What Kind of Water Should We Drink?

There is a quote from the early 1800’s that exemplifies the concern they had for drinking water in the poem “Ancient Mariner” by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge that fits very well with the concern many people have concerning the drinking water available and consumed today. The poem goes like this... “WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK.” Did you know that most people can live at least 40 days without food but only about 4 days without water? By the way, we can only live about 4 minutes without oxygen. With all of today’s emphasis on food, have we forgotten the most basic of all body needs – water and oxygen? Our body is comprised of about 70% water, and we are constantly losing that water through urine, feces, sweat, and mucous membranes. In fact, we lose water with every breath we exhale. This fact is easily proven by exhaling on a mirror or glass and noticing the tiny beads of water on the surface. All this lost water from the body needs to be replaced! The question answered in this article is – What kind of water should this lost water be replaced with? If you were to Google “water” concerning the issue, you would quickly realize that there is presently a lot of confusion and contradiction concerning the issue. For instance – some say distilled water is dangerous because it removes the minerals from the water, is acidic, and contributes to bone loss. Others say that distilled water is the purest and best of all waters and does not cause the problems the critics of distilled water proclaim. Then there are others that promote reverse-osmosis water, Kangen water, charcoal filtered water, and a variety of other methods of conditioning water for drinking. Most people realize the dangers of drinking water from municipal water supplies as it comes from the faucet, because of the toxic chemicals chlorine and fluoride being added to most public water supplies, and the potential dangers to the body of the other toxins contained in tap water. In more than 1,000 seminars I have delivered during the past 20-plus years, one of the most common questions I receive in the Q&A time that follows is, “What kind of water should I drink”? Then they go on to tell how confused they are regarding the subject.

What Kind of Water Did Adam & Eve Drink?

Did you know that ever since God created all the water on planet earth at the time of creation, there has not been a drop of water added to or subtracted from that original amount that God created? Rain water is naturally distilled water! Distillation is a system put in place by God at creation to keep water pure: Water rises from the earth in the form of water vapors, leaving all minerals and contaminants behind. It then comes back down to earth from the clouds in a naturally distilled form as rain, frozen rain, or snow. When naturally distilled water strikes the earth, this naturally distilled water percolates through the soil dissolving some of the minerals that comprise the soil. Minerals and nutrients from the soil are then picked up by the roots of the plant, and with the assistance of the sun’s energy, the plant produces the fruits and vegetables that grow in the garden and that we eat.

Did you know that the purest and best water a person can consume is the water found in the fruits and vegetables growing in the garden?

The water found in raw fruits and vegetables originated in the naturally distilled water that came from the clouds with the addition of the minerals and nutrients the fruit or vegetable plant added. The liquid in the plants, often called the “blood of the plant”, is the very best liquid we can replace the body’s lost liquid with! That’s one of the reasons daily juicing of vegetables has been such an important part of my life for almost 40 years. Rhonda and I juice a 25-pound bag of organic carrots weekly, along with the juice of organic celery, cucumber, beets, leafy greens, etc. All raw fruits and vegetables are comprised of anywhere from 70% to 90% of this wonderful plant liquid. When we eat a diet that is comprised primarily of raw fruits and vegetables, we are providing our bodies with this wonderful, living, nutrient dense liquid. Sadly, the average person eats foods lacking these wonderful plant liquids. With regard to the kind of water Adam and Eve took into their bodies, there is a very good chance (though it cannot be proven) that all the liquid they took into their bodies came from the fruits and vegetables they ate in the Garden of Eden. I question whether they ever drank water at all. Of course, they could have drank from the pure water flowing in the river. In Genesis 2:10 the Bible tells us “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden . . .”!

Is There A Problem With Distilled Water?

