Ten Principles of Preparedness–Part 7
I
admit I worry about the preparedness status of others far too much. However, if
there was one aspect that I worry about the most, it would be the lack of
proper Water
Preparedness. As I review all of the questions that I’m asked via
e-mail and my classes, the
theme of Water Preparedness seems to
be the most rife with fallacies and underestimated planning. So for starters
allow me to be unmistakable on this principle: There
will come a day in which you will be very grateful that you have 365 gallons of
COVERED drinking water per person in your family. Yes, I know that’s
a lot—but compared to what? Having 40 pairs of shoes is a lot too, but for some
reason it’s a bit more acceptable in our society today, even enviable, than
having water. That kind of acceptance and prioritization is a little out of
whack, don’t you think, considering that water is literally lifesaving on
several different levels—shoes, uh, not so much. Yes, I realize that 365
gallons of water per person isn’t exactly an aesthetically pleasing improvement
to your land, it’s a lot easier to tolerate than dead bodies. While it’s not an
activity that you take care of overnight necessarily, it should certainly be
your initial goal in this particular principle of preparedness and here are
some of the reason why it’s so vital to the well-being of you, your family AND
your community.
One: The brain simply
cannot function without it. Your brain is the most water-ladened part
of your body. The distribution of messages and signals to the rest of your body
relies primarily on the amount on oxygen and water
that your brain has to work with. (Think of your brain as the
car in a courier service—it’s not going anywhere without the fuel.) In a time
of great stress, you will need every physical asset you can possibly muster,
thus having water for the brain is an invaluable investment of your time and
space. Here’s an interesting tip. The next time you have to endure a grueling
mental or physical exercise,
instead of grabbing your can of caffeinated beverage to “get you through”, give
water a try. You’ll actually find that you are able to endure the distance of the
task far better than you have in the past with your other chemicals of choice,
and you’ll find that you’ll recover from the endurance test a lot faster as
well.
Two: Water for the proper function of the entire body will
prevent permanent physical damage to internal organs. You may have
heard the too-often told myth that claims a person will die if they don’t have
water for longer than 72 hours. This is indeed a myth
though, as was proven during the Haiti earthquake of last year. A man was found
among the rubble, very much alive, 11 days after the earthquake hit. No, he
didn’t have any water during that time. While he was still very much alive, the
fact of the matter is that your body will suffer physiological damage if
without water for more than 72 hours. So sure, he was alive and able to join
some of his family members, but I assure you, that lucky survivor also has
permanent kidney or liver damage to show for it. Your heart will pump smoother,
your skin will look smoother and softer, your eyesight improve, and your
metabolism will work harder in a well hydrated body. So if the thought of
potential gloom and doom motivation doesn’t get you on the water bandwagon, at
least permit some vain motivation to play a role. *grin*
By the way, the word is WATER, not
beverage. A soda pop or Kool-aid drink does not replace water in any way, shape
or form. It requires so much more energy from your
body to extract any beneficial water from such beverages to the point that
you’re in a negative nutrition position. And yes, if you continue in this
pattern then physiological damage will take place.
The brain has first shot at all of the water you
provide the body. The reason being is because the cells of the brain must be
hydrated in order to function. If they dry out, then they die, period, and
cannot be replaced. What’s gone is gone. Caffeine, alcohol, and
nicotine are drying agents in your
body. They consume copious amounts of water in order to be shuttled to the
proper areas of the body. In other words, they rob your body of water. This is
why when a person has drunk alcohol heavily the night before they will wake up
with the proverbial hangover. That hangover is your head screaming for water.
So the last thing you should be feeding your body to take the edge off is
caffeine or nicotine . All you’ll end up doing is increasing the glycogen
levels in your body and then you’re off to a completely different set of
complications.
Three: Our bodies expire two quarts of water per day via
urination, perspiration, and breathing. You’re losing the necessary
water content of your body at the rate of two whole quarts per day. If you’re
not at least replacing those two quarts then your body will suffer
physiological damage as well and if such habits persist, then such damage will
be permanent. A lot of my research on water over this past year has even
indicated that many mental illnesses can be helped dramatically with the
constant consumption of water and that many of such illnesses are simply the
consequences of a poorly hydrated body. In fact, there’s one well-known author
by the name of Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, MD, who has successfully studied the
impact of water consumption as a remedy for chronic depression and even cancer.
