This means they filter out the healthiest parts of water which are the minerals such as calcium and magnesium. These minerals are important for our bones, our teeth and our blood. When we don’t get enough of these minerals from our diets (food and water) our bodies will leech these minerals from bones and organs to make sure the blood is healthy. This can cause osteoporosis and other problems. Some manufacturers and installers are using mineral injection filters to put the minerals back in the water after the RO to offset this problem. However, another issue with RO systems is that they waste a lot of water. It is estimated that the homeowner will lose 3 gallons of water for every one gallon of filtered water. This water runs directly out to the sewer or septic tank. This, of course, is a budgetary concern but also a big environmental concern especially in places like Arizona and California. A lesser concern is that the membrane through which the water flows must be changed out periodically. So let’s review RO systems. They are effective in filtering out most contaminants and chemicals, but also filtering out healthy minerals. They waste 75% of the water coming into the RO tank and are, in most cases, too expensive to be used for the entire home leaving residents bathing in contaminated water. Water softening systems present a whole host of other issues. Water softening systems, in and of themselves, do not filter out anything. So every contaminant and chemical that is present in the source water will remain so. They are generally installed as a whole home application but can be a component installed on just the hot side just before the hot water heater. What occurs with a water softener is that the water coming into the home is diverted into a tank filled with either salt or potassium. When the water runs across these media the minerals in the water are exchanged for sodium chloride or potassium chloride. Taking out the minerals ‘softens’ the water. People experience that they need to use less detergents and soaps to gain lather, and that the spots are now gone from their dishes and glassware. Some people like the feeling after showering or bathing but others claim they feel slimy and it seems that they can’t wash off the soap. Typically showers and faucets stay cleaner and have less calcium and lime scale build up. What also occurs though is that the water doesn’t taste very good. Also, because it contains high levels of sodium it isn’t good for people with even marginal blood pressure issues. So typically people have to either buy bottled water to drink or install an RO system to take out the sodium or potassium chloride. Installing an RO with a water softener will alleviate the taste problem and filter out the contaminants and chemicals for drinking water, but it does nothing to change the fact that residents will still be bathing and showering in chlorine, chloramines and ammonia as well as other harmful elements. Recently environmentalists and municipalities have found common ground in their opposition to water softening systems. Environmentalists disapprove of the salt being dumped into the water supply because it causes problems with irrigation and ground water. The high level of sodium in the water isn’t good for farming purposes. Municipalities are passing ordinances to ban water softening systems (25 cities in California and more on the way) because it is difficult to filter out the salt and it causes pipes to deteriorate at a much faster pace. Let’s review water softening systems. They don’t filter anything out of the water unless they are accompanied by an RO system. Residents still are bathing in contaminated water. They can cause damage to pipes in the home and the municipal water treatment plants. Environmentalists and cities have serious concerns about these systems and some cities are banning their use. And another issue is that the homeowner has to replace the salt regularly which is a burden and a budgetary concern. So now that we have discussed the drawbacks to two of the most popular systems homeowners have been installing for the last 20 years, let’s focus on the alternatives. The best alternative is a whole home water filtration system that filters out all the contaminants and chemicals without taking out the minerals. We actually want the minerals in our water for our health. Some of these systems come with various stages of filtration to take out chlorine, chloramines, ammonia, pesticides, heavy metals and other chemicals. A less expensive approach is to install small filters under the sink to take out the contaminants mentioned above for drinking water. Then install shower filters in each of the bathrooms so residents can shower chlorine and chloramines free. Of course, to optimize any system and increase the health benefits for one’s family, purchase and install a water ionizer to get alkaline ionized, acidic and filtered water.