MYTHS ABOUT DISTILLED WATER
Distilled water is the purest water you can drink. That should surely make it the healthiest fluid you can drink.
However, some myths have persistently hung around drinking distilled water and help put some people off this wonderful, pure drink.
1 – Distillation makes water “useless”
Water is the foundation of all life on this planet. Without it, you will die very quickly.
Distillation removes all the contaminants that can make water dangerous, so will it also take out many beneficial minerals.
The answer is yes, but the question is framed incorrectly.
The minerals in water are so dispersed that to gain any real health benefits from them you would have to drink gallon upon gallon of ordinary water every day. For example, to get enough calcium from your water to meet the recommended daily allowance set by the authorities in Boston, you would have to drink nearly 2,000 glasses of water.
2 – Distilled water will remove beneficial minerals from your body
Distilled water will not remove anything useful from your body. The minerals you need are safely stored inside the cells of your body; nothing is going to take them out of there.
Distilled water may, however, help remove minerals that have been rejected by your cells as surplus to requirements. That’s why it’s so useful in detoxes.
3 – Drinking distilled water is bad for your teeth
Distilled water is pure. It will not do you any harm. The tiny kernel of truth behind this rumour is that if your water has fluoride added, then distillation will remove it. Whether fluoride in water actually does any good for teeth is hotly disputed, but distilled water will not do your teeth any harm.
4 - Distilled water tastes boring
This rather odd myth seems to relate to the removal of minerals, leading to‘flat’ tasting water. As we have seen, the minerals in water are in such tiny amounts they will do little for your health and have even less effect on taste.
Some older distillers, without carbon filters, may have produced slightly odd tasting water, but that is no longer the case.
We’re also creatures of habit, and if you’re used to drinking tap water you will become accustomed to its taste. The purity of distilled water can be a shock.
5 – Distilled water leaves organic chemicals behind
Distilled water is boiled, and gases will be vented off in the distillation process. Carbon filters will deal with any organic chemicals that escape this process.
6 – Distillers are costly to run
American figures estimate the cost of one gallon of distilled water from a typical home machine at around 30 cents. That’s around 22 cents, European. Particularly if you’re accustomed to shelling out for bottled water, you’ll soon be saving money while enjoying the purity and taste of water as nature intended it to be.
IMPORTANCE OF REHYDRATION
Water is important for overall health. Rehydration ensures that the amount of water necessary for your body to function normally is enough. People drink water to remain rehydrated properly. Rehydration prevents dehydration, which occurs during breathing, sweating and excretion. Your body makes use of a combination of eating and drinking to remain sufficiently rehydrated.
Rehydration is important for the most effective athletic performance. Lack of clean water can prevent people from drinking water to keep their bodies rehydrated. People should use a water distiller to eliminate contaminants in water and keep the body free of waterborne diseases. They are really easy to use and will reassure you that that water you are drinking is as pure as you can find it. It also saves money as you won’t have to constantly be buying bottled water.
When you feel thirsty, your body indicates that it needs rehydration. Dehydration makes your muscles fatigued. You may experience a lack of coordination and muscle cramps. This can prevent an athlete from performing well. The body may also lose its ability to cool itself during such heavy action as tough physical work or sports. Consequently, the body may undergo heat exhaustion or stress. This could be fatal if the levels of exhaustion are too high - a condition known as heat stroke.
Rehydration can help to reduce weight. However, this could have a lot to do with the water filling the stomach than any other digestive reason. If you drink more water during meals, your ability to eat more food may reduce, causing you to reduce weight.
Pregnant women and new mothers are encouraged to stay rehydrated if they want to have healthy bodies and babies. Rehydration enables the body organs of the mother and child to function to an optimum level. Pregnant women also experience less constipation when they drink plenty of water. For you to produce enough milk for your baby, your body needs to stay rehydrated.
Rehydration can assist with preventing or mitigating the effects of such health conditions as bladder infection, kidney stones, vomiting and diarrhea. Rehydration enables your body to recover the water lost through excessive bleeding as well. A simple way to know whether your body needs rehydration is looking at the color of your urine. If your urine appears too concentrated, it may indicate dehydration.
Drink more water and stay healthy.
HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD WE DRINK?
Without water, we die, quickly, much more quickly from dehydration than from starvation. Water is probably the single most important substance in our bodies. Up with the air that we breathe it is what makes us work. We are around ¾ water, it is in our blood and most of our cells, it transmits nutrients round the body and helps flush the bad stuff away.
We lose water through sweat and through our urine and it is important that we replace it.
Thirst is, in fact, a lagging indicator. It is like an emergency signal to our body that only kicks in when we have lost around 1% of our body’s water. If you feel you are already drinking plenty of fluids and are still regularly getting thirsty it may be worth investigating this with your doctor.
None of us are the same and different conditions call for different measures. Our size, the amount of exercise we take and, as water is part of our cooling system, the weather will alter the amount of water we need to take on board.
The UK’s Department of Health has recommended – as a guide – a daily intake of 1.2-litres of fluid. They don’t prescribe water and pretty much everything we drink is based on water, but if you drink 1.2-litres of cola a day, you will be overdosing on sugar and caffeine.