Some health advocates claim distilled water is dangerous to our health and discourage people from using distillers. I have even heard it said that distilled water is worse for you than the tap water it started with. This notion puts distilled water in a false light. Such health advocacy is irresponsible. Two main issues need to be addressed here. First, the co-purification of organic contaminants with water distillation, and second, the long-term health effects of drinking low-mineral water. You will quickly see that using a distiller is still the best, most consistent way of getting clean, pure water. It is true that some organic chemicals can evaporate with steam during the distillation process. All distiller manufacturers are aware of this issue. It is not a new development and the solution has been in place for many years, including the distillers made by WaterWise, the distillers distributed by Hallelujah Acres, and the distillers Rhonda and I have used for the past 20 years. For organic compounds that have a boiling point very close to that of water, the post-distillation activated carbon filter (made with coconut) will easily absorb the amounts present in almost everyone’s tap water. Since the water is very pure and hot during distillation, the absorption capacity of the carbon filter is not lost to fouling due to bacteria, viruses, spores, and minerals. So, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are really a non-issue with water distillers. The potential adverse effect of drinking distilled water is that it may pull a small amount of minerals from the body. For most people this will not be a problem. For a person with marginal mineral intake, this could lead to long-term negative health effects. For those with a concern, the best solution is to add a concentrated solution that remineralizes, alkalizes, and lowers the surface tension of the water. This solution is called “HydroBoost” and is available from Hallelujah Acres. (One teaspoon of HydroBoost remineralizes and alkalizes a gallon of distilled water; one container of HydroBoost will treat 48 gallons.) The resulting water HydroBoost added> has ionic minerals in it that the body needs and can fully utilize, unlike the rock (inorganic) minerals that the water originally had in it before distillation. HydroBoost treated water is alkaline, with a pH of about 8.2. This is not too alkaline for long term health, as the alkalinity comes from very bioavailable calcium and magnesium ionic salts. The surface tension is lower, improving the water’s ability to hydrate thirsty body tissues. Another good solution HydroBoost> is to squeeze some fresh lemon juice into a glass of distilled water. This will remineralize the water and add some alkaline minerals to it as well, along with a great taste.

Distillation Is Still The Best Solution

When all of the options for purifying water are considered, the best solution is to use a distiller in combination with an activated carbon filter. To get truly pure water, several things must be removed: chlorine or chloramines, fluoride, arsenic, lead, industrial organic pollutants, drug residues, viruses, bacteria, and rock minerals. There isn’t a single process that does all of this, but in tandem you can produce pure water. Activated carbon does an excellent job with organic contaminants, but doesn’t do much with mineral or metal contaminants. Distillation does an excellent job with minerals, viruses, and bacteria. Certain filter resins remove some minerals (arsenic, fluoride, lead) under acidic conditions. Reverse osmosis (RO) units rely on activated carbon to remove the organic contaminants. RO units do purify the water and remove the inorganic minerals, but bacterial fouling can be a problem, resulting in reduced performance over time. Because RO units remove the minerals it also produces slightly acidic water (like distillation), and it is recommended that a teaspoon of HydroBoost be added to each gallon of RO water to improve the alkalinity of the water and add back some 70 ionic minerals. Distillation first boils the water in a stainless pot to kill all germs, viruses, and bacteria. Next, the steam from the boiling water rises leaving all inorganic minerals behind in the boiling pot while the steam rising from the boiling water goes into stainless steel coils cooled by a small fan that changes the steam into drops of water. This purified water then passes through a charcoal filter to remove any gases that may have risen with the steam and then drops into a holding tank. The water that comes from this form of purification produces water that is as close to pure as is available to us today.

My Experience With Distilled Water

It was in January 1976 after being told I had colon cancer, that I adopted a 100% plant based diet which included lots of fresh vegetable juices. At about the same time, I was encouraged to also change the type of water I was drinking. For the previous 42 years of my life, I had been drinking the water that came from the faucet in my house, never giving any thought that the water from the tap could be potentially dangerous and harmful to my health. The type of water I was encouraged to consume was called “distilled water.” Wanting to do all I could to help my body recover from that cancer, I bought a large square edged, hard to clean, stainless steel water distiller and started making my own distilled water in my home and drinking exclusively this distilled water. I began drinking exclusively distilled water at the age of 42 and as I write this, almost 40 years later, I still drink it (in two months I will be 80 years of age). Has my personal experience with distilled water proven to be the hazard to my life and health that this popular health advocate claims? One of the claims made by this health advocate was this:

“Distilled Water – Use with caution… Long-term use can invite health problems, because its minerals are evaporated out. So to try to maintain mineral balance, it sucks minerals out of your body.”

