Response to Various Opinions on Water Consumption

Response to Various Opinions on Water Consumption

By

Bob McCauley

This is a response to some of the opinions put forth by others, regarding the source of water and which water we should drink. In particular, I am responding to those in the raw food movement. I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about water from various individuals and I find myself in profound disagreement with some of them.

I am a raw foodist who believes we all should ideally be on a 100% raw food diet. There are many opinions regarding which foods we should consume and in what quantities and I can see that these arguments will continue for some time without a conclusive agreement amongst raw food “experts”. But water is a different matter. There is water that should be consumed and water that should not be consumed except in emergencies. Let me clarify which is which.

My Background in Water

I have been in the bottled water business since 1993 and have sold and promoted ionized water since 1996. I am a Certified Water Facility Operator in the state of Michigan (S5, D5). My father had a doctorate from MIT in Environmental Engineering, taught at Michigan State University for 15 years and ran his own engineering company for 17 years designing municipal water treatment and purification plants throughout mid-Michigan. He taught me most of what I know about water and its various sources.

Wild Springs

I have heard the term “Wild Spring” used lately, which apparently refers to a spring that occurs naturally. This is a term that has been invented out of thin air and now is beginning to be used as a term of reference. There are springs that have been built and developed where there was no spring before, but they do not differ from naturally occurring springs. Spring water is ground water that has been naturally pushed to the surface, usually from deep within the earth, but not always. Water that comes from springs has been exposed to pollution in the first 3 – 5 feet of the soil where it is most concentrated. It is best to draw the water you drink directly from the source from a deep well at least 100 feet down. It is best to draw water from this depth to avoid the pollution that is most highly concentrated in the first few feet of soil.

Springs are also prone to bacterial contamination since bacteria counts are highest in the first 3 feet of soil. Bacterial counts are even higher in surface water such as that found in lakes, rivers and streams.

Other kinds of water are artesian and mineral water. Artesian water is ground water usually below 100 feet that has been forced toward the surface by pressure. Artesian is not an indicator of quality, although it tends to be good quality water.

Water Filtration

I have heard some talk that suggests spring water should not be filtered and I could not disagree with that notion more. I personally don’t drink any water that hasn’t flowed through a carbon filter, preferably a one micron block carbon filter. They remove chlorine and particles from the water down to one micron. There are other filters with various media that can remove iron, fluoride, sulfur and other undesirable elements in water.

I heard one “health guru” state that if he couldn’t drink spring water that they would go days without drinking water until they could get some. This is an absurd statement, especially considering that finding a natural spring is quite difficult. In fact, the chances of finding a natural spring and collecting water from it are next to impossible. I personally am not aware of any natural springs that are open to the public in the state of Michigan. So where will we all go to find our natural spring water? It’s a completely impractical idea for the average person to even considering doing on a regular basis. And to go days without drinking water would be extremely detrimental to your health, therefore I am very much opposed to the Russian concept of dry fasting, that of eating or drinking nothing at all for days at a time.

Consuming Tap Water

I often hear it said that tap water (municipal or city water) should never be consumed under any circumstances. I do not agree with this notion at all. Most tap water can be consumed if it is properly filtered through an adequate carbon and/or KDF filter. Again, I recommend a 1 micron activated carbon filter for this. This removes the chlorine that is found in most tap water. For tap water that contains chloramines instead of chlorine to disinfect I recommend a carbon/KDF filter, since KDF is slightly more effective at removing chloramines than carbon.

I also recommend everyone use a KDF filter to remove chlorine and/or chloramines for your shower or bathtub. If you don’t, then you are absorbing these chemicals into your body through your skin and in your lungs, which is extremely dangerous since they are carcinogens. Carbon will not remove chlorine from hot water.

Pharmaceuticals and Caffeine in ground water

Larger cities quietly started recycling their water in recent years. This policy was kept quiet and not published in any of the trade magazines. Coconut shell carbon is the most effective way to filter out pharmaceuticals, but it certainly won’t get all of them.

