What type of water is most healthy?

Plain boiled tap water is ok unless highly contaminated with impurities other than germs. The benefits of spring water over tap water are usually said to be minimal.

However the debate on how much better spring water is over tap water can be controversial. Joseph Mercola says tap water should be avoided if possible because it contains chlorine and may contain fluoride in levels that in the long term can harm the body. He is against bottled water as well and advises water filters be used instead.

Filters, particularly from good brands can be far better than bottled water. Bottled water can sometimes be the same as general tap water. In July 2007, Pepsi the maker of Aquafina bottled water admitted that its source of water is tap water.

If you've drank Aquafina bottled water you'll notice that it has an image of snow-capped mountains with a claim “Pure water, perfect taste.” In reality it is not mountain spring water but processed tap water. This only came to light many years later. Now they will reveal the source on the label. (see CNN news, July 27, 2007, Aquafina Labels to Spell Out Source - Tap Water).

Bottled water may thus not be as good as it claims to be. It's also said that the packaging of bottled water neutralizes its quality. The plastic containers usually on the shelf for months before being bought are said to leech harmful chemicals the longer the water stays in the container. I only consume bottled water when traveling. The rest of the time the water is filtered or drank straight from the tap.

B) What not to eat and drink

In the area of physical health God will enable you to know and avoid matters harmful to your body. In general it is advised to avoid eating pork. Pork mixes maybe, but pure pork is another story. Pork is not cheap meat. It is cheap poison meat.

No wonder the Jews were forbidden from eating it. There are lots of medical principles in the bible that the medical field keeps drawing from. I am therefore cautioning on eating pork for health reasons not religious reasons.

In the new covenant we can eat whatever food we like and still be under no condemnation. One can eat pork for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all year round and still be under no condemnation from God!

However, “everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial,” 1 Corinthians 10:23. All foods are permissible but they are not all beneficial to our bodies. This is where exercising wisdom comes in. Jews do not eat pork to this day. Wise guys.

Consuming too much meat and milk or milk products may also be unhealthy. Moderation is always the key. The quality of meat and milk has declined because of the way cattle are reared in developed nations like USA.

A large proportion of cattle are given growth hormones, supplements (like protein), and drugs (medicine, particularly antibiotics) that are not natural to the cattle. They are also fed corn (maize) which too is not natural to the cows. Grass is their natural diet. But there are commercial advantages. They make the animals grow faster, bigger or produce more milk, thus yielding more profit with lower production costs than through the natural process.

Cattle have not evolved to eating corn (maize), to growth hormones and other supplements. Their bodies have not grown to adapt or to become accustomed to a corn diet. Created by God to eat grass their bodies remain accustomed to a grass diet. A lot of health problems associated with corn fed cattle is said to be caused by the corn diet itself. It is common that cows are administered drugs to control this.

The problems cattle undergo are then passed on to the next level of the food chain– us. We are the ones that get to eat their meat and drink their milk. Our bodies have to deal with the harmful aspects that the meat and milk consists of.

A New York Times health article says a study in The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition “found that the meat of grass-fed livestock not only had substantially less fat than grain-fed meat but that the type of fats found in grass-fed meat were much healthier. (Grass-fed meat has more omega 3 fatty acids and fewer omega 6, which is believed to promote heart disease; it also contains betacarotine and CLA, another “good” fat.)

“A growing body of research suggests that many of the health problems associated with eating beef are really problems with cornfed beef. In the same way ruminants have not evolved to eat grain, humans may not be well adapted to eating grain-fed animals. Yet the U.S.D.A.'s grading system continues to reward marbling -- that is, intermuscular fat -- and thus the feeding of corn to cows,” ( New York Times newspaper, Power Steer, Michael Pollan).

Not only is beef affected the milk too has its problems. Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician (medical doctor) and natural health professional, says at Mercola.com, that some cases of breast cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, colon cancer, and so on are directly linked to genetically engineered substances like the Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) that is given to some cows to increase their milk production.

The use of rBGH on cows is banned in Europe and Canada because of its proven effects on humans. The non technical term for food that has harmful extraneous substances in it is “contamination.” Food can be contaminated for deliberate reasons because certain chemicals and substances given to it increase its yield, or its taste, its shelf life or for whatever objective.

It's helpful to stay informed rather than being ignorant and then start paying later for our negligence. For our children it's even more important to watch out for them.

However, it's not a call to be a health freak but a call to be aware of what's going on and take worthwhile measures where necessary. The level of greed among some in the business world is so shocking that profit maximization is their sole motive without any consideration for what's in the best interest of consumers.

In the food industry the biggest problem has been adding substances that increase profits even when they are deemed harmful to consumers. For more info a book worth reading is Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills , by Russell Blaylock, Ph.D, a certified neurosurgeon (website: RussellBlaylockMD.com).

This is partly why there are increasing cases of obesity and “modern” ailments. It is not because people have started eating more or exercising less. This has a factor but not compared to what is being put into our food supply to increase production, reduce costs, increase taste, etc. The times when people could afford to eat a lot have been around in developed nations for centuries. Why the sudden explosion of obesity in the last twenty or so years?

If you hear that too much food is the main factor for obesity and “modern” ailments consider it as a “pass on the blame,” game that the food industry loves to advocate for: sweeping their share of responsibility under the carpet.

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