Friday, March 23, 2007

Is Alkaline Ionized Water Snake Oil On Tap? A Review Of The Evidence

If you do a Google search for 'Alkaline Water' the first page you get is by aretired chemist Stephen Lower. He says that alkaline water is Snake Oil; WaterIonization is not possible because pure water does not conduct electricity andin any case there would be no more health benefit from it then baking soda! Hecalls the scientists involved crackpots!Let us look briefly at his statements:1. Dr Lower: "Ionized water is nothing more than sales fiction; the term ismeaningless to chemists."Response: Not true - Ionized Water is an emerging science. In 10 years timeIonized Alkaline and Acid water based systems will be common in most homes.Sanyo has announced a washing machine that uses ionized water that will notrequire any washing powder. Think of the potential benefits.In the UK, High Street Chemists do stock Ionized water in bottles and somepromote water ionizers.2. Dr Lower: "Most water that is fit for drinking is too un-conductive toundergo significant electrolysis."Response: No true. Test ionized water for yourself using litmus paper or a pHmeter and you will see for yourself.3. Dr Lower: "Groundwater containing metal ions such as calcium and magnesiumcan be rendered slightly alkaline by electrolysis, but after it hits the highlyacidic gastric fluid in the stomach, its alkalinity is gone"Response: Virtually all tap water contains ions, that's why Water Ionizers workin 99% of household water supplies. Water ionization separates the positive(acid) and negative (alkaline) ions present in the water. In the UK well over70% of the drinking water is Groundwater.The stomach produces gastric juices on demand depending on the food you eat. Itis a scientific fact that the stomach does not have a pouch to store thehydrochloric acids!Clinical studies have shown conclusively that the body is able to assimilate theminerals from alkaline ionized waters.4. Dr Lower: "Pure water can never be alkaline or acidic, nor can it be made soby electrolysis....pure water can be considered to be ion-free, as evidenced bythe fact that it will not conduct an electric current."Response: Not true. What I assume Dr Lower means is that pure distilled H2O isneutral, but chemically pure H2O does not exist in nature. Even when you makedistilled water it soon absorbs atmospheric gases and its pH becomes slightlyacidic. Chemically pure H2O is not pure water, but an artificially createdsubstance - it does not have any ions and cannot conduct electricity. But suchwater does not occur anywhere outside the chemistry lab.Try telling an electrician that tap water doesn't conduct electricity, so youcan pour it on electric power sockets!5. Dr Lower: "The claims about the health benefits of drinking alkaline waterare not supported by credible scientific evidence"Health benefits are difficult to quantify with any natural substance like cleanwater, fresh air or live food. But this does not mean that there are no healthbenefits. Common sense tells us that good clean water would be more beneficialfor our health then dirty, poisoned water. Pure natural water from high altitudemountain springs and glaciers is alkaline water with pH around 8.If you were to go to the Alps and live there, you'd find after several months animprovement in your general health.Researchers that have looked at the heath of high mountain people have traced itto the local water that they are drinking and the fresh air.There is plenty of credible evidence to suggest there are some benefits fromalkaline water - seek and you shall find. Our clinical studies section listsabstracts from some 100+ published scientific papers.Is not one of them even a teeny, weenie bit credible Professor?Do we need something labeled as 'credible scientific evidence' to know thatclean water or clean air or clean food is good for our health? Isn't a littlecommon sense enough?I would be very interested in any evidence (credible or incredible, published ornot published) that pure, unpolluted water is NOT good for your health, andpolluted water is.Take 2 glasses of water, one tap water which has chlorine, fluoride, female sexhormones and 100's of other toxic substances in it; the other glass has the samewater, but with all those poisons taken out of it.Which would be better for your health?Do you need credible scientific double blind studies published in prestigiousjournals to prove that drinking toxic sludge is NOT good for your health beforeyou stop drinking it?Who decides what is credible?Surely if world renowned experts like Dr Gabriel Cousin's, Daniel Reid, SangWhang, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Ray Kurzweil, Dr Terry Grossman, Dr TheodoreBaroody, Dr Sherry Rodgers, Dr Susan Lark, Dr Robert Young and countless othersworldwide are drinking alkaline water and recommending that you should drink ittoo, then it's worth considering?Do these people have anything to do with water ionizer manufacturers?Do they benefit in any way from the water that you drink in your home?Do you really think that these people are snake oil peddlers?Could it be that these experts are giving honest advice, based on their personalexperience?SUMMARYWater Ionizers, particularly from established manufacturers like JupiterScience/Royal Water do work as per the device specifications, and this can beeasily tested using simple measuring devices like pH and ORP meters.The question of the health benefits is not so easily resolved, but certainlythere is no harm from drinking water that has all the poisons and acid moleculestaken out of it.James Khan is a holistic therapist. He edits http://Glowing-Health.com thatpromotes Jupiter Water Ionizers, Alkaline Water, FIR Sauna, Greens, Raw Foodsand Juices to help you get healthy, lose weight, stop cancer, beat diabetes andbuild bones. Email: info@...

