Welcome to June! Hope you all are enjoying the beginning of summer. As I’ve told you in my last newsletter, I have changed my marital status, my name, and now my location and phone number!
I am still doing as much traveling as ever, but this
is where you can leave messages for me, and I will, as always, be in touch. Being in New
York I believe will be a learning and growing experience, and has helped me come up with
this month’s topic: "Don’t Drink The Water!". So now, for the reading pleasure that you have been thirsting for....
You Can Lead The Lady To New York, But You Can’t Make Her Drink The Water!"
We know that water is essential for human existence. The human body is made up of about 70% water. Water is needed for digestion, assimilation and elimination. The body can loose three quarts of water per day and needs to be replaced with pure, clean water to function its best.
Water drinking aids in weight loss and reduces bloating. Since water helps the body to eliminate, it washes away impurities helping the body cleanse and return to normal weight. However, if you are not used to drinking much water, there may be some initial bloating for the first few weeks. This happens sometimes because the body isn’t used to getting water and it holds onto it. After consistent drinking, the body realizes that it is going to get what it needs and the excess water releases. Most people find (as I did) that all their water retention problems cease as long as they continue to drink pure water.
Drinking pure water is very important, however, another very good source of usable water for the body that aids the cleansing process is fresh fruit because of its high water content.
THE DIRT ON WATER
Most tap water these days is contaminated by some source. City water has chemicals in it such as chlorine and fluoride and often lead, which not only makes it dangerous to drink but spoils the taste.
Chlorine is the chemical that effectively kills water-borne critters that can cause typhoid, cholera and dysentery. However, chlorinated drinking water is directly responsible for more than 4,200 cases of bladder cancer and 6,500 cases of rectal cancer every year! These figures are based on a study published in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) just a few years ago.
Chlorine reacts with other substances in water to form chloroform, carbon tetrachloride and other cancer-causing compounds. Also, the EPA has learned that chlorinated drinking water decreases the "good" cholesterol (HDL) and increases the bad cholesterol (LDL).
There are several bugs that are resistant to chlorine such as the one that causes Legionnaire’s disease. Most every outbreak since 1982 has been linked back to a water system. Just think of all the chemicals needed in water that has been recycled up to five times from sewage waste back to drinking water! YECK!
Now, if that’s not enough to dry you up,...
FLUORIDE
There has been great controversy as far as whether fluoride should be added to drinking water. Proponents say that fluoride helps build strong bones and teeth. Opponents to fluoridation say that toxic levels of fluorine (the poisonous substance that fluoride is derived from) build up in the body and degenerates the immune system.
Many ailments have been linked to fluoride in the water such as Mottled teeth, cancer and even Down’s Syndrome. Personally I have heard more negatives about fluoridated water than good and therefore wouldn’t suggest anyone trust it without their own investigation. Look up fluorine and fluoride in the dictionary for a start. Don’t you think we all get enough chemicals as it is?
LEAD
Take my lead on the lead tip: Don’t drink it! Most of the lead problems in water come from the pipes, this is especially true in older cities and homes. Lead has been shown to negatively affect the brain and other systems of the body.
OTHER THINGS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT
Industrial and agricultural pollutants are now showing up in water supplies. Nitrate contamination has required the closing of many wells. A few years back, thousands in Milwaukee became ill from a bug in the chlorine treated water called cryptosporidium. This leaked into the water supply from fecal matter at an upstream dairy farm.
Okay already, now that I’ve told you how important it is to drink clean water, let’s talk about how to get it...
Carbon Filters
At the LEAST I would suggest a carbon filter. They are better than nothing. Carbon will remove the chlorine and pesticides and SOME heavy metals like lead. Unfortunately, these filters are not effective against bacteria and sometimes even harbor them. However, most of the bacteria have been killed by the chlorine. But if you are still concerned, change your filters often and/or after filtering your water, you can boil it and then cool it down and store it in plastic jugs in your refrigerator or basement. (Never store in sunlight.)
Distilled Water
Distilled water can be purchased or can be done at home with a home distiller. Distillation involves the process of vaporizing water by boiling it. The steam leaves behind most bacteria and other pollutants, it is then condensed and cooled back to a water state. The most reasonably priced distillers I could find is through a company called Young Living. They have a large (6-8 gallon/day) and a small (3-4 gallon/day) size. There has been some misconceptions about distilled water leaching out minerals from the body. What it does do is leach inorganic minerals rejected by the cells and tissues out of the body. So it aids your body in what it is trying to do anyway.
Bottled water
I cannot bring myself to drink tap water, and when away from home I always drink some type of spring water or bottled glacier water. There is very much controversy about which is the purest, however, I know by taste that it is always better than the tap. HINT: If you make it a habit to purchase and carry lemon oil* with you , you can place a drop in a glass of tap water or restaurant water, etc.. The oil will help purify the water. Given a few short moments it will bring nitrates to the surface! I would then use a straw to drink the purer water from the bottom. You will be able to see the scum floating on top of the glass of water.
*For Young Living Essential Oils contact Alice Walter in Denver at (303) 752-4484. Mary Frazee in Conifer, CO at (303) 838-0440, or myself in New York. (Young Living oils are the most powerful because they are the purest you can buy!)
