In Defense of Water
Setting: hunched protectively over a drinking fountain.
I drink around 6 glasses of water a day--big glasses, not cups, not juice glasses, I mean a GLASS of water, like 16oz or so. I started this habit when I was in high school and all the buzz about how important it was to drink water started going around the media (found out later this was all pushed by bottled-water companies, but seeing as how I drink tap water, I remain mildly amused by this fascinating ad ploy).
Now what works for one person will not work for everyone, but here's what I discovered about me and water:
1) I lost weight without doing anything else differently, about 4 lbs in fact.
2) My acne all but disappeared (which, for a teenager, is a big deal)
3) I had more energy
4) My easily activated motion-sickness decreased by about 80%, which made travel way, waaaay more tolerable.
I also learned that there are a surprising number of people out there who just don't like water. (!?!!) Which, from an evolutionary stand-point, doesn't bode well for their genes, but that's another story. When these people would see me refilling my environmentally-friendly aluminum water bottle over and over again, a lot of them would scoff and say, "If you're really interested in staying hydrated, you should drink sports drinks, like 'Gatorade.' They hydrate BETTER than water!"
I was skeptical of these claims, to say the least. I mean, the root of "hydrate" is "hydro," which means water. Generally I nodded politely and then went back to drinking my clean, lightly fluoridated and completely free tap water, while they gave hundreds if not thousands of their dollars to PepsiCo in exchange for the privilege of ingesting water laced with several chemicals whose names I cannot pronounce.
Then, today, this article showed up in the paper:
http://seattletimes.com/html/foodwine/2020216818_gatoradelabelxml.html
If you don't feel like reading it, I will summarize: PepsiCo just now decided to stop putting Brominated Vegetable Oil (of BVO) in their citrus-flavored 'Gatorade.' They were using it to keep the flavorings from separating from the water, but this was controversial as BVO has been banned as a food additive in India, Japan and the EU. Why? Oh nothing...just linked to neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones.
Apparently it's also a patented flame retardent. Yum.
So, to conclude: a) major kudos to Sarah Kavanaugh for pursuing her petition to PepsiCo for the removal of BVO and her ultimate success, and b) let me toast your health with a nice glass of free, lightly fluoridated tap water (translation: suck it, H2O haters).
I drink around 6 glasses of water a day--big glasses, not cups, not juice glasses, I mean a GLASS of water, like 16oz or so. I started this habit when I was in high school and all the buzz about how important it was to drink water started going around the media (found out later this was all pushed by bottled-water companies, but seeing as how I drink tap water, I remain mildly amused by this fascinating ad ploy).
Now what works for one person will not work for everyone, but here's what I discovered about me and water:
1) I lost weight without doing anything else differently, about 4 lbs in fact.
2) My acne all but disappeared (which, for a teenager, is a big deal)
3) I had more energy
4) My easily activated motion-sickness decreased by about 80%, which made travel way, waaaay more tolerable.
I also learned that there are a surprising number of people out there who just don't like water. (!?!!) Which, from an evolutionary stand-point, doesn't bode well for their genes, but that's another story. When these people would see me refilling my environmentally-friendly aluminum water bottle over and over again, a lot of them would scoff and say, "If you're really interested in staying hydrated, you should drink sports drinks, like 'Gatorade.' They hydrate BETTER than water!"
I was skeptical of these claims, to say the least. I mean, the root of "hydrate" is "hydro," which means water. Generally I nodded politely and then went back to drinking my clean, lightly fluoridated and completely free tap water, while they gave hundreds if not thousands of their dollars to PepsiCo in exchange for the privilege of ingesting water laced with several chemicals whose names I cannot pronounce.
Then, today, this article showed up in the paper:
http://seattletimes.com/html/foodwine/2020216818_gatoradelabelxml.html
If you don't feel like reading it, I will summarize: PepsiCo just now decided to stop putting Brominated Vegetable Oil (of BVO) in their citrus-flavored 'Gatorade.' They were using it to keep the flavorings from separating from the water, but this was controversial as BVO has been banned as a food additive in India, Japan and the EU. Why? Oh nothing...just linked to neurological disorders and altered thyroid hormones.
Apparently it's also a patented flame retardent. Yum.
So, to conclude: a) major kudos to Sarah Kavanaugh for pursuing her petition to PepsiCo for the removal of BVO and her ultimate success, and b) let me toast your health with a nice glass of free, lightly fluoridated tap water (translation: suck it, H2O haters).