This fluid is supplemented with water contained in the food we eat. Like us, plants and animals are mostly made up of water and we usually get around 1-litre of liquid from our foods.
Dehydration can make us unwell. Thirst is a danger sign, as are headaches, faintness, lethargy and dark urine (our urine should be a pale yellow). If you are feeling off colour, that age old prescription – have a glass of water – may well help you feel better.
The Department of Health guidelines come down unequivocally in favour of water as the best thirst quencher. Milk comes next, but can make us fat, and fruit juices are high in sugar and should be restricted to meal time drinking.
Water has no calories, no sugar, no fat – in fact, if you use a water distiller it won’t add to your waistline, rot your teeth or make you feel jittery.
So, remember the Department of Health’s advice and take around six 200ml or eight 150ml glasses of water a day and you’ll soon be feeling on top of the world.
DILUTING WHISKY WITH WATER
Water is a strange commodity. It is so simple, ubiquitous and essential to us that most see it as one of the most normal things in life. It is only when we are taken outside our comfort zone do we begin to notice it. If you have moved from your home town to a different city, you probably had a shock when you first drank the water from the tap. It tasted different. It is still water, but it is not the water you knew and were accustomed to.
Aside from the health aspect of contaminants in water, every area and region has different tasting water. It will come from a different reservoir, it will be treated by a different plant and different chemicals will be removed and added. For some people the taste of water from an area they are not used to is often unpalatable at first swig. People often buy bottled water from supermarkets to get something they like. This is fine if you are not interested in the health benefits of distilled water, but what if you are a connoisseur of something special, like fine whiskies?
Producers of alcoholic drinks go to great lengths to protect their water source. Many whisky producers say that access to their own wells and their own water supply is a key reason for their particular type and taste of whiskey. Beer producers setting up licensed breweries in different continents lament that they cannot get the same taste from their beer because of the differences in water. Water is essential to the taste of fine liquors, cocktails and beers.
If you are a whisky drinker the chances are you know all about cask whisky. It is a whisky that is usually matured for longer in the cask, and with only the natural dilution from the distilling process. It is expensive and to many people it is the finest example of a quality whisky. Its alcohol strength is usually between 60% and 65% and it is up to the drinker to dilute it to their tastes, allowing for individual freedom in how the whisky is consumed.
Every time you dilute a whisky, be it cask or bottle you are taking a chance. You have removed an area of control from the distiller’s master blender and put your own spin on things. And with water from the tap or from a supermarket bottle you have so many possible variations that you may never get the same taste from the whisky again. With a water distiller you take these chances away. The water distiller will remove 99.8% of the impurities in the water and give you repeatable, consistent tasting water. What better way to ensure you that always get the same taste from the dram of whisky you know you love.
Even with other drinks like a gin and tonic or a cocktail the ice you use can have a drastic effect. The top cocktail bars all ensure that their water remains the same from week to week and month to month. If you’re a fan of quality alcoholic drinks, a water distiller may be the missing ingredient in ensuring you have the best-tasting drink possible.
CARBON FILTRATION VS REVERSE OSMOSIS VS WATER DISTILLER
There are a number of methods of obtaining clean drinking water. They range from methods you can use at home to produce a single jug of clean water, taking tap water from the faucet all the way up to massive industrial operations making clean water from sewage or the ocean’s salt water. The three main ways are Carbon Filtration, Reverse Osmosis and a Water Distiller.
Carbon Filtration
If you have watched documentaries from either of the World Wars you are probably familiar with the chemical attacks that were used (now thankfully banned by the Geneva Convention.) When a gas attack was imminent the soldiers put on gas mask with a small tank at the front that the air passed through. These gas masks work using the same process that some water filtration systems use; carbon filtration. Activated carbon is a chemical compound that is very porous and has a high surface area. Using its adsorption properties when impure water or air is passed over it the porous areas of the activated carbon scrubs the unwanted properties from the water. The little holes are latched onto and the impurities are driven in there, leaving clean water. Activated carbon is also used in a medical setting to treat poisonings and overdoses, where it absorbs the undesired substance from the body. The problem with carbon filtration is that eventually the activated carbon is used up and needs to be replaced.
Reverse Osmosis
Osmosis is a process where two liquids try to find equilibrium between their two chemical states. When one liquid is placed next to another with a semi-permeable barrier between them the chemical solute (the chemical being held by the liquid) is passed between the two so that the liquid ends up containing the same solute. Reverse osmosis turns this process backwards. By pressurising one of the liquids it can push the liquids out of equilibrium, where one liquid will contain all the chemical solute and the other will be free of it. Outside of industrial settings problems come from the disposal of the unneeded solution and the amount and size of equipment needed to pressurise the liquid. Reverse Osmosis units will often take up an entire cupboard in a household setting.
Water has no calories, no sugar, no fat – in fact, if you use a water distiller it won’t add to your waistline, rot your teeth or make you feel jittery.
So, remember the Department of Health’s advice and take around six 200ml or eight 150ml glasses of water a day and you’ll soon be feeling on top of the world.