The best way to remove anything and everything from your water source, including pharmaceuticals (even caffeine, which is any extremely small molecule), is with reverse osmosis (RO). This purifies the water, meaning it removes everything except the water molecules themselves so you end up with pure water. Distillation achieves the same results. This water should not be consumed since it is acidic, leaches minerals from the body and does not hydrate the body’s cells or tissue. If water is purified then it must be re-mineralized if you wish to consume it. Re-mineralization also makes the water more hydrating, less acidic and it will not leach minerals from the body.

Is water conscious?

I have heard it stated that water is conscious, perhaps even more so than Buddha and Jesus. This is one of the most ridiculous notions I’ve ever heard regarding water. Water is an inert, inorganic substance with two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen molecule. It has no more life than a stone, some plastic or a wooden table. Before the wood was fashioned into a table it was a tree. All plant and animal life created by God is conscious on some level. However, an inanimate object does not have consciousness and to state that two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule that have bonded now has consciousness is absurd and the claim has absolutely no scientific evidence to support it. The anthropopathic practice of assigning feelings or consciousness to inanimate objects has its roots in primitive cultures and has not been in vogue for thousands of years. Water does not think nor is it omniscient anymore than a plant is. Although a plant or animal is conscious, it is not sentient or does it have the ability of self-reflection. Only humans are sentient, which is a gift from God. As for water, when you consume it, you are not drinking anything that thinks.

The vortex effect of water spinning

It has been claimed that water spins from deep within the earth as it reaches the surface and there is no truth to this. It would be nearly impossible to prove that water actually spins as it rises to the surface. Victor Schauberger stated that nature creates vortices as a result of a tremendous and sudden release of energy. A tornado is a good example of this. But water spinning as it rises toward the surface of the earth is unfounded and improvable. It’s another idea that has been invented out of thin air.

Does Water self replicate?

It has been stated that water has the ability of self-replication. Inorganic substances cannot self-replicate or self-reproduce themselves. Living cells are capable of self-replication through mitosis or meiosis. As with regards to whether water is conscious, it is inert and therefore incapable of self-replication. Water is not a living thing.

The Best Drinking Water

Having clarified some of the issues regarding spring water the question remains which water is the best water to consume. That would be Ionized Water of which I have researched and written about extensively since 1996. I have done so because there is nothing more important for the body than water and quite often people recommend the wrong kind of water to drink, such as purified water. Ionized Water has two powerful antioxidant qualities, a negative ORP which reduces oxidation of the body and it is a free radical scavenger because it contains an abundance of electrons. It is alkaline and therefore helps balance the body’s pH. It also has smaller water molecules which penetrate bodily cells and tissue and hydrates them more efficiently than conventional water. This also pushes out substances that don’t belong in the body and are potentially harmful which we call toxins. You can read about Ionized Water in great detail in any of my books, in particular The Miraculous Properties of Ionized Water, which describes what Ionized Water, how it is produced and what we can expect when drinking it. My other publication, Consumer’s Guide to Purchasing a Water Ionizer explains the best way to choose a water ionizer, as well as filtration options.

I recommend the documentary called “Flow” (http://www.flowthefilm.com/) It explores the issue of water control and distribution, who is benefiting financially from it and who is getting hurt because of those decisions. It is quite an eye-opener and a cautionary tale about the future of the world’s fresh water supply.

The Watershed Wellness Center
Lansing, MI
1-888-826-4448
www.watershed.net

Becoming a Raw Foodist (Raw Foods)

To start on the road to Great Health, you don’t need to become a raw foodist. Rather, you simply need to start eating raw foods. After you have made them a small, but regular part of diet, you will begin to fall in love with them as I did, which is something I never thought would happen because I never cared for raw foods before I began eating them everyday. The day you find yourself eating mostly raw foods and very little cooked foods, if any, will be the day you realize that you have become a raw foodist.

