We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one
– Jacques Yves Cousteau
Do you ever feel like you were born in the wrong era? Looking down the supermarket isles do you see any food options or do you see brightly packaged goods that will eventually kill us?
Our family will rarely go to the big supermarkets – and certainly not purchasing anything that we would fuel our body. We might grab some cleaning stuff and get the heck out of there, but you’ll never see us with a trolley full of food.
Our family shops at the markets, at the organic store and even online for specialty or health giving goods. We dabble in aquaponics, have bananas, paw paw and pineapples dotted around the garden and raise our own chickens for both eggs and meat. We source the best products we can afford for our family and most of our expenditure is on food – good, wholesome, unadulterated, organic food. What many families spend on medicals fees we choose to spend now on our health and the effort that goes in to our every day is an insurance policy we won’t have to use in the future.
Food nourishes our body, it feeds our brain and will heal our immune system by nourishing the gut. Food will prevent or contribute to disease and inflammation and whatever choices you make today will be reflected back to you in years to come.
With my love of food and my understanding of nourishing traditions, I have started sharing recipes with you in blog form. The recipes I share have healing benefits and you will have an opportunity to learn how you can use nature to provide you with the support you deserve.
This journey was first born out of a need to nurture myself through chronic pain and on that journey I found a love and respect for the healing properties of traditional recipes and food alchemy. Now is the time for me to share this knowledge, to intergrate years of self discovery and in depth learning with my intuitive and well practiced understanding of the body.
So, I’m going to back track from my recent posts and start at the beginning. A place where we can all make a change, a substance that none of us can live without and a property that makes up over 60% of your entire body.
This substance has been adulterated, is filled endocrine disrupting chemicals and toxins that have been proven in over 64 peer reviewed studies to damage your brain – and that is only one part of the issue.
Water is required for you to survive and thrive. Water is in every fruit and vegetable you consume, in the wine and beer you enjoy, it grows the food on your table and is supplied for you to wash your body and your dishes in every day. You ingest water through your mouth and through your skin. In fact more water goes into your body when you shower than what you drink daily. As one of the most utilised natural resources on the planet, water is also one of the most poisonous and toxic resources that have been adulterated so much that in some countries it is now unconsumable.
In Australia there are 229 listed heavy metals, pesticides and minerals found in our water. Some of the stand out names include arsenic, mercury, DDT, chlorine and fluoride. The government website that provides this list also states that the levels of most of the substances are below toxicity levels in the doses that they were tested. BUT when we consume these substances they have an accumulative effect in our body which means that we can not necessarily filter every single one of the 229 listed toxins and over time they build up in the body and attribute to, if not cause disease. If you want to read the entire 1167 page PDF supplied by the water board of Australia here it is
Even better is this very informative and objective look at Fluoride on Trial. The information is easy to digest and can be understood by the whole family.
Fluoride is a highly toxic substance known as a neuro toxin that can cause a range of adverse health effects. Neuro toxins are especially toxic to the brain and there are now 64 scientific studies to support the claim that fluoride does in fact Lower the IQ of children. Diseases that have been directly attributed to exposure to fluoride are:
Bone cancer
Arthritis
Joint pain
Gastrointestinal pain and inflammation
Kidney disease
Hypersensitivity
Brain Dysfunction
Cancer
Thyroid disease
Diabetes
Male infertility
Cardiovascular disease
Skeletal fluorosis
Hormonal disruption
Pineal gland disruption
Wow, that’s one heck of a list. Do you know anyone who might fit in to this list? Is it possible that they have been exposed to fluoride?
Where does the fluoride in our water come from?
The main chemicals used to fluoridate drinking water are known as “silico-fluorides” (i.e., hydrofluorosilicic acid and sodium fluorosilicate). Silicofluorides are not pharmaceutical-grade fluoride products; they are unprocessed industrial by-products of the phosphate fertiliser industry. Yes, thats correct – a by product of fertiliser. Since these silicofluorides undergo no purification procedures, they can contain elevated levels of arsenic — more so than any other water treatment chemical. In addition, recent research suggests that the addition of silicofluorides to water is a risk factor for elevated lead exposure, particularly among residents who live in homes with old pipes.
Now I could go on and on and on. Believe me, I am rich in information about the health dangers of our municipal water. I first became interested in water toxicity when I was managing a public swimming pool in the early 2000’s. The more I knew, the more I needed to know and the further away I stepped from a career working with chlorinated water. Then when I moved to this tropical city and realised how many backyard pools we have up here, I realised that water toxicity could be posing a real issue.
So, what can we do at home to mitigate the risks of toxic water? Bearing in mind that all water supplies outside of your home are filled with toxins – that includes the food you eat out, the wine and coffee you drink, the fruit and vegetables you consume, the grains and meat on your plate – it is all grown with toxic water – and those toxins are accumulative so you may not have a choice when you are outside of your home but you can make choices inside the home to help.
Water filters
There are many on the market and over the years I’ve tried quite a few. What I have learned is, as with many things, you get what you pay for and having clean water in the home will change your life. We use a bench top water filter that exumes all chemicals and toxins and alkalises the water. What does this mean? An alkiline state is a healthy state so our water nourishes our body, heals our gut and saturates our thirst. Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can drink a glass of water out of the tap and it actually makes you feel thirstier? That is not your body telling you that you need more water – it is the chlorine that makes you feel thirsty and requires your kidneys to work overtime to filter out the toxin. When it comes to water filters, you must make sure that it specifically removes fluoride as many filters don’t. Personally we us the Aussie brand Waters Co for all our filtering needs. There are probably quite a few reputable brands and I’m not selling anything, this brand just works for us.