This is a misleading statement! The minerals that distillation eliminates are not beneficial to the body, which this claim suggests! The minerals left behind after distillation are the ones that accumulate in joints and lead to painful arthritis, cause kidney and gall stones, and join with cholesterol to form plaque and hardening of the arteries. These are the type of minerals we do not want in our bodies. This statement seems to suggest that distilled water removes good minerals from the body, or as this health advocate claims “sucks minerals out of your body”, thus contributing to mineral loss from the bones, resulting in weak and porous bones that will easily fracture. This has not been my personal experience with distilled water, nor that of my wife, Rhonda.

My Fall From A Ladder

Several years ago, at the age of 75, after drinking exclusively distilled water for over 30 years, I fell from the top of a 6-foot ladder I was was using to paint the outside of my cabin. From where my head was when I started the fall to where my head landed on a railroad tie on the ground was 16 feet. I did manage to break the fall somewhat with my arms as I was landing. Now if my bones had been demineralized and weakened by consuming all that distilled water over the previous 30 years, I should have had multiple fractures. My eye did swell shut for a few days, but I did not have a single broken bone. And remember I was in my mid-70s at the time of the fall.

Rhonda's Accident With A Pickup Truck

A few years ago, in front of Hallelujah Acres, a pick-up truck suddenly backed up as Rhonda was passing behind it, throwing her down hard to the concrete. The back of her head bounced on the concrete and her hip landed hard on the concrete curbing. She suffered contusions, some scratches, and slight bleeding, but not one broken bone. Rhonda is now 68 years old and has been drinking exclusively distilled water since we were married over 20 years ago. We are constantly hearing about older folks and their risk of hip fractures, yet Rhonda survived this terrible impact on her hip (and head) without a fracture. How do we explain this?

Distilled Water Does Not Demineralize Bones

It’s not distilled water that demineralizes the bones and makes them subject to easy fracture, but rather it is because of the acidic diet most people consume. When we consume an acidic diet, the body in an effort to neutralize the acidity draws alkaline minerals (especially calcium) from the bones to neutralize the acidity. An acidic diet, not distilled water, is the cause of low bone density! If distilled water was the cause of low bone density and porous bones, both Rhonda and I would have suffered multiple fractures from the falls we experienced. Obviously our bones were extremely strong to survive these falls without fracture.

The Hallelujah Diet Builds Bone Density

The Hallelujah Diet removes all highly acidic substances. In other words, we stop consuming all these acid forming foods that cause bone loss. The Hallelujah Diet removes all animal flesh and dairy foods which are acidic. It removes all refined sugars, and refined wheat flours which are acidic. Most drugs are also acidic. As a result of removing these acid foods from the diet, the body has no need to remove the alkalizing minerals (primarily calcium) from the bones to neutralize the acids contained in these foods. Thus, bone density is maintained on the Hallelujah Diet. But on the Hallelujah Diet we do more than just maintain bone density, we increase bone density. We are constantly providing the body with an abundance of alkalizing minerals in our green smoothies, multiple vegetable juices, large salads, and BarleyMax - all high sources of organic alkalizing minerals and the highest quality water. In addition, a part of the Hallelujah Diet and lifestyle program includes resistance and weight-bearing exercises, along with stretching and cardiovascular exercises. These exercises, especially the resistance exercises, along with a high intake of alkalizing minerals help to build and strengthen the bodies bone structure.

The highly acidic Standard American Diet (SAD), along with a sedentary lifestyle, is a prescription for disaster not only for our health but also for our bone structure. A mostly raw, 100% plant-based diet, with lots of vegetable juices and daily exercise, along with drinking only purified distilled water with the addition of HydroBoost is a prescription for a disease-free body, strong bones, and a long, healthy life. If you are not already on the Hallelujah Diet, click here to give it a try! Multitudes have made this diet change that we teach here at Hallelujah Acres, and experienced normalization of weight, as well as the elimination of almost all their physical problems.

Next week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high we will return with another exciting issue of the Hallelujah Acres Health Tip. Trust you will join us and that you will share these Health Tips with friends and loved ones.