The ignorance of the cooked food diet.

Regardless of their age, anyone can have the body they had when they were in their twenties. At that age, most of us are physically and mentally in our prime. Physical decline is inevitable and starts in your thirties only if you are a cooked foodist. Physical decline only happens to a raw foodist if they never exercise and even then the decline will not lead to disease, but rather to physical atrophy.

http://www.watershed.net/

The human body does not make mistakes.

The human body does not make mistakes. If provided with the right materials, it operates perfectly and the medical establishment instantly becomes obsolete in the treatment of chronic disease. Essentially, we are the architects of our own body. We sculpt it into the shape that we want it to be by exercising and putting foods in it that are either nutritious or harmful. If we are overweight and have health problems it is because our diet is comprised primarily of cooked foods, which never satisfy our hunger, thus we overeat.

Seven Components of Great Health - No. 5: Raw Foods

Component 5: Introduce Raw Foods to your diet. Begin limiting the amount of cooked foods you consume

Only a raw foodist has the ability to Achieve Great Health, perfect health, the kind of health most people only dream of. If you remain on a cooked-food diet, you will never truly be healthy even though the outward symptoms of disease may not manifest themselves for years to come. Disease always resides in the body of the cooked foodist whether the symptoms are there or not.

Everyone wants to be healthy. No one wants to be sick or even divulge they ever get sick. Sadly, most will remain sick because of their refusal to leave the cooked-food world behind and start putting in their body what naturally belongs in it, that which can only make them healthy. Only what comes from nature will ever make us healthy. There is no substitute for nature because it is God’s ever-moving hand. And no matter what man creates to try and make himself healthy, it will only end in failure. God’s temple can only be properly served and maintained by the raw foods that are produced by God’s creation, that which we call nature.

Articles on Raw Foods

http://watershed.net/raw_food_article.aspx
http://watershed.net/raw-foods.aspx
http://watershed.net/wholefood-rawdiet.aspx

Raw Food Pyramid
http://watershed.net/RawFoodPoster.aspx

The First Steps toward Becoming a Raw Foodist - Part 5

Rice also tends to cause a lot of gas, which is created mainly in the large intestines and is the result of undigested starchy carbohydrates. Foods that cause these problems become their own reason for removing them from your diet.I slowly removed rice from my diet over the course of several months until I was eating it only once a week.

Eventually, I got rid of it completely. Only giving up dairy products did more to remove mucus from my body. It was the last profound positive change in my health I experienced, for now I was nearly 100% raw. From: Achieving Great Health

http://watershed.net/achieving_great_health.aspx

The First Steps toward Becoming a Raw Foodist - Pt 4

The next step would be to begin cooking your vegetables less and less, whether it is steaming, frying or baking. Start by steaming them only half the time your normally do, then reduce the time until you are merely warming them. If you keep the temperature of the vegetables below 105°F, you will not destroy the enzymes and other chemical nutrients in the food. Any raw food can be raised to a temperature of 105°F without the fear of damaging its nutritional potential. Many people miss warm food when first moving to the Raw-food Diet and if it makes you feel better to warm your food to 105°F or less, you should do it.

Juicing is another side door to the raw food lifestyle. Juicing is a world unto itself. The human body is essentially a juicer in the sense that it is the juice from plants that contains the nutrients that the body must extract. Anyone seeking to truly obtain Great Health must include juicing as part of their daily protocol. There are many types of juicers. Most separate the juice from the fiber, a valuable and necessary part of the food. Other juicers grind up the entire food, including the fiber. These are preferable. (to be continued . . . )

From: Achieving Great Health http://watershed.net/achieving_great_health.aspx

The First Steps toward Becoming a Raw Foodist - Pt 3

This monumental task that you have placed before yourself of changing a lifelong belief system must be done first in baby-steps that become bigger steps that turn in to leaps as your body cries louder each day for raw foods. Your reward will be perfect health and a disease free body when the transition is complete. Your body will punish you when you sometimes stray and revert to your old deadly cooked-food ways. It is tough love because your body knows what is right. The more you consume raw foods, the more traumatic this punishment becomes as you realize once and for all what poison cooked foods really are.

