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Alkaline Water: Healthy or Hype?
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If you are careful about your health, then you most likely already know that it is important to stay hydrated and drink half of your body weight in ounces of water every single day. You most likely also know that cancer cannot live in an alkaline environment. Therefore, it makes sense that you should drink alkaline water, right?
Well, not so fast. That’s an assumption, not a fact. Let’s back up for just a moment and talk about pH levels. Our bodies are designed to run at about a 7.4 pH level, which is right about neutral. The main idea behind alkaline water is that with its higher levels of pH (most run about 8.8), makes the water a strong antioxidant that can kill off the free radicals that are flowing through our bodies at all times.
Unfortunately, there are limited studies about alkaline water. There is a study that was published in 2012 in the journal The Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology, which found that alkaline water was able to relieve the symptoms of acid reflux. Another study in 2010 that was published in The Journal of the International Society of Sports Medicine found that those who drank alkaline water had an improved acid-based balance and better hydration, when compared to plain tap water.
There are side effects to drinking alkaline water, however, such as fatigue, muscle aches, excessive gas, runny nose, and headaches. This occurs naturally when the body’s pH level becomes too high (alkaline).
SEE ALSO: Top 5 Things to Avoid for a More Alkaline Body and 5 Things You Should Do
Also, since the stomach needs acid in order to digest food, drinking alkaline water with or immediately after meals can foul up the digestion process.
Of course, if you ask the people who are selling alkaline water it does everything from stopping hiccups to cure cancer. However, if you check out most reliable medical websites, then they will generally tell you that this is just a bunch of malarkey and other than maybe stop acid reflux when consumed properly; alkaline water is more hype than healthy. Even if you want to listen to testimonials from those who drink alkaline water, you don’t know who they really are (paid shills?) or if it’s nothing more than the placebo effect. You believe it will give you more energy and, like magic, it does.
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Your body is hard at work every second of the day doing things you don’t even know about, such as keeping the pH of your body at a specific level. Without you doing anything at all, your body keeps the pH level of your blood exactly where it needs to be, no matter what you eat or drink, your body will make the necessary adjustments to keep your blood at just the right pH. This process is called homeostasis. This means that, no matter how much alkaline water you drink, your blood pH will not change. Not now, not ever.
Oh, and those urine tests that they use to “prove” that the water is doing its job? Those aren’t what they seem, because your body lowers or raises the acid level in your urine as a way to regulate the pH of your body. Which really means that when you drink more alkaline water than your body really needs or wants – it simply pees it out. Gives a whole new meaning to “pissing your money down the drain,” now doesn’t it?
If you really want to drink some alkaline water, you don’t have to buy it. You don’t need one of those ionizers that make your water more alkaline. Simply add the juice from an organic lemon into some filtered water, and there you have it. Lemon is acidic in its fruit or juice form, but it is alkaline once inside the body. Read more about benefits of lemon water.
You can do a lot more towards keeping your body healthy simply be eating plenty of organic fruits and vegetables, drinking plenty of pure water, and getting reasonable amounts of exercise and sleep, rather than try to manipulate your body’s natural systems.
If you really want to make an impact on your body using the water you drink, invest in a proper, whole house filtration system, rather than bother with the ionized crap some companies try to sell you. Drinking truly pure water; without heavy metals, without fluoride, and free from any type of impurities, will make a much larger difference to your body than all the ions in the world.
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