What is ORP?

What is ORP?

Last week we went over what free radicals are. This week we are going to talk about ORP, which you hear about quite often when talking about alkaline ionized water.

All around us in the air, in all of the material objects, our bodies, water and the earth there is a constant exchange of electrons. This is called ion exchange. (Remember here where we went over what an ion is?)

Everything wants to reach an equilibrium, everything wants that balance. So molecules that are lacking electrons seek out and “steal” electrons from other molecules. These substances on the hunt for electrons are called “oxidizing agents”. Oxidize means: “to remove electrons from an atom or molecule.” So these substances (free radicals) are removing electrons from nearby molecules or atoms.

Substances which have an excess of electrons that they can share without being damaged are called “anti-oxidizing agents”, or “antioxidants”. Aaaahh, I bet you have heard that word touted all over new health foods and supplements.

What Does ORP Stand for?

ORP stands for “oxidation-reduction potential”. It is a measurement of how much a substance can oxidize another substance. The arbitrary scale goes from -400 to +400, with +400 being a highly oxidizing substance and -400 being the highest anti-oxidant level. What you want to look for in your drinking water is a negative ORP in the 300-400 range.

Most tap water and bottled water have positive ORP levels and therefore are oxidizing to the body, meaning they will leach electrons from healthy tissues. Bad, bad news!

Alkaline ionized water on the other hand has an anti-oxidant quality to it, meaning it has an excess of electrons it can share with the free radicals in search of electrons. This then keeps them from taking electrons from your body. Very good news, indeed!

Visit our water ionizer website where you can find a huge resource of information regarding alkaline water, water ionizers, non-electric water ionizers, accessories, etc.  

What Exactly Are Free Radicals And What Does Ionized Water Have To Do With Them?

Free Radicals

Free radicals are everywhere. They are in the air, our bodies, water and all the material around us. They are what cause rust to eat away at your car, your apples or bananas to brown, paint to fade, etc. And even more importantly, they are what cause age-related illnesses, cancer, strokes, heart attacks and numerous other diseases.

So, simply speaking, what exactly is a “free radical”? Let's start with an atom.

At the center of an atom you have the nucleus, which is composed of protons and neutrons (except for hydrogen – hydrogen is the only element that doesn't have neutrons). Circling the nucleus you have layers, or shells, of electrons. The first layer has 2 electrons when full, the second shell, if it's complete will have 8, the third shell will have 18, and so on. Let's take the simplest of atoms, the hydrogen atom. It has in its nucleus 1 proton and circling it, it has 1 electron. Since there is one of each proton and electron, there is no electric charge in this atom.

Every element on the periodic table is neutral, meaning it has the same amount of electrons going around the same number of protons in the nucleus. Tracking so far?

Now let's say we take a sodium atom (abbreviated Na). It has in its first shell two electrons. In its second shell it has 8 electrons, which makes that shell complete. Now in its outermost shell it only has 1 electron. These atoms want to have paired up electrons and the sodium atom has an unpaired electron. What does that mean? Well, let's say we take a chlorine (Cl) atom. In chlorine's outermost shell it only has 7 electrons. It needs 8 in order to be complete and have all electrons paired. Ok, so let's say we put these two atoms in proximity, what will happen? The unpaired electron that the sodium atom has will give that extra electron away to the chlorine atom so that they are both even. Ta-Da!

But, wait. That means that now the sodium atom has one less electron than it does protons. That makes it positively charged. More protons = positively charged. More electrons = negatively charged. So the sodium atom is now a positive ion and the chlorine atom is a negative ion.

Hold on, What is an Ion?

An ion is an atom that has either gained or lost electrons, therefore becoming either positively or negatively charged. Simple.

Now what does this have to do with free radicals, you ask. Let us take a molecule, which is made up of multiple atoms. If there are unpaired electrons, it will actively search out electrons it can “steal” from other molecules. So, let's say there are free radicals in your body, which there always is, but let's say there is an excess of them. They will attack healthy tissue by “stealing” electrons from them in order to complete their outer shells. This then causes the molecules it “stole” from to become free radicals, too, which causes them to seek out electrons and thus turning other molecules into free radicals. This then can cause a chain reaction that can lead to the destruction of that healthy tissue. Bad news.

What is Ionized Water?

