Transcript*

Hello dear friends!

Well, we are at the home stretch of our series on keeping it green by incorporating ways to protect ourselves from the toxic world we live in.

The ubiquitous chemicals found in our food, environment, personal care products, and cleaning agents create havoc in the body and have been linked to various health issues. They are sneaky contributors to disease processes and create a barrier to the vitality and healing responses we all desire, even if we have the best treatment.

This is why we must be educated to take steps to decrease the harmful impact of these substances. This will enhance our overall wellness and make our essential oils, supplements, and lifestyle interventions more effective.

In part one, we began reviewing my resource for greener living. I highlighted the most important points to consider when living in our toxic environment. Next, we discussed how to nourish and feed our bodies with clean and nutrient dense foods to decrease our total chemical burden.

In part two, we reviewed nine tips for cleaning yourself and your house with safe substances. Specifically, we looked at how to avoid unnecessary exposures in the home and how to purchase safer personal care, beauty, consumer, and cleaning products.

Now, in this final section we will discuss why we need to purify our water, various filter types, and my personal preferences for water filtration.

As always, the references and links to previous tips will be in the resource section.

You can also access my full guide on how to live a non-toxic lifestyle as you follow along.

So, let’s get started.

 

Drink to Your Health: High Quality Water for Cellular and Whole-Body Rejuvenation

The solution to pollution is dilution. Yet, what if your hydration is doing more harm than good?

One of the most important areas for avoiding toxins, and one of the most influential, is through purifying our water. In a recent article on water quality and revitalizing the source, published in NDNR, the author states:

The water in our bodies… is high-quality water. It supports metabolism and DNA function, enables nutrient transfer into cells and waste products out, maintains pH, and facilitates electrical communication between cells.1 This is why it is important to consider the implications of the source of the water in our bodies. We also need to educate our patients on what creates high-quality water. 

The referenced publication further discusses the negative consequences of relying on bottled and spring water:

Water essentially becomes a processed food when it goes from spring to package. It may be filtered, subjected to ultraviolet light, ionization, or boiling to ensure freedom from viral or microbial contaminants.3 After this processing, water can contain toxic, volatile organic compounds like benzene and carbon tetrachloride, as well as organic toxins like lead or cadmium…

Furthermore, municipal water has its pitfalls and can’t be relied for being toxin-free. As referenced in the article:

Water supplies can vary greatly in hardness and dissolved contaminants, whether from a well or municipal sources.5 Of most concern are toxic, radioactive, or heavy metals such as arsenic, uranium, or lead.7,8 Excess calcium or other minerals can also create hard water. Even though municipal water is filtered for pollutants and treated for infectious agents, it can still contain pharmaceutical drugs or their metabolites.9

 

How to Purify Your Water

For these reasons, we want to consume quality water. This can be accomplished by removing contaminants and revitalizing our water.

 

1. Removing contaminants

There are several options for purifying our water. These include reverse osmosis, activated carbon, ultraviolet light, and distillation. A combination of these is usually best and often available in most water filtration products.

The following is a list of the various filter type and what they remove. The content was presented to me by one of my environmental medicine instructors in naturopathic school and I combined this with a few of my own findings.

As an FYI, with distilled water and many filtration processes, minerals are removed. Therefore, you will want to ensure you supplement with daily minerals and electrolytes.

 

Water Purifying Options and What They Remove

  • Reverse Osmosis – eliminates particles, pollens, human hairs, yeast, bacteria, and solvents.
  • Carbon Filters   removes or reduces odors, colors, solvents, chlorine and fluorine, pesticides, volatile solvents, and cyanotoxins (toxins from blue-green algae).
  • Ion Exchange – removes heavy metals, salts, minerals, and just about everything.
  • Steam Distillation – can remove heavy metals, micro-organisms, bacteria, sediment, minerals, and contaminants. Volatile organics (gasoline) remain if not used with a carbon filter, because distillation cannot remove substances with lower boiling points than water.
  • Ceramic Filters – takes out algae and protozoa.
  • UV Light – Class A system. Uses UV light as a filter. To work, there needs to be a slow passage of water so that light particles can contact that which is to be killed. This method is often used with hot water tubes to remove microbes. It won’t remove metals or solvents.

 

My Recommended Water Filtration Systems

I am a fan of Berkey filters due to their quality and ability to remove a wide array of dangerous compounds. I also love AquaTru for their convenience and multi-system filtration. I have no affiliation with them, but do own these products myself.

 

The Berkey

The Berkey is my main water filter.

It consists of six media types that result in (a) a matrix of microscopic pores that trap pathogenic bacteria, cysts, parasites, sediment, and materials, (b) adsorption and absorption materials to create an ionic barrier for viruses, (c) ion exchange for removing heavy metals and most contaminants, and (d) has a gravity flow for optimizing removal rate.

Here is a list of all the compounds this filter removes.

 

2. Revitalizing water

After purifying your water, revitalizing it can upgrade it even more.

Revitalizing water is a process that re-structures water in the form that nature intended it. To accomplish this, water must be sent through a flow-form apparatus that uses a precise vortex pattern. This has been said to increase bioavailability of the water and has been shown to have an array of positive, systemic effects.

You can learn more about restructuring your water in the article reference.

 

Wrapping Up the Steps for a Cleaner, Greener Life

Okay, that’s a wrap on your cleaner and greener resources!

Thank you for taking the time to stick with me and empower you and your loved ones’ health with this information.

As I’ve stated before, please try to avoid brain overload with all of this. Just take things a few baby steps at time.

You can always come back to the posts in the series as you move through the steps.

You may want to just take on one thing every few weeks. By the end of a year or so, you can have a completely green, clean home and personal care regime.

Remember, each small action today is an investment in your health in the future.

Here’s to a happier, more rejuvenating life.

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Resources

*Transcript has been edited for grammar and ease of reading.

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Disclaimer: This material is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prescribe for any illness. You should check with your doctor regarding implementing any new strategies into your wellness regime. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. (Affiliation link.)

This information is applicable ONLY for therapeutic quality essential oils. This information DOES NOT apply to essential oils that have not been tested for purity and standardized constituents. There is no quality control in the United States, and oils labeled as “100% pure” need only to contain 5% of the actual oil. The rest of the bottle can be filled with fillers and sometimes toxic ingredients that can irritate the skin. The studies are not based solely on a specific brand of an essential oil, unless stated. Please read the full study for more information.

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