I was asked the other day if we had considered marketing a zazen Alkaline Water System with a glass bottom tank.

I went on to answer the question by explaining how the zazen Alkaline Water System worked emulating Mother Nature's water cycle, producing a clean and balanced water with a broad range of essential alkaline minerals ideal for the body’s hydration needs - and therefore in this balanced state would not leach chemicals to balance itself.

It was at this point he exclaimed!......"Oh, I get it he said… so zazen Water is not hungry!”

What a great description “hungry water”. So I thought to myself, "note to self....use this description going forward!"

So if zazen Water isn’t hungry  - what water is hungry?

Simple, any water that is acidic (lower than 7.0pH). Did you know that rainwater can be as low as 5.7 pH (acidic) and up to 7.0 pH (neutral). Why? Because it has not collected any alkaline minerals from earth yet and therefore not alkaline but acidic to neutral.

Many of the bottled waters in plastic bottles are hungry! Water created by the distallation and reverse osmosis methods create hungry water! They will leach minerals from the drinker in order to get absorbed or will leach chemicals from containers where possible.

PS. The zazen Alkaline Water System is BPA free. EVERY part of the system is BPA free - the filter cartridge housing; seals, tap and tanks – are all BPA* free.
It is important to remember that it is not just the tank that the water sits in but also ALL parts that water comes in contact with you should consider. 

What is BPA?
Bisphenol A is a chemical used in cheaper plastics which helps harden the plastic – it is a chemical which is described as an endocrine disruptor and the body takes in BPA, if it is present, thinking it is estrogen. BPA is called a “false estrogen”  and the body cannot discern any difference. Studies show endocrine disruptors have been associated with cancer.

I was asked this past week by a doctor what the medicinal benefits of drinking alkaline water were. I have written below what I wrote to her with her subsequent reply below as well.

I explained that we measure the alkalinity by the pH of the zazen Alkaline Water System and this will vary slightly depending on a number of factors, however the pH can range on average around 7.4 and up to 8.5. The alkaline minerals help create great tasting alkaline water through the re-mineralisation process of the zazen Water System. The blood in our body is slightly alkaline at 7.4 pH so that is also a goal.

So the first point is given the fact that zazen Water contains essential alkaline minerals (especially the electrolytes); plus the system reduces the toxins in the originating water, so the body does not have to do the filtering of these… then we believe zazen Water aids in cellular hydration.  If we accept for a moment that if an individual is hydrated then the body is able to perform the tasks of releasing metabolic waste and draw nutrients more efficiently into the cell, then we can conclude that drinking zazen Alkaline Water assists create a healthier more alkaline state.

The second point we make in drinking zazen Water is as the water reaches the stomach (the alkaline water helps stimulate the stomach to release hydrochloric acid – which is good), this then stimulates the body to release bicarbonate buffers into the bloodstream (to balance the acid in the stomach otherwise there would be holes burnt through the stomach lining). 

These bicarbonate or alkaline buffers naturally released by the body, also help aid in reducing the toxin or acid load in the blood etc. again assisting create a healthier more alkaline state. We of course make no medical claim.

Here is the reply from the doctor.

“Dear Janet. Thank you for answering my question. You have gone to a great deal of effort to try and help me with my query and that goes a long way in my thinking. Thank you again!"

I played basketball for many years at a top level and was constantly suffering from headaches and sometimes severe migraines (which were debilitating). I am going back 25 years now – and back then drinking water was not a part of a daily regime for many people including many athletes! Today of course with better access to information online etc. this is changing but not fast enough!

Imagine how dehydrated we must have been and the additional stress this placed on our bodies! Other than a constant headache other symptoms included constipation and stiff muscles, slow recovery and soreness – much of the lactic acid build up from the strenuous exercise did not get flushed though our systems as quickly as it could have due in part to dehydration!

Recently the New York Times reported a study, also published in Neurology, where scientist’s recruited migraine suffers and divided them into two groups. Group one were given placebo medication to take regularly and group two were told to drink 1.5 litres a day in addition to their normal intake (this is about 6 cups).

At the end of two weeks the researchers found that those in group two (increased their water intake on average by 4 cups a day) – but they experienced on average 21 fewer hours of pain and also experienced a decrease in intensity - than those in the placebo group, during the study period.

I recommend, as do many health officials, that we drink approx. 4 cups of water for every 25kg of body weight; and more if you are ill or exercising. I have found this to work for me and those I love.

Sounds like a lot doesn’t it! So I did some more extensive research on water and health. Two key things I thought would happen and be a potential problem when I started this routine, was I was going to feel really bloated (because this was a feeling I had experienced in the past trying to drink a lot of tap water and bottled water) – and I would be going to the toilet all day long .

I started drinking a high quality alkaline mineral water and what I experienced was that I didn’t have that bloated feeling ever! And as I built up my water intake over 6 weeks, I immediately started to feel better and better – my stiff, achy and creaky joints stopped, I stopped crawling out of bed slowly needing to warm into the day and I no longer experienced any headaches. In fact I no longer suffer from headaches or migraines at all! If I feel a little light headed I simply reach for a glass of quality water.

I also found out that health professionals will tell us we should actually urinate at least 6 times a day - it is good for us and this is the body flushing toxins etc and helps to flush the kidneys! And our urine (other than first thing in the morning) should be a light colour without strong smell.

In a great book – Your Body’s Many Cries for Water by Dr Batmanghelidj - the key thing I learned and have applied every day now - was that the body actually loses its “thirst mechanism” and we over time mistake the thirst craving for a craving for food! So we end up thinking we are hungry when in fact we are thirsty! And what do we do is we eat more and drink less water! My body now tells me it is thirsty and I now recognise that and act on it by giving my body what it is asking for – because our bodies instinctively know what is good for them (we just need to learn to listen to it again).

10 Reasons to Drink Water

Did you know.......?

Roughly 70% of an adult’s body is made up of water.  At birth, water accounts for approximately 80% of an infant’s body weight.

While the daily recommended amount of water is eight cups per day (we more specifically recommend 1 litre for every 25kgs of body weight), not all of this water must be consumed in the liquid form. Nearly every food or drink item provides some water to the body.
Soft drinks, coffee, and tea, while made up almost entirely of water, also contain caffeine. Caffeine can act as a mild diuretic, preventing water from traveling to necessary locations in the body. So these drinks don't count in your daily water intake.

Pure water (solely hydrogen and oxygen atoms) has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.  Water dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Wherever it travels, water carries chemicals, minerals, and nutrients with it.

Somewhere between 70 and 75 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water (similar to the percentage in our bodies - interesting coincidence!!).
Much more fresh water is stored under the ground in aquifers than on the earth’s surface.  The earth is a closed system, similar to a terrarium, meaning that it rarely loses or gains extra matter. The same water that existed on the earth millions of years ago is still present today. We are drinking the same water the dinosaurs drank! 
The total amount of water on the earth is about 326 million cubic miles of water.  Of all the water on the earth, humans can use only about three tenths of a percent of this water. Such usable water is found in groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes.

The average person uses anywhere from 300 to 400 litres of water per day. Flushing the toilet actually takes up the largest amount of this water.

By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.
The weight a person loses directly after intense physical activity is weight from water, not fat.