Ok, so the water molecules that have been processed through the electronic water ionizer have been split. Water, chemically speaking, is called H2O, right? So that means it has 2 hydrogen atoms bonded, or stuck to, 1 oxygen atom. Now, when the water is put through your water ionizer, the H2O molecule is split to leave the oxygen atom, which normally has 8 electrons and 8 protons, attached to one of the hydrogen atoms, which has 1 electron and 1 proton. But, it was split in such a way that the hydrogen atom it was split from didn't take it's electron with it. Therefore the lone hydrogen atom has just one proton, making it positively charged (remember more protons than electrons = positively charged). And the hydrogen and oxygen atoms that are stuck together have 10 electrons but only 9 protons, which means they are negatively charged (more electrons than protons = negatively charged).

Ionized Water and Free Radicals

Ok, so now we have these negatively ionized water molecules with an excess of electrons, right? And remember those pesky free radicals in search of an electron to “steal”? Welllll...... the ionized water can supply these free radicals with their needed electron so they don't leach it from your body! Pretty awesome, right? I think so, too!

This is why ionized water is so extremely important to your health and why I work tirelessly to educate everyone regarding it. Since I have started drinking ionized water over 20 years ago, the successes I have seen with it have been nothing short of miraculous! Really! Check out my successes here that customers over the years have sent me. And read my own personal testimonial here.

 Please feel free to browse my website, learn what you can about ionized water, watch my videos, and of course feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need help.  

Are Alkaline Water and Alkaline Ionized Water the same thing?

Are Alkaline Water and Alkaline Ionized Water the Same Thing?

So, what is Alkaline Ionized Water? Is it different than Alkaline Water? It is very common to hear these two terms used interchangeably, but they are, in fact, two very different things.

Alkaline Water simply has a pH above 7.0, and it can be created in many ways by adding minerals to it (such as baking soda, which we have discussed previously), lemon juice, Himalayan Salt, to name a few, to make the pH higher. You can also purchase expensive bottled alkaline water at stores such as Wal-Mart.

Alkaline Ionized Water is water that has been ionized and made alkaline by a procedure called Water Electrolysis. It is full of antioxidants and is far more absorb-able and hydrating than regular water or water that has minerals added to it to make it alkaline.

As you can see in the Alkaline Water Plus Blog simply adding baking soda to alkalize your water is not an effective measure. In fact, the high level of sodium alone is detrimental to your health, especially if you already deal with such conditions as high blood pressure or water retention.

The many great benefits of Alkaline Ionized Water aren't simply from the fact that it is alkaline, but that it is ionized. Drinking water that is merely alkaline is not providing anywhere near the benefits as drinking alkaline ionized water.

The Benefits of Drinking Alkaline Ionized Water

There are several different qualities to Alkaline Ionized Water that make it so beneficial to your body and health.

These qualities are:

• The water raises the alkalinity of your body
• The water is rich in antioxidants and very oxygenating
• The water is far better at hydrating than any other water

Let's take a look at each of these qualities separately.

The Water is Alkaline

Our bodies tend to be very acidic. This is due to the average diet, smoking, alcohol, stress, pollution, etc. We store deposits of acidic toxins in our body that can (and do) cause disease, malnutrition or, if you are lucky, just an overall since of not feeling well.

Drinking alkaline ionized water has been shown to prevent and reverse disease, malnutrition, lack of energy, etc., by ridding the body of these acidic waste build-ups and creating an environment in the body that disease and malnutrition cannot survive in.

The Water is Rich in Antioxidants and is Oxygenating

Antioxidants seek out and neutralize the free radicals in your body. Since the antioxidants have an excess of electrons, they can give these electrons to the free radicals that are in need of them, which keeps them from leeching electrons from healthy tissue. The body is then left with an excess of oxygen molecules that it can use for energy production and oxygenating the tissues in the body.

The Water is More Hydrating

When the water is ionized, the water molecules are made smaller, called “microclustering”, and are therefore easier for your cells to absorb. This provides even greater hydration than drinking tap, bottled, distilled, filtered or reverse osmosis water. And right along with this, if you have, for example a powdered vitamin supplement mixed into your alkaline ionized water, this vitamin supplement will be absorbed by your cells in a greater amount than it would otherwise be if you were drinking regular tap water.

As you can see, there are many great benefits to be had from drinking alkaline ionized water. These same benefits cannot be found by simply alkalizing your water by adding minerals to it. I very highly recommend obtaining a water ionizer for you and your family as soon as possible.

Also, I will be writing blogs in future weeks that go over in greater detail some of the points we have covered here, like what exactly a free radical is, what antioxidants are, water electrolysis and so forth. So stay tuned...

