is this true?- about using water distillers link below

[Guest guest]

Dear Tabitha,

 

Wellllllllllll, this is an interesting article and no mistake. The umbrage I take with it, is the lack of complete research / observations that are obviously missing, and ergo the erroneous conclusions it comes to. As is usual with such articles, there is a fair amount of truth to them, and therefore by mixing truth with missing or erroneous data, wrong conclusions and misleading of students and the general public can then occur. Medical Doctors, Psychologists, Pharmaceutical Companies, Politicians, Newspapermen, and certain Salesmen specialize in this technique.

 

I am going to reprint the article and add my comments to show the available/ obvious outpoints that to me are glaring based on my own research and observations from my own clinical experience. My comments are in BLUE / BOLD.

 

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"During nearly 19 years of clinical practice I have had the opportunity to observe the health effects of drinking different types of water. Most of you would agree that drinking unfiltered tap water could be hazardous to your health because of things like parasites, chlorine, fluoride and dioxins.

Absolutely. Here is a good truth that we can all agree upon, and therefore gives credence to the rest of the argument and subsequent wrong conclusions.

Many health fanatics, however, are often surprised to hear me say that drinking distilled water on a regular, daily basis is potentially dangerous.

Here, he labels those who are interested in "Health" as being "fanatics". He doesn't come right out and say this, but he does this by word association. This is a clever way to immediately turn "sensible" minded people over to his argument. Afterall, who wants to be associated with fringe elements, or religious fanatics, or . . . ??? ;-) Get the idea???

Paavo Airola wrote about the dangers of distilled water in the 1970's when it first became a fad with the health food crowd.

Another truth (half truth actually) using an authority who was very well respected. Again this gives credence as to what follows.

Distillation is the process in which water is boiled, evaporated and the vapour condensed. Distilled water is free of dissolved minerals and, because of this, has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxic substances from the body and eliminate them. Completely true data and is 100% Scientific in nature. This not only gives his argument weight, from a Scientific viewpoint, but is observable by anyone doing even rudimentary studies. Studies validate the benefits of drinking distilled water when one is seeking to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks at a time). Absolutely True and in fact is vitally necessary to cleansing. Fasting using distilled water can be dangerous because of the rapid loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) and trace minerals like magnesium, deficiencies of which can cause heart beat irregularities and high blood pressure. This too is unequivocably true and is crucial to his argument. But, as Paul Harvey would say, "here is the rest of the story". If you look at his opening statement (paragraph 2), Dr. Rona says, "drinking distilled water on a regular, daily basis is potentially dangerous", but this is wildly different from someone doing a water fast. Are you beginning to get the idea here??? A person doing a water fast is not getting anything else into his or her body, but he uses this fact to apply to all of us who drink distilled water "on a regular, daily basis". These two points are not comparable. Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals out of them and lowers their nutrient value. This too is true, but one only needs to be educated in the fact and then begin the practice of saving one's cooking water for use in soups, gravies, and other mixtures where liquids are needed. This is where the public in general needs to be educated in how to prepare food properly and eat correctly. The rest of the story on this one, is that it also pulls the most nutrients out of your herbs so that your teas and hot drinks are the most nutritious they can be. Not that I'm a big coffee advocate (one cup a day is fine for most of us), but distilled water will give you the best tasting coffee you ever wrapped your lips around because of this fact. Any student or client of mine HAS to use distilled water in their herbal teas for exactly this fact. You want to pull the most out of them and then drink that liquid!!!

Distilled water is an active absorber and when it comes into contact with air, it absorbs carbon dioxide, making it acidic. True. Sooooo keep your distilled water in a glass air tight container. A little CO2 won't make it toooo acid. As long as you keep your water in let's say an old glass gallon apple juice container with a sealed top, this factor is miniscule. The more distilled water a person drinks, the higher the body acidity becomes. Not if you keep your distilled water as I mentioned above and you're eating a proper diet with Alkaline Ash foods being the predominant fare. The main problem of pH is caused by Acid Ash foods, and Acid Ash Drinks such as soda pop. Distilled water in this case is simply not a factor, but Dr. Rona takes a truth and uses it to prove a point which is simply not applicable. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Distilled water, being essentially mineral-free, is very aggressive, in that it tends to dissolve substances with which it is in contact. Notably, carbon dioxide from the air is rapidly absorbed, making the water acidic and even more aggressive. Many metals are dissolved by distilled water." This is one of the most misleading of all his statements. The US Environmental Protection Agency is talking about "Technical Grade Distilled Water" here. There is a world of difference between Tech Grade and what you find comes out of a home distillery. Tech Grade Distilled Water is usually distilled three times, is then passed through ultra violet light and an ionization process until it is 100% pure. The machine that is capable of making this quality of water is very costly and I could go on a very nice holiday just on the price of one of these babies. Sadly, he leaves this very important piece of data out of his argument, and thus we are all led down the garden path with one more half truth and non comparable though similar pieces of data.

The most toxic commercial beverages that people consume (i.e. cola beverages and other soft drinks) are made from distilled water. Studies have consistently shown that heavy consumers of soft drinks (with or without sugar) spill huge amounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals into the urine. The more mineral loss, the greater the risk for osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and a long list of degenerative diseases generally associated with premature aging.

Again this is true, but soft drinks have been impregnated with CO2 making them very highly acidic and on top of that fact, Phosphoric Acid itself is usually added to them as well. Such things as Aspartame (a poison) or White Sugar (also a poison) are used as sweetening agents in all of them. Believe it or not, the distilled water in soft drinks is the only good thing in them. The rest of the garbage in soft drinks is pure poison. Soft drinks are so dangerous, in so many other ways, but he uses this one water fact to bad mouth the distilled. This is sad, and this one fact alone causes me to question Dr. Rona's motives and ethics level. I have to assume he truly does know better and is not just ignorant.

A growing number of health care practitioners and scientists from around the world have been advocating the theory that aging and disease is the direct result of the accumulation of acid waste products in the body.

This is true. As a matter of fact, over 90% of all Americans suffer from Acidosis which is fully covered in my next lecture soon to be released. But this has nothing to do with distilled water. He simply throws in a true fact here to give weight to his argument. This data though interesting and pertinent to heath is added and inapplicable.

There is a great deal of scientific documentation that supports such a theory. A poor diet may be partially to blame for the waste accumulation. Meats, sugar, white flour products, fried foods, soft drinks, processed foods, alcohol, dairy products and other junk foods cause the body to become more acidic. Stress, whether mental or physical can lead to acid deposits in the body.

This is not only true, he actually downplays this actual CAUSE of Acidosis by saying, "A poor diet may be partially to blame . . . " Here he takes the right "Why" and alters importance to the point where he throws the "blame" on distilled water. This is the kind of scientific argument I'd expect from a psychiatrist, which is why I question his ethics. As far as I'm concerned Dr. Rona is the fanatic here. He is the charlatan, and this "use of truth" is subversive and suppressive