I wasn’t sure how to kick off the health section of this blog. I have a long list of topics and ideas, gadgets to review, topics I enjoy and on and on. But why not start with maybe the most basic thing I can think of? Water. Why? Between seeing a bunch of confused posts on X lately and family members visiting and swearing tap water is fantastic, I realized a lot of people are not as informed as they should be.
Is tap water safe?
In short. Maybe? But probably kind of…
What do I mean? I mean it’s almost certainly not optimal. When is the last time you have tested the water coming out of your faucet? Have you reviewed the testing documents at your local water plant? You can look up your utility here by the way, just enter your zip code: EWG Tap Water Database
Most likely there is areas of concern with your utility. And how much can change via transit in underground pipes on its way to your faucet? Does it get contaminated? Ever run a faucet after you were gone a month and the water is discolored?
Chlorine is often used to help with keeping the water bacteria free during transit. Why? Because your water can get contaminated during transit! And I’ll ask again – when was the last time you did a full test on the water coming out of your faucet? Never? I thought so.
What about fluoride being added? Is that safe for consumption long term? Probably not.
In other words, tap water is probably not going to kill you – short term – but is risky and not optimal. It would be foolish to consume unfiltered water on the regular at home. Especially when it’s so easy to filter!
What kind of filter should I use?
This post would get far too long if I tried to review every type of filter. I’m going to start off by saying please don’t stop at this section and make sure to read on past filtering – as there is important caveats when you filter your water that need to be considered.
What do I use? For drinking water, I almost exclusively use an AquaTru Classic – search around as you can always find a $100+ coupon off the purchase price. This is a countertop Reverse Osmosis filtration system. You could also do an undercounter RO system if you so desire. As of right now, no other technology outperforms reverse osmosis. It’s essentially a hard membrane that when used with pressure – water, and only water, can get through it. It’ll filter out every contaminant you can imagine, including fluoride, and give you the cleanest possible drinking water.
There is also other types of filtration that are perfectly reasonable and more cost effective. I really like what the folks at Hydroviv are doing with custom filters. They’ll pull up your utility, review the water testing, and provide you with a filter custom made for maximum filtration. Is it as good as RO? No. But it’s still a fantastic option for creating safe water at home. I use them on my kitchen faucets!
Other companies like Zero Water are putting out fantastic filtration products, too. And if that’s your budget, then that’s still a great option!
I’m sure there are plenty of other great filters out there, too. Just do some research and find one that works for you. The key here is to actually… filter.
What about refrigerator filters? Can’t I just drink from my fridge dispenser?
Is the refrigerator filter optimal? No. Is it better than tap water? Absolutely. It’ll still remove quite a bit of contamination and they do a great job at removing the chlorine. But we focus on “optimal” around here and want to do better than basic!
Minerals. Minerals. Minerals.
You have perfectly filtered water. Zero contamination. Nothing but good ol’ H2O – it doesn’t possibly get better or more optimal than that, right?
Not so fast!
Until recently, humans didn’t have the ability to filter literally everything out of water. We didn’t evolve that way. We drank from streams, rivers, lakes and springs – and maybe boiled the water to kill bacteria. But our water was mineralized, naturally.
Lack of minerals is a real concern, and drinking pure, mineral free water can leech these much-needed minerals from your body and lead to health issues.
Luckily, it’s quite simple to remineralize your water. One option is to use a remineralizatin filter – AquaTru has one for the countertop model, and most RO providers also have them available. I’m not a fan as they are limited and don’t provide all necessary minerals. Simply, it’s sub-optimal – but better than nothing.
I prefer to use ConcenTrace Drops – I bring the small bottle with me when traveling and have a large bottle at home next to my filter. Just add a few drops to your water and that’s it. Tastes great, too. The benefit is that these drops contain all trace minerals available from a clean source (Great Salt Lake).
I have a future blog post lined up that will go far more in depth on minerals and how to get them – coffee, fulvic, sea water? Yup! Please follow me on X and subscribe to my newsletter for updates.
Other options? Water delivery!
Don’t want to use drops and fancy filters? Fortunately, there are natural water providers that don’t strip the water of minerals. They’ll deliver to your house, in glass bottles. My recommendation is Mountain Valley Spring Water. It’s water the way it probably should be, natural – full of minerals.
Water doesn’t need to be difficult. Filter it + mineralize it – or order natural spring water to your home.
Did I miss anything obvious? Let me know your thoughts!
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