Water may or may not be classed as a
food .... depending on one's definition of food. However, no one can deny that
water plays an important role in our diet and is just as essential to life as
food or oxygen.
Our water intake is not only what we
take in the form of beverages and drinking water because we ingest large
quantities of water in our food. It is a fact that most of our fruits and
vegetables are approximately 75% water, with the leafy vegetables and soft
fruits holding as much as 95% water. Even what we normally consider dry foods —
grains and seeds, for example — contain some water. Also, water is formed
within the body by the oxidation of sugar, fat and protein.
It has been established that every
natural process in one way or another involves the use of water. Beginning with
conception, the embryo floats in a liquid right up to the time of birth. The
natural processes include breathing, digestion, activities of the glands,
spreading of heat and secretion. These can only be performed in the presence of
water. Water takes the place of a lubricant and actually prevents injury of
various tissues, as well as giving flexibility to bones, cartilage, tendons and
muscles.
It must be recognized that water
normally accounts for 55 to 65% of our body weight and many of our body
functions are performed with the aid of water. Blood, urine, sweat, tears,
digestive juices, internal fluids in the eyes, mucous and the feces are
composed mainly of water. Also, each cell of our body is surrounded by water.
Water serves as a vehicle to carry food and waste products, it assists in
regulating body temperature, it plays a role in many chemical processes within
our body, it serves as a lubricant and, along with body fat, it assists in
protecting different organs from outside injury.
How much water should one drink? That
is a difficult question to answer because it is governed by the individual's
diet and activities but thirst is generally the best indication of the body's
needs. It has been my experience that a person whose diet consists mainly of
raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains, along with fresh vegetable juices,
requires very little additional water .... especially if no salt is added to
the food.
I know that in general one is advised
to drink eight glasses of water a day. I do not quarrel with that counsel but
as I drink a minimum of two eight-ounce glasses of fresh juice every morning
and eat an abundance of raw fruits and vegetables, with no salt added to
anything, I feel that I get sufficient water via my food and I just don't need
to drink any more. I have no desire to drink water and seldom do, yet my urine
passing is what I consider to be normal.
I feel that the source of one's
drinking water is important and I consider good spring or well water best
because it contains no chlorine, fluorine or any of the other chemicals that
are added to municipal water supplies. I will not go into the pros and cons of
fluoridation and chlorination here but lest you believe that chlorine is safe
or necessary in our drinking water, let me inform you that in spite of its 50
or more years of general acceptance, chlorine is neither beneficial nor safe. I
dare you to investigate the situation and then decide whether you want your
drinking water treated with the supposedly innocuous chlorine. The same applies
to fluorine. I want to make it clear that I would permit no man to add anything
to the water I drink.
It has been proven that a person can
live without food for about 60 days, but no one can live without water for more
than 10 days. Of course, there are great variations, depending on the
surrounding temperature and the amount of water already present in the body.
The amount depends upon the fat in the body — the more fat, the less water. It
is calculated that a 170 pound person with a normal amount of body fat carries
about 110 pounds of water in the body. I do not advise long fasts but fasting
for 30 to 40 days is considered commonplace among the 'fasting fraternity,'
even extending as long as 60 days without apparent injury or even suffering,
but water is always taken as desired. In fact, water is a requisite of the
so-called therapeutic fast.
I consider water to be food because my
studies clearly indicate that well water contains many minerals and other
elements, as does water out of a lake, a stream or a creek. Ocean water has
been analyzed and it is claimed that it contains at least 44 elements. Just how
much of the various elements your body can absorb from the water is open to
conjecture but absorb some it does, as specifically proven in many experiments.
I trust that you have read of the
experiments which confirmed that people who drink hard water as compared to soft
water are much less apt to have a heart attack. This has been positively proven
and established and it is because of the nutrients contained in the hard water
that are absorbed by the body. This also proves that water is more than just
H2O.
For years I have recognized the fact
that good drinking water contains many nutrients and that is why I will never
accept distilled water. I also will never drink treated water of any kind and
especially water that has been softened. I pointedly warn my readers not to
drink any water that has been treated in any way.
Please believe me, I do not have
anything against the people who make and sell distilled water or distilling
equipment but I am concerned about my readers' health and feel that distilled
water can be harmful. I feel that you need the elements found naturally in
water and I suspect that they are elements that your body cannot get from any
other source.
-Bird