Reverse Osmosis--Worth the wait
We have just purchased a Nature’s Spring reverse osmosis filtering system for our home here in New York. I personally believe that from my readings and research that this is the purest and best tasting water for drinking.
This system uses special semipermeable membranes to strain impurities out of the water. The pre-filter filters out larger suspended materials such as sand and rust. In stage two, most of the cleansing process is begun. The water filters through a pressure vessel which has extremely fine membranes--keeping chlorine, fluoride, lead and pollutants and the smaller nasties out. At this point the water is about 90% free of impurities. In the final stage, this almost pure water is filtered through an even smaller semi-permeable membrane which is too small for bacteria and even the smallest pollutants to penetrate. The result: PURE H2O!
This whole process does take some time of course. Depending on water pressure, it averages about two gallons per hour. There are connectors to hook up to three plastic gallon jugs at a time. We’ve been using the 2 1/2 gallon jugs plus empty water bottles that we take with us for the day. There is definitely a taste difference! We can tell by taste which is distilled, bottled and which is the reverse osmosis water. We believe the reverse osmosis tastes the best.
The choice is yours, but most importantly, keep drinking!!
SHOPPING TIME...
***For those who travel***
I’ve discovered a compact, sturdy, completely portable and pack-able herb/vitamin holder. It holds about 50 tablets each of up to nine herbs. Compartments are adjustable to fit your needs. Labels are included and easily changeable as your program changes. We really find that it’s easier to open one small box and get all our herbs vs. opening nine different bottles!! If you are interested I can get them for you or you can pick them up yourself if you live in Rochester! Cost will be $6.50 plus postage if I need to mail it to you.
Nature’s Sunshine Products offers two types of Natures Spring Reverse Osmosis systems. One for city water and one that is better for well water. You can take this system with you as you move also. Both systems RETAIL for $295.00. I would suggest if you are not a distributor and would like to purchase one of these systems that you sign up as a distributor and get it for cost. The price of distributorship is $40.00. The total COST of either system plus your distributorship fee is still less than RETAIL.
If you need more information before you decide, there are videos available on the system that I can loan you or you can order from NSP yourself.
***Home Distillers***
Young Living offers two distillers. The larger one RETAILS for $531.00. The smaller one RETAILS for $344.00. Wholesale prices are 25% less than these prices. Same option applies to this company as does Nature Sunshine. Distributor sign up fee is only $15.00, then you can order any of their products wholesale. To receive a sign up form: Please write to me or leave a message with your name, address and phone number at 1-800-992-5350 X3182. (This is Townsend’s voice mail and he will pass this information to me.)
This newspaper article appeared on the front page of the Buffalo Times earlier this month:
Report: Our tap water dangerous
The Associated Press
Washington - More than one in five Americans unknowingly drink tap water polluted with feces, lead, radiation or other contaminants, two environmental groups said today. And the problem is growing.
The studies used environmental Protection Agency statistics for 1993-94 to conclude that 53 million Americans drank water that violated EPA safety standards under the Clean Water Act. That compared with 50 million the year before, and was an increase of 7.6 million over 1991-92. Nearly 1,000 deaths each year and at least 400,000 cases of waterborne illness may be attributed to contaminated water, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environrnental Working Group.
The groups predicted that deaths would increase and Water quality would worsen if a House-approved bill passes Congress to weaken the 1972 Clean Water Act. President Clinton has promised such a GOP measure. "When hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans are getting sick from tap water every year, it's incredible that the only discussion in Congress is to weaken drinking water standards, rather than strengthening and adequately funding them," said Erik Olson, author of one of the reports.
EPA Administrator Carol Browner acknowledged the problem, saying that "we still have a lot of work to do to protect the most simple necessity of our lives - water. These reports underscore the fact that the job of protecting public health is never done." New York City residents drank most of the bad water when they weren't downing Perrier. The city exceeded health standards for turbidity and fecal coliform; affecting more than 6.5 million people, the report said.
"Tap water ought to taste good and smell good too, like it used to before good water came to mean bottled water," complained Kenneth Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group. But the environmentalists said safety was their biggest concern, with the EPA monitoring such harmful substances as disease-carrying feces, lead, radiation, parasites and pesticide residues, among others.
The studies reported 45 million people drank water from systems contaminated with cryptosporidium, for example, a parasite that infected more than 400,000 people and killed more than 100 in Milwaukee in 1993.
Other pollutants, radioactive and chemical, can cause health problems such as cancer and birth defects, the study authors said. Olson, principle author of the Natural Resources Defense Council study, said the EPA statistics don't reflect the real size of the problem because utilities often fail to report violations. He said about two dozen states and territories didn't mention any violations last year.
"It is clear that substantially more people are exposed to violations than is indicated in the data in this report," he wrote.
The release of the reports came just days after Clinton pledged to veto a GOP overhaul of the pollution law that tracks such violations. He accused the Republican Congress of trying to create a "Dirty Water Act."
Republicans accused Clinton of being a mouthpiece for environmentalists.
The legislation would revamp the federal government’s protection of waterways from urban, industrial and farmland pollution, giving the local officials a greater say in meeting water quality standards. The House passed the legislation May 1 after supporters argued the act was too expensive for industry and local governments, gives too much power to federal bureaucrats and is unfair to property owners.