Acidic Ionized Water and Gardening

Today I am going to give you another use for your water ionizer, but this time it's not for drinking, but for your plants and flowers.

Watering Your Plants and Flowers with Acidic Ionized Water

How would you like longer-lasting flower blooms, plants free of mold and bacteria or those roses your husband bought you to last for several more days? Plants and flowers respond very well to a mildly acidic ionized water. And they last longer than when watered with regular tap water!

Here is a comparative picture to show you the kind of results to expect:

I highly recommend watering your garden plants and your grass with a mild acidic ionized water, filling your vases with this water, as well as spraying your house plants with it. This results in increased plant growth and having to use less pesticides and/or other chemicals.

The right acid setting of you water can also help in the germination and seeding of your plants. But each plant has a different acidity level so make sure you google what that acidity level is. For example, tomatoes do best in a soil that is anywhere between 6.0 and 6.8 on the pH scale, as do most vegetables, whereas blueberries do well anywhere from 4.5-5.5.

How the Acidic Ionized Water Helps Your Plants and Flowers

The acidity of the water kills mold, bacteria and fungi that like to grow on your plants. This water can also help with fungal or bacterial infection in plants.

Another aspect to this is that, while we humans need an alkaline water, plants are opposite and need a slightly acidic water. If you think about it, it makes sense. Humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, while plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen for us to breathe in. Therefore, their needs are different than ours.

Here is video showing you how to pour your acidic water for use, along with other neat uses for it.

So good luck in your gardening endeavors this year! Do an experiment comparing watering with tap water and watering with acid ionized water and feel free to share it with us!

Eating an Alkaline Diet in Addition to Drinking Plenty of Alkaline Water

There is no bigger change to your daily routine that I can make than drinking plenty of alkaline ionized water. However, there are additional steps to take in your overall diet that will further help the alkalinity of your body. And that next step is to start eating more alkaline foods. So, let's go over that today.

Alkalizing Foods

There are two kinds of foods when it comes to alkalinity: Acid-forming foods and alkaline-forming foods. It is recommended that you eat a ratio of 80% alkaline-forming foods to 20% acid-forming foods. But I would suggest starting on a gradient, incorporating more and more alkaline foods into your diet.

Now an important datum to have is just because the food is acidic, e.g. lemons, does not mean that it is automatically an acid-forming food. The opposite is also true – for example, sugar is alkaline outside of the body, but the reactions it causes inside the body classifies it as an acid-forming food.

"All natural foods contain both acid and alkaline-forming elements," says the Conscious Living Center. "In some, acid-forming elements dominate; in others, alkaline-forming elements dominate. According to modern biochemistry, it is not the organic matter of foods that leave acid or alkaline residues in the body. The inorganic matter (sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium and calcium) determines the acidity or alkalinity of the body fluids."

Alkaline Foods to Start Incorporating

Here is a short list of the most common alkaline-forming foods:

Almonds

Asparagus

Avocados

Broccoli

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celery

Coconut

Cucumber

Garlic

Ginger

Grapefruit

Green beans

Lemons

Olive oil

Onions

Peppers

Quinoa

Spinach

Sweet potatoes

Tomatoes

Here is a short list of alkaline-forming foods to start avoiding:

Sodas

Alcohol

Pasta

Most breads

Popcorn

Rice

Sugary foods

Click here for a full acid/alkaline report and diet.

I would recommend starting out by adding lots of good fruits and vegetables to your diet while cutting out the obvious alkaline foods such as soft drinks, alcohol and grains.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on what I went over today.

Good luck in eating healthier in addition to drinking plenty of alkaline water!

Are You Dehydrated?

We all are probably guilty of thinking we are drinking enough water, only to come to find out we really aren't. Especially with all the soda and coffee we seem to drink, which further dehydrates us, we are probably getting less water than we think we are. 

Dehydration

Today we will go over some ways you can tell if you're dehydrated and need more water:

1. One way you can check immediately if you're in need of more water is by gently pinching the skin on the back of your hand, between your wrist and your knuckles. If the skin snaps back quickly that is a good sign, but if the skin is slow to go back it's safe to assume you should increase your water consumption.

2. Check the color of your urine. If you're drinking enough water it will be a very light yellow color.

3. Is your skin dry? Instead of coating your skin with perfumed lotions filled with chemicals, drink more water and increase your Omega-3 fatty acids.

4. Do you have bad breath? Saliva has antibacterial qualities so if you don't have enough of it you can develop bad breath. When you're dehydrated your body can't produce enough saliva to keep your mouth as clean as it should be.

5. Did you know that a sweet tooth can be a sign of dehydration? It can! Certain organs like your liver need plenty of water to release components of your stores of energy. So if you aren't hydrated well and you need energy, instead of your body being able to use some of its own stored energy you get a craving for sugar, sweets or some other form of simple carbohydrates. The next time you want to reach for the afternoon Snickers, grab instead a bowl of fruit, such as watermelon or pineapple that has a high water content. This will both satisfy your sweet tooth and help hydrate you.

6. Do you get charlie horses or other muscle cramping? That, too, can be a sign you need to reach for that glass of water.

7. Headaches. Your brain sits in a sac of fluid that keeps it from bumping into the skull. If it is depleted of water, it can knock into the skull leading to headaches.

8. Are you constipated? Water helps move waste through your colon. Again, without enough water, your body can't efficiently move the waste through your body.

