You use water in ALL of your body’s processes. In fact, this fluid makes up 60% of your body. That’s why staying hydrated is essential in keeping all you functioning optimally. Water is especially critical for cell repair and waste removal. Detoxification, which can be supported with supplements such as Glutathione and Coconut Charcoal, also uses this precious liquid. I’ll explain why this is so important below.
Recent research has shown the optimal water intake averages 15.5 cups per day for men and 11.5 cups per day for women. However, it could be more or less depending on what the weather is like and how active you are. That may seem like a lot. However if you think of it as less than a cup every hour, then it’s more manageable.
To provide your body with enough of this essential nutrient, I recommend keeping a reusable stainless steel tumbler on hand. And the type of clean water you fill your tumbler with matters a lot. Here, we’ll uncover the best water to drink to support your health.
The Different Types
Any time you walk into a grocery or convenience store, you’ll see refrigerator cases and aisles stacked to the rafters with bottles. It’s not just filtered vs. unfiltered water and distilled water vs. purified water anymore! All the different varieties can get confusing. Let me break them down for you.
We’ll discuss the three main types: tap, filtered, and bottled. Under those three umbrellas are several different subgroups.
1. Tap Water
Public Supply
This is the type most people drink. However, its quality can vary widely. According to The Safe Water Drinking Act, “the primary maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) have been set to regulate the levels of arsenic, cyanide, mercury, chromium, and other chemicals associated with risks for public health.”
However, the owners and operators of public water systems must only attain secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCLs). These standards regulate the aesthetics, not purity, of tap water. SMCLs relate to factors such as alkalinity, temperature, odor, color, pH, and hardness. Your water might also have additives such as fluoride.
This lack of tight standards means that you could be consuming heavy metals such as mercury right from your tap. Heavy metals are harmful to health. This is why supplementing with Glutathione and Coconut Charcoal is especially important for those who drink from the public water supply. Glutathione is a potent chelator, or binding agent, of heavy metals and toxins. Coconut charcoal is ideal for moving them out of your body.
Private Well
About 13 million American households have private wells. There are no set standards for private wells. However, you can test the quality using a kit as often as you like to ensure its purity. At-home test kits are available at many hardware stores.
That’s a good idea because run-off from agricultural chemicals, rainfall, or snowmelt can contaminate your private well by washing microorganisms and toxins into your well system. You may also encounter waste leakage from underground oil storage tanks and from septic leach fields.
2. Filtered Water
Filtered water is treated using some kind of filtration system such as activated carbon. There are many types of filters. Yet there isn’t one filtration system that suits all needs. That’s because no single filter type eliminates every kind of contaminant. The average person uses about a gallon of water each day, so you can use that as a guideline for how much you’ll need to filter.
There are multiple filtration methods in addition to contaminants to filter. There are pitcher filters, under-sink filtration systems, and whole-house filters like those available from Aquasana. There’s also my personal favorite: the gravity filtration system.
In a gravity filtration system, you have to manually fill the upper chamber. I find it’s worth the effort because the filters provided with this system remove a wide range of bacteria, viruses, chlorine, pesticides, herbicides, and other harmful toxins.
Let’s take a look at some of the processes and what they can eliminate.
Activated Carbon
Activated carbon blocks are effective at removing chlorine taste and odor. They also filter some chemicals and other contaminants such as lead and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from agriculture as well as microscopic cysts.
Ultraviolet
This process uses a UV lamp to sterilize water that passes through its rays. Ultraviolet technology is able to kill microorganisms including cryptosporidium, E.coli, giardia, and typhus. These filters work very slowly and cannot remove viruses or excess minerals. This is usually an additional step on top of a filtration system.
Alkaline/Ionized
Alkaline water has a higher pH level than plain water. It may have several benefits, including improving bone health and reducing acid reflux, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. It is generally created through a process called electrolysis or ionization. Electricity separates the water molecules into alkaline ions with a negative charge and acidic ions with a positive charge. The acidic ions are siphoned off, leaving behind the alkaline ones.
