Welcome back! The past couple of days have been pretty grim – sorry about that! I have to be honest though, when you dig in to all the chemicals, preservatives, emulsifiers, additives and other junk put in our food (and cleaning products, personal care, toiletries and hygiene products), it’s an ugly world… but don’t worry! There are a whole slew of eco-friendly, healthy and safe options out there – and I’ll share as many of them as I can with you! After all, that’s what this journey is all about – finding balance for your health 😊
So with that, today’s post is all about water! I can’t tell you how often I hear “why bother with a water filter? Tap water is great!”. “Government juice” as my dad used to call it (and still might…). Here’s what’s up with your tap water… it contains chlorine, which is used to kill off microbes and pathogens found in the public water system. The biggest problem with chlorine is that it competes with iodine for absorption. This is highly problematic because iodine is a critical mineral for thyroid function. The thyroid controls our metabolism, the rate at which each and every cell in our body burns fuel. It is also important for normal tissue growth and development – inadequate amounts of iodine (whether through poor intake or competing elements), leads to inadequate thyroid hormone production. This has a cascading effect that can contribute to hypothyroidism. If you have, or suspect you have hypothyroidism or have an auto-immune thyroid disease (like Hashimotos), get the chlorine out of your water!
The government also adds fluoride to “protect our teeth”. Unfortunately, there are many studies that provide evidence that fluoride is a neurotoxin. Fun times, right? In fact, this article out of Harvard showed that fluoride can negatively impact children’s cognitive development. So why is it still being added to our drinking water? Conspiracy theorists would have us believe it is to make us, as a population, more docile. FYI, fluoride also competes with iodine, which can have devastating effects on the thyroid, as discussed above. Also found in our tap water supply are remnants of all the medications (including antibiotics and birth control pill residues) and hormones that the population takes and excretes. Yuck! Again, is it any wonder why we have antibiotic resistance and hormone disruption?? And guys, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your water… heavy metals, microbes, pathogens… it’s all up in there.
Once I started learning even more about all the nasty stuff in our water that boiling and filtering with a Brita weren’t getting rid of, we got a great Berkey counter-top water filtration system. This was probably one of the best investments we made for our kids’ health. I use the water for everything from drinking water, cooking, soaking nuts/seeds, etc. You can taste the difference too – it’s a fresher, crisper, cleaner tasting water. The Berkey filter out 99.9% of microbes, heavy metals, chlorine, pathogens, etc. The only thing they don’t filter out is fluoride – but there are attachments you can purchase that take care of the fluoride!
Your health and the health of your family, is totally worth the investment! And if you’re using a Brita, you’ll save in the long run by not having to constantly purchase new filters (plus, the Brita doesn’t get out nearly as much as you think it does…).
That’s it for today! Tomorrow, I’m going to delve into the world of personal care products… sorry ladies (and gents) the nastiness doesn’t start and end with food… but there are excellent alternatives that I’m so looking forward to sharing with you!
Until next time!
Yours in balanced health,
Stephanie