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YOUR HEALTHY PERSPECTIVE
August 2002
http://www.healthyperspective.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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-What Are You Thirsty For?
-Sparkling refreshment
-So what's left?
-Water fights cancer?!
-Water as medicine?
-Not "Just Water"
-Healthy Perspective in the News
-Los Angeles School District to Ban Soft Drink Sales
-Living Water
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WHAT ARE YOU THIRSTY FOR?
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You're hot and tired. Your body is crying out for hydration. You want something wet, cool, and refreshing - NOW. What do you grab and guzzle? Your choice is important - it will impact your health.
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Sparkling Refreshment
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You see the ads on TV, billboards, bus stops... everywhere you look! The icy cold refreshing drink. On TV you hear the "pop" as the can or bottle is opened, listen to the effervescence as the beverage slips over pristine ice cubes and into a glass, awaiting thirsty lips.
Soft drinks are so effectively marketed that Coca-Cola is one of the most valuable trademarks in the world. Billions of dollars are made as millions of people consume liberally.
The soda pop issue is an emotionally charged one - after all, most of us are hooked on these things. Intellectually, we all can reason that carbonated beverages cannot actually be good for us. We know that they offer no nutrional value, and they dehydrate rather than hydrate our cells. We know the sugar in the "regular" soft drinks is bad for us, yet the sugar-free varieties are laced with aspartame and other excito-toxins, the dangers of which have been well documented. And that's just for starters.
When our family began our healthy eating and healthy living lifestyle several years ago, soft drinks were, by far, the hardest "food" to give up. We quit eating meat, dairy, and refined and processed foods, all with surprising ease. But giving up my Diet Coke was much more difficult. It took upwards of nine months before I felt I was really over that addiction. I call it an addiction, because I know of no other word to describe what I went through to give it up. Now that I've overcome that unhealthy habit, you couldn't pay me to drink what used to be my favorite beverage! The advantages of "clean eating" far outweigh any hardships we may encounter on our way there!
Dr. Mary Ruth Swope, renowned author and nutrition expert (and a wonderful person), recently corresponded with us on this soft drink issue. Below is an excerpt from her email.
"The worst ingredient in soft drinks is, of course, phosphoric acid. Although the presence of caffeine and the caramel coloring materials and many other impurities because of the phosphoric acid (silica, iron, aluminum, arsenic, lead, fluoride and so forth) are in there too.
"Phosphoric acid causes brain fatigue, anemia, acidosis, kidney lesion, rickets, faulty calcification, shift in bone structure (osteoporosis), nerve problems, and so forth. So it definitely is a great detriment to our health, and one reason that so many people today are extremely ill and are producing extremely weak babies - if they can have children at all."
And if that doesn't scare you away from your favorite bubbly beverage, get a load of this. "Popular Science" magazine, in their March 2002 issue, had an article entitled, "WHAT PUTS THE 'POP' IN SODA POP? ANTIFREEZE!" The fizz of soda pop is usually created by injecting the mixture of syrup and water with carbon dioxide. According to the article,
"The Shell Chemicals plant in Scotford, Alberta, makes monoethylene glycol, an ingredient in antifreeze--and generates 65,000 to 70,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year. But instead of releasing the gas into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming, Shell will deliver it to Air Liquide, a company that supplies soft drink makers. Shell's carbon dioxide arrives with many impurities, including water, hydrocarbons (such as methane, ethane, and ethylene), and dust. Air Liquide cleans the gas by cooling it so the water condenses, heating it to 450 Celsius to eliminate the hydrocarbons, and running it through filters to strain out the particles."
[Popular Science, Mar2002, Vol. 260 Issue 3, p36, 1/4p, 1c]
Then they put the junk into your soda pop. Yuk! We hope you're ready now to recycle those cans without drinking the contents (just dump it down the drain)!
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So What's Left?
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I once heard a pediatrician who is knowledgeable in nutritional matters, say that he always cautions parents to not give their kids sugar sweetened beverages, soft drinks, and prepared and powdered mixtures which are full of artificial colors and sweeteners and/or sugar. He tells parents that 100 percent fruit juice is a good alternative, but even it shouldn't be overdone. Some parents look perplexed and ask, "What's left?" When the doctor answers, "Water, of course," he says they look at him like he's from Mars. "But my kids won't drink water." The doctor asks, "Have you tried giving it to them?" The answer is inevitably, "Well, no." Children aren't so different from adults in habit patterns. We tend to get used to and enjoy what's placed before us, especially if it's what our bodies really need.
And once you get used to drinking as much water as you need, it's what you crave! That old junky stuff doesn't even sound good any more. Chilled fruit juice and iced herbal teas (perhaps sweetened with a little honey or pure maple syrup) are a good solution when you want "something else." But let your thirst be quenched the way nature intended - with water.
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Water Fights Cancer?!
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Do you remember the evening news anchors telling us in June 2000 - "Drinking Water Cures Cancer!"? That created quite a stir, for a while, but how quickly we forget!