If we practice diligently hydrating our bodies now, then even when a serious
crisis comes our way in the future, we’ll be able to endure it far better if
we’re not starting out with a water deficit in our body. At the very least
everyone age 12 and up should be drinking at least two quarts of pure and
simple water per day, just to stay on top of the needs of our bodies. Anything
less is like running that same quart of oil through the engine again and again
and again. Why BE a filter when you can make it so much easier on yourself and
drink your water?
Four: Water is vital to hormone balance. Depression, diabetes, ovulation,
thyroid issues—all are complicated when the hormones are out of balance.
Without water, it’s absolutely impossible for our hormones to regain their
proper balance. For example, if the brain doesn’t get sufficient amount of
water, it will instead demand glycogen and spike the sugar levels of our blood.
Insulin is a hormone and it’s a very influential hormone. It hasn’t a chance at
working properly in a dehydrated body. There’s not a day in your life in which
you couldn’t benefit from a more healthy hormonal function. During a crisis is
definitely not the time I would
suggest experimenting with that
fact.
Five: Water is critical to proper digestion. While
there are many who believe food may be more important than water, such persons
will re-think that strategy once they find themselves in gripping abdominal
pain as the result of their sudden change in lifestyle full of fiber-rich
meals. There are many of you who are planning on indulging in more hearty fiber
and freeze-dried
and dehydrated foods when things get really bad. That’s great, except you’re
going to need to hydrate your body
even more than just the 2 quarts a day to compensate for that change unless you
want to literally die as a result of that change in diet. Nothing moves in your
body without water. Not the food, not your blood, not even air. You might as
well try to live a life without love as to try and make a body work without
it–and lots of it!
Six: Having sufficient COVERED
drinking water on hand is the only way to prepare against potential
biological exposure which threatens to harm all open water sources; and
depending on the intensity thereof, even the in-ground water sources. Preparing
to meet ones needs with an open water source really isn’t preparing; it’s
hedging and hoping.
These are just a few of the reason to have
plenty of water on hand for each person in your household. If you’re only
storing one gallon of water per person per day, keep in mind that just to break
even in our physiological functions we need to consume two quarts daily; so you
can see how 1 gallon per person, per day, is barely a “drop in the bucket” of
the potential needs. In addition to this gallon of
drinking water (which may also meet the majority
of your cooking needs), there is also the water necessary for
sanitation. I
won’t get into the gruesome details, but regardless of how “hard core macho”
you think you are, it’s imperative that you bathe regularly and you wash your
clothes regularly–not to mention the handling of the waste.
When your body perspires, it’s doing
so by shooting toxins out of your pores. So basking in those toxins for weeks
at a time isn’t exactly going to make you suitable to be on the cover of Fit
Magazine. One person practicing poor sanitation has the potential to wipe out
an entire community within a 50 mile radius in less than 30 days. Again, those
blue 55 gallon barrels may not look like much, but they are a heck of a lot
easier to tolerate than piles of dead bodies. Additionally, I realize that
paying $40-$100 for such containers may not sound like a good investment, but
by comparison did you ever consider the price of a medical procedure that
promised to make the pain go away, help the body function better or preserve a
person’s life? I didn’t think so. Yeah, tally the difference between a life
without water and the financial demands of having plenty on hand. I think
you’ll easily see that it’s a no-brainer.
So how about we get our necessary
water, practice proper storage methods, AND faithfully use it now in our daily
lives and keep it in its proper perspective and start giving it the attention
it deserves.
Obviously, there are myriads of
other ways to store water such as in buried tanks in the back yard, one 2-liter
bottle at a time, etc. etc. I only beg you to be wise about such methods. Be
sure that you can stake your life on the WAY that your store your water and the
AMOUNT of the water you store, because I assure you, someday that’s exactly
what will be at stake.
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