"Expect poison from the standing water." -William Blake
Drinking lots of clean water is necessary for good health (as is high-quality food, exercise and sleep). Water seems uncomplicated - it tends to come from a bottle or the sink. In many developed countries (including the U.S.), municipal water has been purified and is drinkable from the tap. So how clean is the water that you drink?
Bottled water. Unless you are testing your water, you probably don't know how "pure" it really is. Some testing suggests that it is no cleaner than tap water, as this old USA Today article reports. Bottled water also doesn't contain fluoride, which helps prevent cavaties. It may not be any better than tap, and it costs more in terms of your wallet (no need to pay money for something that provides no value over the free stuff), and the environment (all those needless plastic bottles being used). Of course, you can filter it, but what's the point? Not so smart, slick.
Tap water. Tap water is either from the town or your well. If you have well water, you are responsible for making sure it isn't contaminated. If you have municipal water, your municipality is supposed to make sure it meets EPA standards. It also has fluoride added to it for your dental health. However, the municipality does not guarantee pipes won't leak contaminants into your water (like the pipes in your house). In addition, pharmaceuticals have been found in tap water. This is an increasing trend as more people consume drugs (e.g. antibiotics, antidepressants, hormones). Some of these drugs are used by the body, and the rest are uirinated out. Human health issues may not yet be attributed to pharmaceuticals in water, but it has affected wildlife and agriculture. It's not clean and it's not yet regulated. It's just gross. Want to check your municipal water? Look here for EPA report, and here for 2005 University of Cincinnati study (funded by Pur).
Distilled water. Distilled water has had all contaminants and minerals removed from it. If you do not have access to drinkable water, this is an alternative. However, distilled water has had all trace minerals removed, which are important for humans and found in water. The opposite of distilled water - hard water - is high in minerals and is associated with beneficial cardiovascular benefits. The human body is slightly alkaline, and since distilled water is extremely absorbant, it absorbs carbon which makes it more acidic than the human body. It also dissolves some metals. MindfulEats does not recommend drinking distilled water for an extended period of time.
Given the water options, MindfulEats recommends using filtered tap water. Filtered water is cheaper than bottled water, and may be cleaner. After researching different filters, we immediately replaced our Brita pitcher with a Pur pitcher.
What to do - Filter Your Drinking/Cooking Water
- Buy a filter. There are several systems - ConsumerSearch provides a good overview. The best system is a faucet filter since you don't need to continuously fill a pitcher - making it easier for families and cooking. It also filters out more impurities than pitchers. Pur and Brita faucet filters are good alternatives. If you live in NYC, a Bed, Bath and Beyond salesperson told us that the Pur faucet filter quickly gets clogged in 7-10 days and returned, so use a Brita. If your faucet doesn't fit a filter (as ours doesn't), than use a pitcher filter. The Pur pitchers are far better than the Brita. Pur filters out the same heavy metals as Brita, AND it filters out microbial cysts and 96% of pharmaceuticals. We don't like plastic, but the companies state the plastic is BPA-free
- Use filtered water for all consumption purposes. Drinking, cooking, making coffee and tea.
- Don't run hot water through the filter.
- Replace your filter as needed. Filters become clogged with contaminants, and if you use a clogged-up filter to purify water, it can dump excess contaminants into the water, making it even worse than unfiltered.
For more information on different types of water filters, read here. If you search online, you may find a site called waterfiltercomparisons.com. The grain of salt to read it with is here (very entertaining).
What I ate: 4 clementines, 1 c. yogurt + ground flax seeds + jam, 1 slice whole wheat bread + hummus, 1 banana, 1 orange, 1/2 City Bakery hot chocolate (dumped the other half, which impressed me), 12 oz. kombucha, 2 handfuls of Mindful Mix, 1 c. barley, roasted eggplant, squashes and portobella mushrooms, 1 hot chocolate, 4 squares dark chocolate, 45 oz. water.
Exercise: ran 9 miles