Spring water
Most spring water contains very low levels of fluoride (generally less than 0.1 ppm). But remember, spring water firms do add chlorine so the best thing you can do is boil the water and then chill it before use.
Water Distillation
Distilling water is an effective way of removing fluoride from water. Whereas a water filter is installed directly into the sink, a distillation unit is a separate device that can be stored on your countertop.
Osmosis
The queen of water filtration and an option for the entire house is osmosis. Super expensive and super effective, this is my ultimate dream – one day! A house that is fully filtered from the water supply is pure and free of any nasties so you can bathe and drink and cook with no concerns.
What about bathing in water?
Did you know that your skin is an organ? As an organ, anything that you put in your skin will go directly into your body. This is called transdermal absorption. Think about that for a moment – anything you put on your skin goes into your body. Sunscreen, perfume, body wash, sanitiser, water – everything that goes on your skin goes into your blood stream and must be processed or will accumulate and cause damage – there’s a few more blogs right there me thinks! But lets stick to water just for now.
Chlorine is added to our water supply as part of the disinfecting process. Sometimes you can actually smell the chlorine when you turn on the tap. It is also very toxic for the body and has been associated with many health complications including but not exclusive:
Skin irritation
Eczema
Acne
Breathing problems
Kidney infections
Bladder infections
Auto-immune disease
Hair loss
With the above in mind, we may be drinking, cooking with and showering in this water and if you live in the topics or swim at a public pool you may be double dosing on that chlorine.
If you don’t have a pool yet and are considering what filtration system is best, we went with a chemical free pool – yes, it’s a thing and it has worked wonders in the tropics of Northern Australia. Our pool has no chemicals and is kept clean with ionising rods of copper and silver. It’s like swimming in a fresh water lake – and the sun naturally oxidises the chlorine from our mains water so there isn’t even any residual chlorine in the make up. Many people don’t realise that this is even an option and you will need to specifically ask at your pool shop or contact the manufacturer online. And don’t fool yourself by thinking that a ‘salt water’ pool is any better. Salt water pools are still chlorine and the filter makes chlorine out of the salt so by the time it’s doing its job as a disinfectant, it is also poisoning you and your family. Remember – my learning curve started in the public swimming pool World – I know pools and I have experienced first hand the detrimental effects of long term exposure to chlorine in swimming pools has on the body.
Feeling overwhelmed?
If this is all new to you then the information is here may be too much to take in at once and you may not even know where to start. I felt like that too – and the more I found out, the more I worried that I wasn’t doing the right thing but, now that I have an in depth understanding of water toxicity and water benefits, I feel empowered by the knowledge I have gained and I know that every little step towards a healthier home has made a huge difference to my family’s future – because these toxins are accumulative. Studies are showing that accumulative toxic exposure contributes to neurological changes including Dementia and Alzheimers. So, the longer you sit on the fence, the more damage is being done but if you make changes today, you can reverse the effects and start to heal your family.
What else can we nourish our bodies with to combat water toxicity?
IODINE
95% of Australians are iodine deficient. Now that’s scary! Every cell in our body needs iodine. Plus, our white blood cells can’t fight off infections without enough iodine. Nascent Iodine or Lugols Iodine are superior types of iodine. The high absorbability encourages detoxification from toxic chemicals like mercury, chlorine, and bromine. On top of superior iodine, make sure to eat sea vegetables (kelp, arame, kombu, and wakame), organic cranberries, organic strawberries, Himalayan sea salt, organic free range eggs, and raw (unpasteurised) milk.
VITAMIN C
This major antioxidant neutralises chlorine. It’s best to attack chlorine’s negative effects on the body by strengthening the immune system. It’s best to ingest a high quality vitamin C supplement because our food isn’t the way it used to be – thanks to soil depletion and the abundance of toxins everywhere. Crops grown decades ago were much richer in nutrients than today. People who swim regularly in chlorinated water in particular should take a minimum of 4,000mg daily with meals since vitamin C doesn’t stay in the body all day. For example, you can take 2,000mg with breakfast and then 2,000mg with dinner. At home we source Liposomal C which is absorbed straight into the blood stream, bypassing the gut which helps bioavailability and won’t upset your tummy when taking high doses.
ALPHA LIPOIC ACID
ALA is an antioxidant that protects the liver and aids in detoxification. This powerful antioxidant attracts metal toxins like chlorine and flushes it out of the body. It also restores vitamin C and vitamin E levels – both of which are attacked when exposed to chlorine.
BENTONITE CLAY
This special clay expels chlorine, toxins, and other undesirable chemicals from the body. Simply add a tablespoon of bentonite clay into your bath. For an added detox bonus, you can also add 2 cups of epsom salt or magensium chloride flakes into your bath. Both help with inflammation, achy muscles, and enhances skin barrier function.
VITAMIN E
Chlorine destroys vitamin E, so if you’re an avid swimmer, you better buy an extremely good quality vitamin E supplement to protect your cells from toxicity damage.
Hungry for more info?
Pubmed – toxicity of Chlorine in drinking water
Water fluoridation in Australia
I hope that this has given you some insight into our water supply and given you some ideas as to how you can nourish your body with one of our Earths most valuable gifts – minus the toxins. Over the next few blogs I will touch more on the health benefits of Vitamins, expellers and antioxidants, how they can be used and why they may be just what you are missing in your cupboard.