It is so important, yet, so overlooked! When you look at the chart below, you see how big the amount of water is in every cell of your body. To ensure the cells (which make up everything) are nice and healthy, we need to consume great building blocks, and these include water.
Let’s start with what we use mostly: tap water and bore water
It is a huge blessing that our water doesn’t carry infectious and dangerous microorganisms which cause epidemics and sicknesses. This is a problem in undeveloped countries and caused a lot of suffering in the past.
However, the reuse and treatment of water does bring issues which we shouldn’t ignore either.
Depending on the availability of water in a certain area, water has to be recycled. This brings up many concerns which I outline only roughly below.
1. Human and animal waste
Most waste products in the sewage are being eliminated through chemical or physical treatments which are
essential to keep the water supply safe. Some of them however cannot be removed. Pharmaceuticals that people take and then eliminate in the toilet include contraceptive pills, pain medication, antibiotics and much more.
I’m not sure about you, but I would much rather stay away from other people’s drugs! By drinking and cooking with tap water, you consume huge amounts of compounds which you would never think of taking if someone would give you the choice.
As mentioned before, all those dangerous microbes need to be killed somehow and I am very, very grateful that I don’t have to fear the plague or any other horrible sickness that has wiped-out whole areas.
Still, these chemicals used in water treatment harm us, too, and many of them aren’t even necessary to use. Many of us would know the chlorine smell in water, which is used as disinfectant, but to reduce this smell, we get a cocktail of additional chemicals on top of it. I understand that people don’t want to smell chlorine in their water, but it doesn’t do us any favour to add more to the mix.
Also, farming uses a variety of chemicals on a daily basis. After these chemicals have been used and are soaked up by the ground, they collected in the groundwater — which is used as drinking water. Not only that, but farmers also end up putting these chemicals they use back in the water supply by draining the water into the environment.
3. Heavy metals
Depending on the age of your house or area where you live, you might have pipes that leak heavy metals into your water. Heavy metals have the tendency to accumulate in the thyroid which causes chronic, often undiscovered, thyroid dysfunctions. It also affects brain and endocrine health which shows after years of heavy metal exposure in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and even autism in the offspring — just to name a few.
If you want to find out more about the water supply in your area, just check out the website that the government supplies for the Department of Water.
Bottled water seems like a good option for many people because it is nicely packed, seems clean and safe, and is simply convenient.
Most people (including me in the past) can’t think of another way to get their water supply than using bottled water.
It might actually be a wonderful solution for your water problem to buy it from the store.
There are differences in bottled water, and I would like to help you make an informed decision when you get your water mostly from the store.
1. Plastic bottles
Whatever you do, please try to avoid any kind of plastic bottle for your water! BPA’s are leaking out into your water and you drink basically plastic tea which might change your hormone function. It also leaves plastic particles in your cells and blood and is just really hard for the body to get rid of!
2. Glass bottles
Glass bottles are a much better way to store your water! There is no nastiness in the bottle itself and you can even reuse it! If you have the choice, always pick the glass bottle instead of plastic. Your liver will thank you for that!
3. Distilled water
You can find distilled water in some health food shops or in pharmacies. This water goes through such a thorough clarifying process that nothing is left in the water when it hits the store shelves… no minerals, no bacteria, no viruses, nothing.
This is good if you need to have the cleanest option possible, but if you are just a normal human being who wants to stay hydrated, it might cause you some trouble because this is “hungry water”. In other words, because it is not attached to minerals that are naturally in drinking water, it will attach itself to cells and enzymes in your body and won’t be very effective hydrating you if you don’t add minerals to it.
Spring water is the best option for drinking water because the springs usually come from water pools that are deep below the surface. They are still protected from pollutants and are enriched by wonderful minerals that the water picks up on the way up to the surface.
More and more people have started harvesting their water to drink the healthiest, most nutritious water possible. On the website www.findaspring.com you can look up natural springs that are around your area. Some springs are even in the middle of villages and very easy to access. Have a look if you are interested, It is definitely worth getting your water from a spring close by because it is the water with the best ratio of minerals, least polluted source and it’s free!
We know our most available options now. What’s the solution?
Not all of us are able to go out and climb around for hours to get a few litres of drinking water.
How about we filter our tap and bore water?
This is a great way to ensure that we cook and drink chemical-free water and don’t have to put up with everything that the treatment process includes.
However water filtering systems come in different forms. Some of them (like Britta) only remove the smell and some of the calcium without actually removing toxins and chemicals. I don’t recommend those because they are just a waste of money and time. Then there are counter top filters like www.southerncrosspottery.com.au which remove (depending on the filter that you choose) varying amounts of chemicals from the water with a natural charcoal and ceramic filtering system.
–If you don’t filter your water, you are the filter because your body will always try to get the cleanest choice possible. —
Bottled Water – there are great options!
As mentioned before, there are wonderful water suppliers that fill their water in glass bottles and are very conscious about the water that they provide. If you think you found a great company just go ahead and ask them about their process and where they get their water from. Honest companies will always be open and transparent about their actions. If they aren’t, you might not want to support them anyway.
Upgrade your distilled water
Distilled water might be “hungry water”, but sometimes it’s the cleanest and best option available. A good trick is to ‘feed’ your water before you consume it. You can do that with a little bit of natural rock salt and/or a supergreen blend.
Per Kilogram of body weight, you need to drink 0.033 litres of water.
Example: 65kg of body weight. 65 x 0.033 = 2.145 litres
Of course, you will need to be mindful about your water intake in hot and humid climate which will increase the amount of water that you need to drink.
Also, for every cup of coffee or black tea, you need to consume an extra glass of water because of the dehydrating effect of caffeine containing beverages.
Struggling to drink enough?
Me too! These are my tricks:
Make it the temperature that you love (it doesn’t matter if you miss out on benefits – like faster hydration from cold water. As long as you drink that water, you get the greatest benefits!)
- Don’t sip – gulp it! (many people hate to drink water because it takes so long to drink that glass or bottle. Make it a quick win for your day)
- Pimp it up with:
- Apple cider vinegar
- Frozen berries
- Herbal tea
- Have certain times when you drink big amounts of water
- Use cravings to remind you to drink
- Check your urine regularly for colour (it should be a very light yellow)