Alkalised water is amazing. Although I had been high raw for 2 and a half years and now 100% raw for 6 months, the skin on my legs was dry, my hair was splitting, I had a few skin ailments that would not go away, I wasn't going to the loo for bm's as often as I felt I needed,  and I couldn't drink enough water. I was drinking 4-6 litres a day PLUS a young coconut, plus green juice. About 7-9 litres of fluid a day. And I was still thirsty.

I was lead to research water. It turned out I was dehydrated! How could I be dehydrated when I was drinking that much per day? What I found was enough to inspire me to add a whole new section to our site! Check it out here.

Acid vs alkaline is how I first came to raw. I met a group of people through friends and noticed that some of them stood out. They had beautiful clear eyes, great hair, calm natures, amazing skin and more. So I picked one and asked him "Hey matey, why do you and those guys over there look so healthy? What are you doing?"

He looked me dead in the eye and told me that he only ate raw food as outlined by Dr Robert O Young. That week I borrowed Dr Robert Young's book The PH Miracle from the library and learned about being raw. That was the true beginning of my raw journey. I actually forgot about it for a little while but came back to it again later on when I got serious about being raw in November/December 2006.

Eventually my focus shifted from acid/alkaline balancing to just being raw. I'm glad this happened because it gave me a really solid base to work from. However I even after drinking all the liquid that I drank every day and sometimes through the night as well I still felt thirsty.

It turned out I was very dehydrated. A friend explained to me about the surface tension of water. If the water molecules are too big they cannot be absorbed properly by the body. Obviously some gets through, but not enough for optimal hydration. I didn't believe that I was dehydrated at all. Until he said "Come here" and we walked over to my car. Brett said "Breathe on the window like this Haaaaaaaa" and he got a big patch of moisture on the window. I did it and got nothing. No condensation off my breath. It was dry dry dry. Just like the skin on my legs!

Brett gave me some Megahydrate pills which I started adding to my water. Megahydrate adds negatively charged hydrogen to the water which reduces the surface tension, reduces the size of the water clusters and there fore the body can absorb the water. It also changed the pH of my water raising the level from 7 to 9.

After taking the Megahydrate for a week I not only had condensation on windows, but my skin was looking amazing! People complimented me left right and centre on how great it's looking. Also the skin on my legs doesn't look dried and 'crackly' any more. And when I 'huff' on a window I leave a big condensation patch. My mouth is not 'tacky' when I wake in the morning and my bowels have had a big cleanout (another bonus!) and have remained regular.

I'm drinking just 2 litres of water a day now plus green juice, plus a young coconut too. This is much better. I'm not cramping up so I guess I'm not flushing all of the minerals from my body.

Of course, me being me, I had to delve further! I started researching alkaline water and found that many people have great things to say about it. HERE is one site with loads of testimonials. Because water makes the big pharmaceutical companies no money, it’s not classified as ‘therapeutic’, so telling anyone it IS therapeutic will bring down the wrath of a thousand bureaucrats! So I suggest you just search the web for water ionizer testimonials or go onto Youtube and take a look. There are hundreds of stories of how it has changed people’s lives.

So why buy a water ioniser?

To answer that we need to look at what happens when we get too much acid in our bodies. According to Sang Whang, author of Reverse Aging, when we get too much acid in our bodies our bodies store the acid in 'bins' around the body. These 'bins' can be seen scientifically as high cholesterol, fatty acids, kidney stones, plaque and uric acid.

Also, when we eat or drink something that is high in acid our body must rebalance itself by adding in some alkali to maintain healthy levels of immunity and vitality. If we are not putting in any alkaline product then where does the body take it from? It leaches calcium from bones and teeth leading to Osteoporosis among other things. And given that the majority of our modern foods are acid-based, it’s not easy to remain naturally alkaline.

What may cause the body to become acid?

There are many things that can cause the body to become acidic.

Food.

Fruit is a funny one. Most people say it's alkaline but some people say that any sugar is acidic whether it comes from fructose or not. Cooked meat is acidic, pasteurised dairy, highly processed foods, chemically grown foods, grains and many nuts. Tap water (most bottled waters too). Leafy greens, of course, are both alkaline and restorative.

Emotions.

Not enough emphasis is placed on emotions and the part they may play in acidifying the body. Getting a fright, having a nightmare, watching something worrying or stressful on the TV (such as the news) may all contribute to acid conditioning of the body. Of course the link between fluctuating emotions and acidity is a whole field that no-one has yet researched, but it’s worth looking at the diet of anyone who seems excessively angry, depressed or volatile.

What may alkalise the body?

Food:

Many of the things rawbies love! Such as most vegetables, greens, lemons (metabolise to alkaline), some seeds. but especially leafy greens.We are so lucky to absorb many many foods that are classed as alkaline in the raw diet. Funnily enough lemons are classified as alkaline. Although outside the body they are acidic, they metabolise down to an alkaline element in our bodies. 

Emotions:

Love. It is said that love may be the greatest alkaliser there is! Meditation, gentle exercise, alkaline ionized water.

Megahydrate is great! It's wonderful stuff. It allows the body to absorb water more readily and has done wonders for me! I'll be taking it for the rest of my days I'm sure! However when I add it to my water the acid component is still there. I want to alkalise and stay alkalised. When we travel we will take megahydrate. And I have a bottle in my handbag also in case my bottle(s) that I filled at home before I went out get drank dry and I end up purchasing water.

I'm about to get as scientific as I can here. I'm not that way inclined so it will be easy to understand.  My understanding is that hydrogen can be either positively or negatively charged. In this case negative is good because in that state it donates energy to the body. The more negative Hydrogen ions in the water the better.

There are many so-called alkaline water filters, but a water ionizer is unique because it splits the water into acid water and alkaline water. The water runs through a field of magnetic/electrical energy and through amazingly modern and advanced filters splitting the water into about 70% alkaline and 30% acid water. The energy field chamber actually split the minerals in the water also so that the acid ones go to the acid water and the alkaline ones go to your alkaline water. This means that you can drink water that only has alkaline properties. Not just adding more alkaline properties to the water. It is ONLY alkaline.

So what to do with the acid water? Luckily for us our bodies love alkaline internally and our skin has a preference for an acidic terrain. So the acid water can be used for washing hands and hair, as an air freshener, cleaning (it's antibacterial), and more. Plants also reportedly love alkalised water so feed them up!

We have our Ioniser in our laundry. We fill our alkaline cups and water bottles and the acid water goes straight into a bucket in the laundry sink or the watering can or the washing machine. This way we have non-toxic non-chemical cleaning water whenever we need it and what we don't use for cleaning is easily moved into our washing machine.

When someone starts drinking ionised water it's best to start slooooowly. Why? Because Ionised Alkalised water has smaller molecules it is able to get further into the body which can start to release stored toxins into the body where they are then released. This can lead to people feeling a little fluey. It's recommended to start at the lowest level of alkaline on the filter (Level 1 on the Alphion filter pictured here) and just have 2-3 glasses a day. If you experience no flu type symptoms or diarrhea in around a week then move up to level 2. It should take about 2 - 3 weeks to get to level four. 

I will be adding to this article and changing it over time as I learn more so keep your peepers on it! I'm as excited about alkaline water as I was about raw food when I decided to get into that so there will be much more information coming.