What to Do if You Have Any of These Symptoms

I highly recommend getting an electric water ionizer to ensure total hydration. Like we have talked about here and here, the micro-clustered molecules of the ionized water is better able to be absorbed by the body's cells.

Check out our wide selection of ionizers here and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Alkaline Ionized Water and Allergies

Allergy Season

Well, it's almost that time of year again – allergy season. Some people dread this time of year while others look forward to spring – flowers, Easter, budding trees, the smell of freshly cut grass. So I'm going to help give you a great solution to your runny nose, watery eyes and scratchy throat. And that solution is drinking plenty of ionized water!

Ionized Water Leads to Greater Hydration

I have gone over how ionized water has been shown to greatly increase hydration, as compared to drinking regular tap water, bottled water or distilled water. This is due to the micro-clustered water molecules that are easier for your body to absorb and use. This increased hydration helps the body handle the allergens in the air that invade your body. This helps keep the body from releasing histamine, which, while it helps protect the body from these “invaders”, causes the watery eyes, runny nose, scratchy throat, et al, that millions of people suffer through every spring and fall.

Dehydration and Histamine

According to Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, author of “Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life”, being dehydrated is one of the main causes of allergies.

When the body is dehydrated your body produces more histamine. And considering nearly 75% of people are dehydrated, it's no wonder so many suffer from allergies!

Histamine is a natural compound released by the cells when they are injured or there are allergens present in the body. The body sees these allergens as harmful to the body and so the immune system releases histamine. This causes the blood vessels to dilate. As a result fluid and cells can leak from the bloodstream and do so in affected area. This is why you get a runny nose and watery eyes. These are the areas of the body most affected by the allergens and so the body sends localized help to these areas to fight off the supposed “intruders.” Another response in the body caused by the release of histamine is the contraction of smooth muscles, such as in the lungs. This leads to contracting bronchial tubes and that's why you get coughing, wheezing, etc.

I'm sure we've all seen commercials for anti-histamines. All these medications do is suppress the body's reaction to the release of the histamine in the body.

A Better Alternative to Taking Medication

A better option, and a far more inexpensive one at that, is to increase your consumption of alkaline ionized water during allergy season. I suggest getting a jump start on the impending arrival of all types of pollen and increase your ionized water intake. And if you do begin to see any signs of an allergic reaction flaring up, quickly drink 24-32 ounces of ionized water. This increased hydration will help inhibit the release of histamine and help your body flush these allergens from your body naturally. 

Visit our ionized water store to purchase your water ionizer today if you don't already own one. 

Why Soda Is so Harmful to Your Health

We have all enjoyed a cold glass of Coke or Pepsi. It tastes so good, can it really be THAT bad for you? Well, let's go over what happens when you drink such an acidic drink like soda.

The pH Scale

The pH scale ranges from 0-14, with 0 being the most acidic and 14 being the most alkaline. Our bodies need to maintain a pH as close to 7.4 as possible for optimum health. If it becomes too acidic or too alkaline, different functions of the body can't take place.

It can be difficult for the body to maintain this pH level given the large amounts of acid-producing foods in our diets. Doctors actually began researching the effects of acid-producing and alkaline-producing foods on our bodies in the early 1900s.

As you can see by the picture below, the closer the food gets to the bottom of the pH scale the more acidic it becomes. And it's acidity grows exponentially. A food that has a pH of 2 is 1,000,000 times more acidic than a food that has a pH of 8!

The Effects of Soda and Other Soft Drinks

Coca-Cola has a pH of about 2.5. This is very, very acidic. About 50,000 times more acidic than tap water.

Your body is working second after second, minute after minute to maintain a healthy pH level. But if we add drinks and foods into our bodies that are acid-producing, the body has to work even harder to maintain that 7.4 pH level. So, what does the body do when it isn't receiving the proper nutrition to keep it at this level? It will take alkali minerals, such as calcium from your bones, to stabilize itself. The body will actually take calcium from your bones and teeth or magnesium from your bones and cells in order to preserve itself. This definitely explains why America is the leading country in terms of osteoporosis, yet we consume the most calcium on the planet, by way of milk and dairy products, calcium supplements, etc. And this is also a huge contributing factor to the amount of obesity in America.

But I Drink Diet Soda – No Calories

This leads us to the next alkali mineral that your body will leach if it needs to keep it at a balanced pH: Iodine. Iodine is a mineral that helps the thyroid function. Your thyroid, the gland responsible for your metabolism, can't properly function without a sufficient amount of iodine. So, even if you're drinking a diet soda with zero calories, you're still flooding your body with an acidic drink that triggers certain mechanisms in the body to use the iodine to maintain a balanced pH.

Here's another blog I wrote that goes over this, too.

Here is a video that goes over this in a way anyone can understand.

How to Determine Your Acidity Level

Here are some symptoms of being too acidic:

Are you chronically fatigued?

Do you run out of breath easily?

Do you find yourself sighing or taking deep breaths for no apparent reason?

Do your muscles cramp up after walking short distances? 

Do you sometimes feel you just can't get enough air? 

These are signs that your body is too acidic.

You can also test the pH of your saliva or urine. We offer a free 80-pieced pH test kit! 

What to Do Next

Kick the soda habit and replace it with alkaline ionized water to help your body maintain your healthy pH level! And watch as the weight comes off and you regain a healthy, energetic body!

Good luck!