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Choosing A Lasik Surgeon

You're tired of bad eyesight. You've decided to have Lasik.What's next? After you've decided to undergo Lasik correctiveeye surgery, you'll need to think about finding a reputableLasik surgeon. There are several ways to go about locating andchoosing the best Lasik surgeon for you.The first place to look when choosing your Lasik surgeon is theLasik website, at http://www.lasikinstitute.org. When you visitthe Lasik website you will find tools that make it easy tolocate Lasik surgeons in your area. Lasik makes this search aseasy for you as possible by providing the list of surgeons anddoing the research for you. Once you've located a list of thedoctors in your area, it's time to narrow down your search. Ifyou live in an area where there are no Lasik doctors available,you need to decide if this procedure is worth traveling toanother city. Lasik, with all of its great benefits, may proveworth that effort. Keep in mind, however, that some people dosuffer more pain, or interpret pain differently, than others.So you may not feel like travelling for several days aftersurgery. In that case, a clinic in your own town or city wouldbe best for you.Once you have narrowed down your list of Lasik surgeons, youneed to look for one simple characteristic -- experience.Experience is the most important deciding factor to considerwhen choosing your Lasik surgeon. With plenty of experience andthe proper technology at their disposal, a good surgeon developsa reputation fairly quickly. You will be able to choose theperfect Lasik surgeon for you by talking to former patients,reading opinions on web sites, and asking friends and coworkersfor the "word on the street."There are thousands of surgeons in the world today that arequalified to perform Lasik eye surgeries. You will have notrouble finding the best Lasik surgeon for you when you use asearch engine on the Internet or visit the Lasik website listedabove.About The Author: Barbara Smith contributes to several Internetmagazines, such as http://bazol.com and http://mifot.com

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Cardio Exercise

Everyone has wondered at some point in time which cardioexercise is better. To put it in simple terms, both low andhigh intensity exercises will help you to burn off body fat.The question here is which is the most effective to burn offmore body fat. When scientists first discovered that during intensiveexercises, your body burns glycogen, which is a form of storedcarbohydrates that are stored in your liver and muscles forenergy. During low intensity exercises, your body will burn alot of fat. If your wondering whether or not it works, the answer is nobecause there are so many obese people still around. Eventhough they are working out with low intensity routines, itstill makes you wonder how it can be. The scientists were right when they said the human body burnsmore body fat during low intensity exercises like walking orswimming. During a high intensity exercise such as running, thebody will burn a lot more calories. Even if some of the caloriesburnt are from glycogen, there are still many fat caloriesburned as well. To put the icing on the cake, when your store of glycogen getslow, the carbohydrates from your food you eat will later getconverted into glycogen to fill up the store and won't beconverted to body fat when they are left unused for energy. High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your metabolismeven after you have completed your workout. What this means, isthat your body will continue to burn body fat hours after youhave left the gym. This effect is nearly non existent in lowintensity cardio or aerobic workout. Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and more caloriesduring and after you have finished a high intensity cardioexercise that it will with low intensity. You can inject high intensity exercises into your cardioworkout by introducing some interval training. You can walk for5 minutes or so, then break into some jogging for another 5minutes or so. Then, walk briskly again until you have caughtyour breath and then sprint for a minute before you walk again.From this point, simply alternate your running and walking forthe next 15 minutes until you are finished. One of the best things about cardio is the more you do it, themore energy you'll have. Cardio will help you to burn calories,although its more useful for keeping your energy levels high. If you've never tried cardio before, you should give it a shot.If you like to exercise, you'll find cardio the best way toboost your energy and keep in top shape. If you are juststarting out, you'll want to go slow and keep your cardioexercise in track - as it is very easy to over exert yourself.About The Author: Mohamed Rabea - Online Tips and Resources!http://wheyproteinpowder.wheyproteinhome.infohttp://wheyproteinpowder.wheyproteinsite.infohttp://wheyproteinpowder.wheyproteinweb.info

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Low Carb Diet Part 2

It is important to keep in mind, that DIT or the thermic effect of a meal only represents 3-10% of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). So we must keep things in perspective. Basal or resting metabolism accounts for up to 70% of TDEE and energy expenditure from exercise is responsible for the rest. Logic dictates, therefore that these two take precedence over DIT.The other big important factor in weight loss is the reduction of daily food intake. Lets look at the input/output equation: x (Input) y (Output) = z. Daily output and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) are the same thing. If you ate fewer calories (x) than your body burned (y), z would have a negative value. If you consumed more calories than your body expended, z would be positive. A negative balance in the equation results in weight loss, a positive value causes weight gain. Its that simple.In the above study, the high protein low fat type diet involves 2 factors of Input: Food composition and food quantity. In this diet, food composition (food selection) consists of a particular combination of macronutrients (high protein, low fat). Food intake (Input) affects the DIT which causes a certain increase (energy expenditure) on the Output part of the equation. And, as food composition varies so does the DIT. Food composition, though, can only have a limited effect on DIT. Remember DIT only represents 3-10% of the TDEE (Output). And food composition (high-protein, low-fat), accounts for a percentage of DIT, which includes even a smaller value. Food quantity, on the other hand, can have a tremendous effect on the equation as it increases, the balance becomes more positive. If it surpasses TDEE then you gain weight - quite independently of DIT. Therefore, there can be a downside with respect to DIT involving the high-protein low-fat diet or any diet for that matter. With this diet, as protein intake increases so does the DIT. The problem is, however, that the food quantity (Input) also increases. The point here is that there is a limit to the amount of protein you can ingest before your body starts storing it as fat. Because DIT doesnt account for expending a lot of calories (3-10% of TDEE), and food composition (high-protein, low-fat) accounts for a percentage of DIT, theres only so much protein you can ingest before you start getting a surplus of calories. And excess dietary protein just as excess carbohydrate or fat is stored as fat in the bodys adipose tissue. The only other factor that can compensate for the excess of protein intake is an increase in exercise participation. Although, that would defeat the purpose for obvious reasons.