"Health" magazine, June 2000 (Vol. 14 Issue 5, p88, 6p, 1c) had a wonderful article by Michael Tennesen, entitled, "Drink to Your Health." He cites a study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The researchers there concluded that women who drank more than four glasses of water a day had nearly half the odds of getting cancer as women who drank two glasses or less. Subjects who drank lots of coffee, soda, or juice had no such change in their odds. The author cites Ann Shattuck, an epidemiologist and coauthor of the study, says that water makes waste move through the digestive system more quickly, which means carcinogens have less time to come in contact with colon walls. Makes sense.
Another study, done at the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, found that women who reported drinking the most tap water every day were a dramatic 80 percent less likely to develop bladder cancer than those who drank the least. Although a few earlier studies did not report such a dramatic result, it is projected that perhaps because these earlier studies were conducted in areas where tap water is chlorinated more than the average. Epidemiologist Lynne Wilkens, who led the trial, says the data showed the power of naturally purified water. "It was clear," says Wilkens. "The more they drank, the higher the reduction of risk."
And British researchers have reported that women who identified themselves as "water drinkers" had a much smaller risk of developing breast cancer than others: in premenopausal women, the cancer risk was cut by one third, while post menopausal water drinkers had even better odds.
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Water as Medicine?
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The above mentioned article from the June 2000 issue of "Health" has lots more to say on the subject. Michael Tennesen interviews Iranian-trained and Virginia-based Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj (known as Dr. Batman). Dr. Batman is the author of "Your Body's Many Cries for Water." Dr. Batman's zeal for the health benefits of water began in 1979 when, after the fall of the Shah of Iran, Dr. Batman became a political prisoner. A fellow inmate came to him for help with an excruciating ulcer. There was no medicine available, so the doctor gave the man all he had - water. He says the water cured the patient! Dr. Batman then began a prison-based study to learn more about the healing wonders of water. He even stayed longer than he was required, forgoing freedom, to continue his research. He became convinced of the curative powers of water. Dr. Batman stated,
"Heartburn, headache, joint and back pain, and fatigue are not true diseases. They're dehydration-induced disorders. I tell people, 'You're not sick--you're thirsty.'"
The doctor even sees heart disease as a dehydration issue: "The cholesterol buildup on blood vessel walls is the body's natural defense against water loss," says Dr. Batman.
Dr. Batman is not the only medical researcher convinced of the health benefits of water. "Parenting" magazine (Jun/Jul2001, Vol. 15 Issue 5, p49, 3/4p, 1c) had an article, written by Sally Kuzemchak, entitled, "Drink Up!". The article states that drinking eight glasses of water per day:
- Boosts endurance
- Prevents headaches
- Lowers the risk of cancer
- May reduce asthma attacks
- Promotes regularity
- Helps ward off urinary tract infections
- Helps keep skin soft and dewy
Further evidence of the remarkable powers of water are found in an article entitled, "Do You Drink Enough Water?" (Consumer Reports on Health, Nov 1999, Vol. 11 Issue 11, p8, 3p). It states,
"Severe dehydration -- a net water loss of as little as 4 percent of body weight -- can make blood volume and blood pressure plummet, potentially causing muscle spasms, dimmed vision, delirium, fainting, or even a heart attack."
The article goes on to say that even with mild dehydration - a loss of only about 1 percent of body weight in water - one may experience headache, fatigue, lightheadedness, muscle cramps, and slightly dulled thinking. Benefits of drinking plenty of water, besides those listed above, include improved weight control, fewer kidney stones, and better oral health.
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Not "Just Water"
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Water is truly remarkable. We love what Frances Hunter, evangelist and author, has to say on the subject. When the food server at a restaurant asks, "What would you like to drink?" Frances says she never answers, "Just water." Instead, she says, "God created water and no one has ever improved on it."
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HEALTHY PERSPECTIVE IN THE NEWS
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Los Angeles School District to Ban Soft Drink Sales
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According to an article in "The Press Democrat," dated August 25, 2002, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is expected to vote on Tuesday to ban soft drink sales during school hours in all their 677 schools. This is notable, as LAUSD is the nation's second largest school district, with 748,000 students.
Francesca de la Rosa, of the Center for Food and Justice at Occidental College's Urban and Environmental Policy Institute says, "It's going to be a national trend. People will say, if you can do it at LAUSD, you can do it anywhere."
We certainly hope so. We understand that with this decision, the schools are going to suffer a great loss of revenue, badly needed for funding school programs. Alex Contreras, assistant principal at Los Angeles High School, says that Coca-Cola has offered the school $50,000 up front for a three year exclusive contract, on top of the nearly $5,000 a month the campus earns from soft drink sales.
This is a significant loss of proceeds and we hope the schools can quickly find other funding sources. But whatever the cost, we must not trade our children's health for any amount of money. We applaud the Los Angeles Unified School District in this brave decision.
[You may find more information on the dangers of soft drink consumption, especially for children, at http://www.healthyperspective.com/yhparchivevol11.html.]
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LIVING WATER
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The New International Version of the Bible has 482 references to the word "water." Obviously, God thinks the subject of water is important.
Jesus met a woman at a well and asked her to draw him a drink:
"The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?' (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
"Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'
"'Sir,' the woman said, 'you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?'
"Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'"
John 4:9-14 (NIV)
What are you thirsty for?
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May your thirst be quenched!
-Rev. Clarence Russell, Kimberly and Nicole
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