Reverse Osmosis
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to filter the water. The process can remove arsenic, nitrates, sodium, copper, and lead. It can also filter some organic chemicals and fluoride. It can even make seawater drinkable1 However, RO filters also strip away minerals such as calcium and magnesium that are beneficial. Additionally, they are quite expensive.
3. Bottled Water
Bottled water can be misleading. The term includes water that comes in a carton, a can, or glass or plastic bottle. What’s in that package can be misleading too.
It can be spring water or it can have additives and flavorings. Municipal water that’s treated to ensure it meets certain standards can also be bottled.3 That means you could be paying for a liquid with a fancy label that’s not much different than what you get from your own faucet. Finally, any of the types of filtered waters I discussed above can be bottled.
Spring Water
Spring waters have been popular since the 17th century because they are believed to have healing and therapeutic effects. The terms mineral and spring water are often used interchangeably. However, mineral water is actually a subset of the spring variety.
Spring water comes from a specified source underground or on the surface of the earth. It must be certified fit for human consumption at the source and may undergo minimal processing. The artesian variety, which flows through a rock aquifer, also falls into this category
Mineral water is spring water that is guaranteed to be protected from risks of pollution. The most common minerals found in it are calcium, magnesium and potassium, sodium, bicarbonate, iron, and zinc. It can be “still” or “sparkling” from carbonic acid.
Distilled Water
This is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into liquid in a second container. The impurities stay in the original container while the final product is collected in the second container. Although itsome contaminants that boil at a lower temperature than water could be vaporized, it’s considered 99% pure. The process removes more than 15 different toxins including bacteria, lead, mercury, chlorine, and cryptosporidium, among others.
You’ll probably find it doesn’t taste very good because all that remains as the finished product is hydrogen and oxygen. While removing the impurities, the process also strips away electrolytes your body needs including the calcium, sodium, and magnesium that provide flavor. It’s certainly safe to drink, yet not ideal as a sole water source because of this.
CBD Water
There are many types of “added” waters hitting store shelves including juice infused, herbal varieties, and varieties with extra oxygen added. However, CBD water is becoming one of the most popular of these. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a natural compound from the Cannabis sativa plant, which can impart a feeling of relaxation and calm.
Nanotechnology is used to make miniature particles of CBD molecules that are added to water. These particles are up to one million times smaller than other types of extract such as CBD oil. This significantly improves the bioavailability of the CBD, so it absorbs into your body more quickly.
Which Water Is Best and Why Is it Important?
I believe that filtered water is the healthiest water to drink because you have the most control over its quality. That means ensuring you have a great filtering system and that you drink plenty of it every day — and bathe in it as well! I recommend purchasing a high-quality whole-house purifier or filter so you’re more in control of the process. You know you’re getting high-quality water once you’re done!
If that’s not an option for you, go for a bottled spring or mineral variety that’s been stored in glass bottles. Sparkling mineral water can be a treat, however, I don’t recommend using it as your main drink because it can cause bloating from excess gas. Finally, avoid all beverages from plastic bottles as much as possible. Plastic can release chemicals that mimic estrogen, even if it’s BPA free.
How to Support Your Body
Drinking plenty of fresh, pure water is one of the best things you can do for your body! The health benefits are clear. Not only does it help your body work properly, water also helps remove toxins that can result in chronic illness.
You can boost your body’s toxin removal process with Glutathione. It’s the most powerful free-radical scavenger produced by your body. The custom-formulated glutathione supplement in my store has added magnesium for balance and support.
Help your body complete the detox process with Coconut Charcoal. This activated charcoal binds to and absorbs toxins to offer you support while detoxing. These two are best used in conjunction because glutathione will scavenge the free radicals in your body and then the coconut charcoal moves them out of your system.
