We have heard for a very long time that we should drink 8 glasses of water a day. It helps remove toxins and chemicals from your body. It cushions your joints, carries oxygen and nutrients into all your cells and helps regulate your body temperature.
However, is drinking water doing us harm at the same time? Some local waters can contain trace amounts of nitrates, pesticides, heavy metals, radioactive compounds, petrochemicals and parasites. Water isn’t something we can avoid, we need it to survive. So what is the solution? Doctors and professionals have recommended different types of water as being the best water to drink-from bottled water, to boiling your water, to home filtering systems and more. How the hell do we know who to listen to and what he truth really is. Let’s put the facts together.
Scenario:
Drinking distilled or reverse osmosis water
Reaction:
Regular consumption will strip the body of magnesium, calcium and trace minerals. There is a risk of osteoporosis, osteo-arthritis, hypothyroidism, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and other degenerative diseases. Distilled water and reverse osmosis water is often sold as bottled water and creates major environmental concerns.
Truth:
Distilled water is boiled and evaporated. It has no minerals in it.
Scenario:
Drinking Ionized or alkalized water
Reaction:
Toxic chemicals are released into the environment and our bodies from these plastic bottles. Emissions of the green house gas carbon dioxide, caused by transporting bottled water within and between countries, contribute to the global problem of climate change.
Truth:
These machines don’t purify the water as much as they physically modify it by producing high levels of negative ions via electrolysis.
Scenario:
Drinking carbon filtered water
Reaction:
These filters can accumulate bacteria over time and it is then dispensed back into your drinking water, which can be harmful.
Truth:
If the filter is changed within 6 months to a maximum of 1 year, carbon filtered water would be your best source of drinking water.
Conclusion:
Who would have thought, right in our own homes, right under our noses. Sometimes the easiest solution is the best solution. Bottled water sounds so fancy and it cost’s so much that it has to be good, right? Nope, in fact, bottled water is only required to meet minimum tap water standards in the US. Minimum tap water standards require only that there is no visible Bacterial Growth and that it is free of disease-causing organisms. Bottled water is regulated under the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations and under the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act. They, unfortunately, don’t regulate organics, heavy metals or radio-nuclides. Not to mention the sheer number of plastic bottles produced each year, and the energy required to manufacture and transport these bottles to market severely drains limited fossil fuels. Bottled water companies, due to their unregulated use of valuable resources and their production of billions of plastic bottles have presented a significant strain on the environment.
Go to http://www.allaboutwater.org/environment.html to learn more about bottled water and the environment.