Alkaline Water "The Fountain of Youth"

Alkaline water has been compared to the fountain of youth.  In fact, alkaline water can be found in nature in a few spots in the world.  The people that live in these places tend to live much longer than the average in other parts of the world.  So, it does stand to reason that there is something to this alklaine water.

An alkaline water ionizer will give you the same benefits of naturally alkaline water anywhere in the world no matter what your source water is like!

Now, why would alkaline ionized water have anti-aging effects?  Well, this is because alkaline water is rich in antioxidants.  We have all heard of these "antioxidants".  Antioxidants combat the effects of free radicals in the body.  To give you an idea of what this might do, think of an apple that has been cut in half.  Okay, well after a few minutes it will have turned brown right?  That is the affect free radicals have on an apple.  Imagine what it does in the body. 

So, alkaline water will prevent this from occurring.  It keeps the cells and organs funtioning well and prevents the harmful damage from free radicals.

This is the reason why alkaline water has been referred to as the fountain of youth.  It is not a mystical or magical thing, it is actually very scientific.

To demonstrate what alkaline water can do for a person please read these success stories below:

"I've tried the Melody and it is what you say it is...great. Thank you for your good information. I have diabetes and the ionized water is making my blood sugar levels more stable. I hope that this water keeps me healthier longer. I think it will. It feels good to my body to drink it. I'll write more when I get more experience with it...."Susan

A Man in his late 40s presented to my clinic with chronic headaches. Had been seeing his doctor and chiropractor with no changes in his symptoms. On Live Blood examination using a microscope we found he had lots of chemical and uric acid crystals (works on a farm), as well as massive platelet clusters (clotting factors).
After discussing his water source (rain water with chemical drift), he decided it could be beneficial to purchase and use the ionized water from a Jupiter System. He was also prescribed supplements to reduce his platelet size and numbers, feeling this build-up could be causing his headaches (blood vessels to head restrict flow). I normally check the blood after 3 months, but in this case, because I referred him back to a GP, we wanted to look at his blood before the visit, only eight days after the initial examination and only four days after being on the water.
I did not expect to see much change, as normally the supplements take a few months to show radical improvement, but hoped to see a slight shift to show we were on the right track.
Well, we were both amazed, as his blood looked great. All crystals were gone and platelets had reduced to completely normal size and number. He also said that since drinking the alkaline water he had more energy and he'd only had one headache which was before he started the water. (He was having major headaches every second day and dull headaches the other days). He feels the results were to do with drinking the water and I tend to agree as the supplements as great as they are don't usually work that fast. I am glad I'm drinking the water too."...Sue Pollock, N.D. is the principal of Ballina Naturopathy

These are just a couple of the many success stories that I have run accross.  Please visit our site for more information and success stories: www.alkalinewaterplus.com

Alkaline Water and Free Radicals

Alkaline water has helped many people with many different ailments.  I have personally seen it help with skin conditions, gout, energy levels, allergies, spider veins.  The list is endless.  In this post, I want to go over why these things occurr with a person drinking this water, so some of the mystery is resolved.  I have heard people call this miracle water, or the fountain of youth, and after you read this blog, you will understand why.

First and foremost, alkaline water is alkaline. Duh. It says it right in the name! But what does this mean? Well, alkalinity measures how acidic or how basic something is.  Your blood needs to be a certain pH in order for you to function properly.  Most of your organs also need to be alkaline as well. But, a lot of people nowadays lead very acidic lives drinking lots of coffee and soda, eating meat and carbs, and leading stressfull lives.  All of these can cause someone's pH level to drop.  Drinking alkaline water will help keep your body balanced and at the correct pH it needs to be.  The other benefit to drinking alkaline water is that it will allow for your body to more easily get rid of acidic waste, because your body will not have a problem sacraficing some of its alkaline fluids if it has an abundance of it.

Secondly, alkaline water has a TON of antioxidants in it.  The technical name for it is ORP (oxidation reduction potential).  When this number is positive, it oxidizes, when it is negative, it antioxidizes.  Now everyone in this day and age has heard of free radicals, right? Well these are those unstable molecules that go around your body damaging cells and causing mutations amongst other things.  Antioxidants have the ability to knock out these free radicals.  They neutralize them.  Here is a depiction of what free radicals can do:

So, alkaline ionized water can counter these negative effects of free radicals to a great degree!  Water ionizers can vary in the ORP quite a bit.  To get the best results, I would recommend finding an ionizer that has the lowest negative number -the more negative the better- for the pH that you will be drinking at.

For more successes and information, visit www.alkalinewaterplus.com