Reduce Cancer Risk by Drinking Water

 

You can go a month without food but only a couple of days without water in your body. It’s the medium in which all your body’s chemical reactions take place. It transports your nutrients, oxygen and waste products and regulates your body’s temperature. Drinking enough pure water every day is one of the most ignored, most simple and cheapest ways to keep healthy.

Just how much water should you drink? When we’re young, our bodies contain about 70% water. Once you pass forty, your hydration level is probably down to 60%. By age seventy, your levels are usually under 50%.

Contrary to popular belief, lean people are much more hydrated than the obese. And drinking water discourages rather than encourages water retention.

Dangerous Waters

Even slight dehydration can disrupt critical cell functions. Studies have shown that people who drink eight or more glasses of water a day had less then one-fourth the risk of colon cancer than those who drank only two glasses a day.

Water drinkers also get:

• Fewer headaches
• Fewer muscle aches
• Fewer hangovers
• Less fatigue
• Less constipation
• Less heartburn
• Less valvular heart diseases
• Less bladder and other cancers

In fact, if you ask any physician if most cancer is preventable, the answer should be a resounding “yes.” The National Cancer Institute estimates 80% of all cancers are preventable. Of course, genetics can contribute to the risk of having cancer, but it is primarily the result of our environment imposing constant damage to your body. By controlling what food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breathe, the radiation you experience and what chemicals you expose yourself to, you can drastically reduce the amount of damage you accumulate in your DNA over the course of your life.

Other sources of damage to the molecules in your body include smoking, alcohol, toxins, air poluttion and, of course, water pollution. The amount of damage to the human body caused by these is truly amazing and a testament to how good our repair systems actually are especially a significant concern.

Most scientists’ theory of aging holds that aging is a downward spiral consequence of accumulated wear and tear from toxins, free-radical molecules, DNA damaging radiation, environmental damage from airborne and waterborne chemicals disease, and stress. Eventually, your body can’t bounce back.

There are some things that once damaged just can’t be repaired very well yet and cause degenerative diseases and aging, such as certain organs and joints, and of course your cells.

Healthy Water

To be properly hydrated, drink about one-half ounce of pure water a day for each pound of your body weight. If you weigh 160 pounds, that’s ten 8-ounce glasses or a little less than seven 12-ounce glasses of water. Drink more if you exercise heavily or perspire heavily, and sip during the day for the most benefits rather than drinking a lot at once.

That doesn’t mean soft drinks or energy drinks. If you want to risk aging on the fast track, go right ahead. Just understand that food engineers would have a hard time designing more enticing dehydrating sugar-laden toxic potions. A 12-ounce can of Pepsi contains 10 teaspoons of sugar. Ten! And don’t be lured into thinking the diet versions are better for you. They aren’t.

As for the more popular energy drinks? Poison in a can. Take all the negative effects of soft drinks, then add enough caffeine to launch a rocket, and you’re begging for health problems way beyond the jitters and crashes your body endures.

Water Damage

Many municipal water utilities do not provide you with pure water. Water filtration systems have become very inexpensive and are well worth the cheap health insurance they provide for you. There are several sink top models available, but the healthiest water is produced by “selective filtration” products that have the ability to remove contaminants and not minerals. If you have a reverse osmosis unit, make sure you take a good mineral supplement. Some experts advocate water ionizers that alkalize your water.

Vegetables and fruits help to alkalinize your system. You will normally need a large amount of vegetables and fruits to optimize your body’s pH acid/alkaline balance, so you might supplement with the four alkaline minerals:

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Sodium

An acidic body is a magnet for sickness, disease, cancer and aging. You might even try a teaspoon of Arm & Hammer baking soda in a large glass of water to reduce your risk. This will cost you pennies.

Anti-aging care is as simply as this: drink plenty of filtered water (at least one-half ounce a day for each pound of body weight), eliminate soda and reduce coffee from your diet.

 

 Penny for your thoughts!  Have you tried baking soda in your water?