D!st!lled Water

Distilled Water (Distilled Water) The Importance of Distilled Water "Only oxygen is more essential than water in sustaining the life of all living organisms. Human beings can live for several weeks without proteins, carbohydrates, and fats but just a few days without water. The quality of your tissues, their performance, and their resistance to disease and injury are absolutely linked to the quality and quantity of water you drink. Experts agree that in order to maintain optimum health one needs to drink 8-10 glasses of water per day. The daily cleansing of wastes from each cell, the flushing of the alimentary canal and the purifying of the blood are all dependent on our drinking water. Most people get their water from the household tap. This water originates from lakes, rivers, streams, and underground sources. The majority of water goes through a system of cleaning at the local water treatment plant. However, because of a lack of funds to provide the necessary technology, many harmful pollutants and water borne diseases are present in the finished treated water. Our tap water is treated only to minimum standards, by sedimentation, filtration, chemical conditioning and disinfection with chlorine. The toxic metals, pesticides, industrial chemical,... the 50 or so chemicals used in the water treatment are present in the already treated water, along with the dead bacteria killed by the chlorine, as are the carcinogenic Trihalomethanes from the chlorine itself, that are known to cause major liver problems. Bacteria, viruses, synthetic compounds, metals, and radionuclides are the contaminants that become incorporated into our drinking water, and have the potential to cause health effects ranging from low grade sub-clinical illnesses such as colds and flue to death from cancer." (from the Canadian Nutrition Guide) "There are more than 60,000 chemical contaminants in water. Any municipal water supply is likely to have at least a thousand of these. Water authorities do what they can, but it is too great an expense to ensure our tap water is healthy enough for us to drink. Fifty percent of the US population uses water that in part is made up of recently discharged wastewater. And like the treatments for drinking water, wastewater treatments do not remove many of the toxic substances." (Prevention Magazine) "The contamination is beyond help. More than 55,000 of the regulated chemical dumps across the nation are leaking into the ground water. Science News, 1993. With all this in mind, you need to know that distilled water is an excellent source of water. Distilled water is water which has been heated to the boiling point so that impurities are separated from the water which itself becomes vapor or steam. It is then condensed back into pure liquid form. The impurities remain in the residue which is simply thrown away. Distilled water contains no solids, minerals or trace elements, and has no taste. Distillation removes the debris, bacteria, and other contaminants. Distilled water has been a water purity standard in analytical labs, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and many other industries for many years and more recently a gold standard for drinking. Distillation duplicates nature’s hydrologic cycle. The sun’s heat vaporizes the water and draws it from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. The impurities remain. As the vapor cools, it falls back to the earth as rain, snow, and other precipitation. As it leaves the clouds, the precipitation is pure but as it makes is descent to the earth it picks up the various forms of pollution found in the air. Then, as it reaches the ground, the water continues to pick-up contaminants on its way back to the various bodies of water on the earth. In mechanized distillation, water is boiled in a distiller, which creates steam that rises and leaves virtually all contaminants behind in the boiling chamber. Steam is then collected and condensed into pure, clean distilled water leaving the impurities behind to eventually flush down the drain. Because of the heat involved in the process of creating steam, all forms of bacteria and all water borne diseases are destroyed. Distilled water is the only form of water, which is free from all contaminants and impurities. Distilled water is the only clean water. Virtually everything is removed from the water by steam distillation. Seven brands we tested run from 2 - 12 PPM contaminants. That’s about as clean as you can get". (Dr. Michael Colgan, Optimum Sports Nutrition) "Do I need to tell you why drinking plenty of good quality water is as essential to health as eating properly? In a nutshell: one of the main activities of the body’s self-healing system is filtration of the blood, a job performed mostly by the kidneys which a little help from the mechanism of perspiration. Kidneys are such efficient, compact and miraculous filters that they put to shame the dialysis machines used the maintain the patients with renal failure. The heart, blood, and kidneys are a single functional unit the constantly cleanses and purifies itself, removing all the toxic wastes of metabolism and the breakdown products of harmful substances that get onto our bodies one way or another. This purification system can operate efficiently only if the volume of water flowing through it is sufficient to carry away the waste. Further, as good quality steam distilled water enters the body, it has the ability to pick-up mineral deposits accumulated in cells, joints, artery walls, or wherever such deposits occur and begin to carry them out. Gallstones and kidney stones then decrease, and it also lessens arthritic pain as joints become more supple and movable.” (Dr. Andrew Weil, Natural Health, Natural Medicine) I don't normally quote this guy as he has a psych orientation, but he's spot on here. "There are two forms of minerals, organic and inorganic. Inorganic minerals refers to non-vegetable or non-animal matter, i.e. not living. This included carbonate and lime compounds, calcium, iron and magnesium. Because these components are non-living, our bodies can no make use of these minerals and our cells reject them. The result of ingesting these minerals is an accumulation of debris in our bodies. Organic minerals on the other hand are living, and are found in vegetables, fruit, seeds, grains, meats, and nuts which form our daily diet. These are easily assimilated by our cells and are essential for good health. If you rely on water a source of your required minerals,you are sadly lacking. The minerals in water are inorganic, and the body cannot make use of them. The body continually assimilates the much needed minerals from the food we eat. No, this is physiologically impossible. Some have been lead to believe that because distilled water is so pure, it will leach healthy minerals and trace elements from the body. Distilled water will do this with pipes. In our bodies distilled water cleans out our impurities and replenishes the essential nutrient required for human life; pure, clean, healthy water. Our cells use the organic minerals for body growth and maintenance; however, the impurities that the body cannot make us of are flushed out with distilled water. Distilled water flushes out all the inorganic minerals and pollutants which would otherwise be retained in the body and accumulate in vital organs such as liver, kidneys, intestines and fatty tissue. These minerals and pollutants are gradually increased by drinking impure water. A continuous or prolonged exposure to these minerals and pollutants may cause carcinogens to form within tissues. The cancer may only manifest itself months, years or even decades after such contacts have ceased. And often the causative agents may have totally disappeared from the tissues. It has become apparent that pollution and contamination exist within our drinking water. With the amount of sewage dumped into drinking water sources, many water borne diseases are present in the so-called “treated” drinking water. This leaves our bodies wide open to diseases. The viruses of major concern in relation to drinking water are those of intestinal origin, excreted by infected animals or humans, which reach water resources by way of the soils unlimited potential for serious disease and contamination of the human body." (Canadian Nutrition Guide) Don’t take unnecessary risks, Drink Healthy, Drink Distilled. To be Sure, several drinks of local tap water will not kill you, but common sense will tell you that your body cannot function and survive with daily ingestion of poison. Love, Doc

Copyright © 2004 by Ian “Doc” Shillington N.D.  All rights reserved.