Last week we discussed dehydration and how crucial water intake can be for your health. We started with five tips to maximize the benefits of drinking water – here are five additional tips to urge you to increase your water intake for your health.

Tip #6: Avoid distilled water unless you are doing a special cleanse. Distillation consists of boiling and evaporating water and then re-condensing the vapor or steam back into liquid water. This is a very natural process and is exactly what occurs when water evaporates into the air and then falls to the ground as rain.

There are some very serious problems with drinking distilled water. Distillation (as with reverse osmosis) creates a “hungry” water. This means it is devoid of minerals and, as a result, distilled water tends to attract to itself to whatever minerals it touches. When you drink distilled water, as soon as it enters your body it begins to grab and hold onto minerals. This process is called chelation.

When the distilled water passes out of the body through the kidneys, some of these minerals are lost to the body. Since it is a mild form of chelation, if you drink distilled water for more than a few weeks or months, over time it will remove vital minerals from the body and leave you depleted. This is extremely harmful today because most of us are low in vital minerals to begin with, and we need to obtain more of them any way we can. You can absorb many healthy minerals from drinking water. In fact, good water can supply 30 or 40 trace minerals that the body needs in small quantities. Unlike spring water or even tap water, distilled water is lacking minerals, so it is a far less desirable option for that reason.

Tip #7: Avoid Reverse Osmosis. It is by far the most common method of water filtration. When you get water from a health food store, grocery store, or water purification store it is usually RO. RO water is made by passing water at high pressure through a plastic membrane with tiny holes in it. Most of the minerals and chemicals in the water are too large to pass through the membrane and remain behind, thus you get water free of chemicals, pathogens and minerals. This may sound good but there is a down-side.

RO water, in general, does not hydrate the body well: It is unfortunate, but I’ve seen people who drink a lot of water and still have signs of dehydration in their lab work. The best hypothesis as to why is due to the plastic membrane, which must damage the water in some subtle way that we do not understand. RO water is great if you’re traveling in Mexico, but it isn’t good for long term home use.

Tip #8: Get a good water filter. Carbon filters definitely can help clean up tap water and other types of water. They must be changed regularly and frequently, and one must understand that they cannot remove most toxic metals or some toxic chemicals. Also, beware of bacterial growth on carbon.

Tip #9: Drink spring water whenever possible. Become a label reader. If you’re in the airport or a grocery store and must buy your water, make sure it’s spring water and not RO, or semi-filtered tap water. Wild water is also an excellent option. This is water that is filtered naturally by rocks and sand in nature. It is wild spring water. Check to see if there is a clean, wild spring near you and fill up those water bottles!

Tip #10: Resources: My previous whole house filter was made by LifeSource and I’m happy with it. I’ve also used Nikken’s counter top filter, but it needed regular cleaning. The popular Britta filters can help with removing bad tastes but not bad chemicals. There are many Alkalizing water systems on the market, but the research just isn’t sound. Alkaline water is any water above a pH of 7.0. Most tap water is higher than this because acidic water ruins pipes. The fancy machines that alkalize your water have no Gold Standard studies performed on them – from a third party, with double blind, peer reviewed research, etc. Testimonials just aren’t enough for the science geek in me. Alkaline water quickly turns acidic in your stomach because of the important acid used to digest your food. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t waste my money until real research is actually conducted.

If none of this water information is new to you, if you drink a lot of spring water, and nothing seems to be working to shift your symptoms then please consider doing a Comprehensive Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis with me. Not only will we verify your hydration status, but you will get the answers you’ve been waiting for. We will identify the root causes of your exhaustion and mysterious symptoms, so you can finally heal and thrive.

I know what it’s like to suffer with mysterious symptoms and to go from doctor to doctor looking for answers, leaving with feelings of frustration and hopelessness. I want to help you avoid any more suffering.

Drink to your health and make it spring water!

Blessings of Vibrant Health,

Kristin Grayce McGary

Health & Lifestyle Alchemist