Health & Fitness - Drinking Water Is Key to Good Health

The need for water is no secret yet people in some cases that have plenty available find themselves suffering from dehydration why do you think that happens?  It might be considered a universal statement that not drinking enough water say eight glasses a day will lead to dehydration. While the truth of the matter is the amount of fluids that each person needs will vary based on their absorption, activity level, gender and body size. While many consider it to be the best liquid for this purpose there are a number of other sources that can provide hydration including soda, juice, milk, coffee, tea and foods with high water content. There have been quite a few studies on the subject and some would suggest it just needs to be liquid not necessary water. There is much debate on this point given most believe there are very few alternatives that can replace pure drinking water. While we might all agree water is important for the body, the water we chose to drink may not always be good for us. What does that mean? Well consider for a minute the many sources of water we have today. Yes there are probably hundreds of choices of an item that once was so basic. So how important is water to the body well most studies suggest you can live for about 7 days without water under extreme conditions and a little longer if the situation and your health is better.On the other hand you can live 7 weeks or more without food. This would confirm that water is not an option for good health it is a necessity. This being the case it might be essential that you re-think your choices and frequency of hydrating your body. Once as stated earlier the choices were so few and the ingredient so similar that it was a fairly easy decision to make. Fast forward us to the 21 century and break it down to all the things we have learned and developed to improve on a life essential element, water. We will save the discussion for weather it is better hot, cold, filter, ionized and the list goes on for later.For now just focus on the water market and how it has impacted the world economy.  The list of sources continue to grow as we re-name and re-market what we use to primarily drink from the tap, a fountain, a well,  a stream or even a river. The types of water are so varied now that when you ask for water you need to be very specific. Why is this important? Well think about the choices you make everyday about the water you drink be it distilled, tap, bottled, favored, filtered, unfiltered, cold, warm, with ice or without and this is just the water you drink. What about the water you cook with? The choices vary based on the individual, everything from taste, to fear, to status, to availability and the list goes on. However, the basic truth is the same we all need and do drink water and if that is the case it might be wise to investigate a bit further into some of the assumptions we make about what we put in our body. It may not be an easy assessment to make because some of the assumptions we make are not based in facts. Example most would assume bottled water was better for you than say tap water. However this is truly not the case in all situations because some bottled water is unfiltered tap water...yes that’s right! The convenience of picking up a bottle of water has gone beyond what might have been the original motivation of providing a better drinking water source by processing it and bottling it for general consumption. It has gone far beyond that in that the water bottling industry so if you go back to 2007 the revenue that was generated from the sale of bottle water was expected to reach approximately 6 Billion dollars and grow globally as predicted to be about $82 billion in 2011.

Have you ever wondered about the global market for water? The following statistics should give you an idea of how vital water is on a global level. It is safe to say that drinking water is a good investment in you health and well being.

Bottled Water Statistics
Total Average plastic bottles per person annually	167
Total Annual money spent annually on bottled water	$15 billion
Total amount of all bottled water sold by Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke) annually	24%
Total percent of U.S. Water Bottle Market owned by Coke and Pepsi	50%
Total amount of bottled water each coke and pepsi sell annually	3.36 billion
Total Profit made by Coke and Pepsi each year individually	$336 million
Total amount U.S. spends on bottled water annually	$15 billion
Total amount of cases of water sold in the U.S. annually	2.6 billion
Total Global Water Bottle sales annually	$50 billion

Statistic Verification

Source: Drop The Prop, International Bottled Water Association

Date Verified: 2.24.2012

What happens after a Quake...there are Aftershocks. What About the US Economy?

What if you read a book that said the future for the economy is anything but recovery. It focused on indicators that many don't recognize or have chosen to ignore. Who needs more bad news..Right? I couldn't agree with you more on the lack of a need for more bad news, however where I might disagree is the idea of putting our head into the sand and not taking any steps to understand what is in store for the future of our economy. The point of this message is that the truth is not always what we want to hear or can handle. However, the intent is not to discourage or insight fear, it is a message of a reality that could present itself in the next few years and if we don't take steps there is a good chance we will not be ready. The reality of our most recent experience is that many were shocked and surprised by the downturn of the economy in 2008-2009 and were caught completely off guard with respect to having a business or personal strategy to deal with a downturn of that magnitude. Personally speaking I was one of those caught of guard with my business that we started in 2005 but was yet to show a true sign of life. I realized at the onset that starting a new business was not easy or to be taken lightly but we did the research and found what we thought to be a viable business plan and strategy to open a discount store that catered to the dollar store market as well as the discount store. We aligned with the branding of the day and called it a dollar plus store to suggest it would carry a large inventory of items typical to a dollar store but in addition a number of upscale products that were discount items and not dollar store. We met many challenges as new businesses do, like questions from our clients like why isn't everything a dollar and working with a business start up company that were extremely helpful upfront but once they had our money became less and less available to assist our needs. While our discount store business is a lesson in itself it is not the focus of this message. The reason I mention our stores that open in 2005 and 2007 as independent dollar plus location one in Schaumburg and the other in Hoffman Estates IL. Is to point out that what was a struggle in the beginning became a business failure nightmare as we entered the worst economy downturn in the United States since the great depression. While the hand writing may have been on the wall given the number of obstacles we encountered along the way when we saw major chains announcing they were closing their doors and laying off thousand of people we knew this was more than a usual downturn but a major shift in the world economy as we knew it. I was doing a little research on forecast for the future and ran across a book that I suggest anyone that wants to plans for the uncertain times to come and have a true chance of both understanding the reasons why and having viable recommendations on how to prepare for it. The title of the book is Aftershock 2^nd Edition written by the author given credit for providing the best prediction for the first financial meltdown in the United States in 2008-2009 that impacted not only the US economy but had a ripple affect across the world. The authors David Wiedemer PHD, Robert Wiedemer and Cindy Spitzer knew the worst was yet to come and felt compelled to disclose the facts as they understood them in a hope it would position those who heard and got the message we have a better chance to position themselves for whats to come. Their first book in the series called the America's Bubble Economy by John Wiley & Sons in 2006) accurately predicted the popping of major economy bubbles or indicators of the health of the US economy. These bubbles were the following

• Real Estate Bubble
• Private Debt Bubble
• Stock Market Bubble
• Consumer Spending Bubble

In two years later most of their prediction began to come true. Then in November of 2009 they released the next book in the series Aftershock to predict further erosion of the US economy based on fundamental underlying pattern. Then in 2011 the authors realized based on the feedback and further questions from the general public they felt compelled to follow-up on the Aftershock with a 2^nd Edition .

A statement from the 2^nd Edition is “Because our first two books were right now you can be right Too”.

The 2^nd edition address why the first two books were so accurate and why further investigation and research assured them that while many people think and hope the economy will get better but the truth of the matter is that it won't. They further address two other major bubble that will ultimate pop and lead to further issues impacting our economies ability to recover. The other two bubble are the following:

• The Dollar Bubble
• Government Debt Bubble

The Aftershock 2^nd Edition will help you to understand what is going to happen next...and what steps and actions you could and should take to minimize the impact on yourself and those you love. The important lesson I have learned from this book is that everything doesn't have to be a surprise if we first take time to learn from the experience and knowledge of others and secondly we take steps to do something productive with the information. How do you invest and protect yourself for the Aftershock that is expected between now 02013 and 2016.

Aftershock the 2^nd Edition...Recovery? What recovery? Don't Get fooled Again?

Pick it up at your local library, it is a great read