All You Need To Know About Water

So, I used to despise water.. Literally despise it. I’ve claimed to be healthy for a long time, but never just drank water. I would drink Propel and iced tea, that was about it, I just did not like the taste! I can imagine that my body was dehydrated all the time. In April of this year, I decided to change that. Starting on April 1, I challenged myself to drink 100 fluid ounces of water (plain water) every day. It was challenging, but I do like to exercise my will power, and on to guzzling I went! I immediately felt amazing. Aside needing to pee ALL the time, my energy level was so much better, and each day became easier and easier to drink more and more water. I even started to like the taste! Since then, I have continued this.. not always 100 oz per day, but I do the best that I can, and that’s all we can do, right?!

Now that I feel MUCH healthier overall, I started researching much more about what type of water is the best to drink, here are the main types of waters offered and a little about each one:

Tap Water: Straight out of the sink.. This water contains heavy metals, fluoride, chlorine, all sorts of medicines and hundres of chemicals. Nothing in tap water is regulated. Fluoride causes weakening bones, which can cause osteoporosis and cancer, and it is literally added to EVERY municipal water supply in the country. Tap water is no suitable for drinking, as it as many toxic metals and chemicals.

Drinking Water: This is bottled water that comes from a municipal water supply, so you may as well just drink out of the tap. Examples of these brands are Sahara and Kirkland.

Distilled Water: This is water that has gone through a heavy filtration process to strip it of contaminants, but also natural minerals. To distill water, it is boiled to remove chemicals from the water. Industrially distilled water is the best, however, a home distiller cannot match the purity level of industrial. Since it does not have any minerals in it, it grabs onto minerals in the body when consumed, this is called chelation. It can be used for a short amount of time to remove toxic metals and chemicals from the body, however, longterm use will result in vital mineral deficiencies. Examples of distilled water are Sparkletts and SmartWater.

Mineral Water: This water has no less than 250 parts per million completely dissolved minerals from the source that it is taken from. Minerals are not added to it. Example brand is Panna, an Italian brand.

Sparkling Mineral Water: Fizzy water. This water contains exactly the same carbon dioxide amount that it had when taken from the source, so all natural. May be labeled as sparkling drinking water, sparkling mineral water, sparkling spring water, etc. Perrier and Pellegrino are examples of this one.

Well Water: While this can be fine, it is often contaminated. This can be especially true if the land of someone’s location was ever used for industry or agriculture. At any rate, it can easily become contaminated with minerals such as iron and manganese. This can easily create manganese toxicity, as well as other types. Best advice on this one is to check carefully before using well water for drinking water.

Spring Water: This is a great type of water to drink. It has been naturally filtered by the earth, and contains a variety of trace minerals that the body does need. Examples are Evian, Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, etc. This one is all good.

Artesian Water: This is also spring water that comes from a well that is in the earth which tapes a water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand in which the water level is above the top of the aquifer. Example brand is Fiji.

Reverse Osmosis Water: Water like this is passed through a high pressure system that goes through a plastic filter. It is used in almost all home and commercial water machines, even in health food stores. It is found to not hydrate as well as spring water, and is actually not a good water to drink. It’s not that minerals have been added to it, but the fact that is has ALREADY passed through a PLASTIC membrane, the damage is already done. An example of this water is Dasani.

Alkaline Water: This water is ionized to increase it’s pH level between an 8 and 10.There are also many alkaline water systems where the water passes through a carbon filter, which doesn’t remove many toxic metals or chemicals. It then passes over electrified platinum and titanium plates to alkalinize it. Platinum and titanium are deadly toxic metals and can create toxicity in the body. Other alkalizers add coral calcium to make it more alkaline, which is another form of toxic metal. Now, this is in reference to PURIFIED “man-made” alkaline water. In regards to NATURAL alkaline water, it is the best. It is important to read labels to see that it is not a purified alkaline water, which is so common in grocery and health food stores. Read the labels!

In conclusion, the best waters to drink are spring/artesian water and NATURAL alkaline water.

Now, that’s not where this stops. What does water come in? Plastic bottles. Plastic bottles contain a major chemical that is a hormone disruptor that mimics estrogen in the body.. it is called BPA (aka Bisphenol-A). It is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, estrogen dominance syndrome and a mess of other diseases. Time Magazine reported that in their research, nearly every American as BPA in their body due to all the plastic present in our daily lives. MOST plastic bottles have BPA, HOWEVER, there are brands that DO NOT and it will ALWAYS state on the bottle BPA-Free.

Now, perhaps you want to switch to metal bottles, there is also BPA in those, and stainless steel can leach metal into the water as well. Again, it is important to find non-toxic alternatives.

How about a glass bottle? Well, they also leach chemicals, like aluminum. Aluminum is sometimes added to soda-lime glass to make it durable. This type of glass is used in everyday things like beverage bottles, jars for food, and drinking glasses.. However, it is much safer than plastic.

I have compiled a list of the best water in BPA-free packaging.

Pellegrino in glass bottles

Perrier in glass bottles

Panna in glass bottle

Another brand that I REALLY like is Glacier Isle. Upon a little research, apparently you can only find it at Rite-Aid of all places! I’m sure that these are not all brands, but a vast majority of the more popular ones! There is also an option to invest in a counter or undercounter home filter/revitalizer HERE.

If you are lucky enough to have bulk water either in your home or at work, I would invest in a S’well bottle below.. They are BPA free and keep cold beverages colt and hot beverages hot! Multi-use and non-toxic!