Another important step we can make is to begin moving away from pre-packaged processed foods to fresh cooked foods. It helps bring us out of the repetitious habit of our daily lives that shackles us to the cooked world. It is merely habit to come home tired and look for something easy to prepare for dinner. There is nothing easier than something that is already prepared and simply needs to be heated. Of course the ultimate fast food is a raw food because it is immediately ready to eat at any time. (to be continued . . . )

From: Achieving Great Health http://watershed.net/achieving_great_health.aspx

The First Steps toward Becoming a Raw Foodist - Part 2

Another approach is to start eating a salad with each meal. Increase the size of the salad you have each day by 2% and shrink the amount of cooked foods you eat by a corresponding amount. Following through with this will leave you a 100% raw foodist in less than 50 days.

Another transition is to introduce dehydrated foods to your diet, foods that have had the moisture removed from them. They can be made into incredible raw food dishes such as sprouted bread, pizza, caramel apples, potato chips and many others, all of them raw and healthy. While dehydrated foods are not as healthy as fresh raw foods, they are the next best thing. They are an excellent transition food, but ultimately our goal is to consume 100% fresh raw foods. The closer you get to that goal, the healthier you will be. (to be continued . . .)

From: Achieving Great Health http://watershed.net/achieving_great_health.aspx

The First Steps toward Becoming a Raw Foodist - Part 1

I have found it useful to stop thinking about meals in the rigid way we traditionally regard them. We are conditioned to build our day around three meals when instead we should only eat when we are hungry. Your body will crave cooked foods less and less when it is provided with raw nutrients at a cellular level. The constant companion of hunger will leave you. We do not need the three meals we are accustomed to, rather, that is programmed into us, which is a central component of the obesity problem today. We look at a clock to know if it’s time to eat instead of our stomachs.

We need to break our pattern and start thinking outside the norms we are accustomed to when it comes to food. When we eat only when we are hungry, we begin to view food as a supply of nutrients we require to be healthy, not as something we need to do at a certain time of the day so our stomachs are always full.

An easy way to begin is by increasing the percentage of raw foods in your diet while shrinking the size of the cooked foods you consume. The concept is simple. Begin the process with breakfast and carry that sentiment throughout the day. Start by adding a banana or apple to your cereal, for instance. Increase the portion of fruit in the cereal each day without increasing how much you eat; this means that the milk and cereal portion will decrease. Within a short time, you will have transitioned to an all fruit breakfast. If it is complemented with 4 -- 6 grams of Spirulina and Chlorella, you will be meeting all your basic nutritional needs and then some. Your mornings will be full of energy when you eat this way. (to be continued . . . )

From: Achieving Great Health http://watershed.net/achieving_great_health.aspx

Bob McCauley's Story of Great Health - Pt. 3

I became first a lacto-vegetarian, then vegan and now a raw-food vegan. Many people change to the raw lifestyle because of a health challenge, but I am not one of them. I slowly changed to the raw food lifestyle and now feel as healthy as I did when I was in my twenties.
Over the last six years I have learned that the body can cure itself of any disease. Therefore, if you are sick, it is because you allow yourself to remain sick. It is not the foods we eat, but rather what the body does with the nutrients from those foods that it uses to heal itself. The source of all disease comes from our diet.

I am the author of three books on health. My first book, Confessions of a Body Builder, is the only book explaining ionized water for the layman. The second one, Achieving Great Health in 90 Days or Less, first published in 2005 outlines my entire health protocol. My most recent book, The Miraculous Properties of Ionized Water was published in 2006. It is the only book written exclusively on the topic of Ionized Water. (to be continuted . . . )