What Type of Water?

Which Water Should You Drink?

My long, winding, finally-figured-it-out water journey

Here’s a confession: for years, one silly-sounding question quietly stumped me. Which water is actually best to drink? I knew water mattered — deeply. But every expert I trusted seemed to say something different. Some swore by reverse osmosis or distilled. Others insisted on alkaline. Others said spring water. I just wanted a clear answer! So let me take you along on the winding little journey that finally got me one — complete with a stern dance professor, a bowl of mysterious oatmeal, and a finger-wagging Swiss doctor.

The day I got lectured about plastic

My awakening didn’t start with health at all — it started with plastic. Years ago I was waiting for a master dance workshop to begin when a college dance professor swept into the room. She was all elegant posture and quiet authority — the kind of woman you simply listen to — and she took one look at the sea of disposable water bottles around us and gave us a lecture I’ve never forgotten. She painted a picture of a world growing uglier under mountains of discarded plastic, and it lodged in my heart. To this day, I can’t buy a bottle of water while traveling without seeing her face and feeling a little pang. She was right. That one is just true, friends: the reusable bottle wins, every time.

My reverse-osmosis conversion (and the astronaut pee)

Then came the water-filter salesman. He tested our tap water, showed us the alarming little pile of “stuff” floating in it, and mentioned — almost casually — that astronauts drink water recycled from, ahem, their own everything. Shower water, sweat, and yes, that too, all cleaned up by reverse osmosis. I was equal parts horrified and impressed. Mostly I was sold: we got a reverse osmosis (RO) system, and I felt very virtuous about our sparkling-pure water.

Then the doubts crept in

But then I started hearing the great water debate. A friend’s dry skin cleared up when she switched to alkaline water. In a class I heard RO called a “hungry water.” And then there were the oats.

On a trip to California, I soaked steel-cut oats overnight and woke up to a bowl that had drunk up every drop and doubled into enough breakfast for an army. Back home in Utah, same oats, same method — and in the morning the water was just… sitting there, barely touched. I was fascinated. Was my home water somehow “dead”? Then a visiting naturopath from Switzerland spotted my RO system, wagged his finger in my face, and declared in his wonderful broken English: “This water… VERY BAD! You drink long time… you VERY TIRED!” Well! I’d been tired that year, so I was ready to blame the water and never look back.

So I finally dug for the real answer — and it surprised me

Here’s what I found when I actually looked into the science, and it’s honestly a relief.

First, the big one: your body is a magnificent pH-balancing machine. Your kidneys and lungs keep your blood in a tight, healthy range (right around 7.4) no matter what you eat or drink — and the moment any water hits your stomach, that powerfully acidic environment neutralizes it anyway. So the popular idea that you can “alkalize your body” by drinking alkaline water doesn’t really hold up. It won’t change your blood’s pH, and the grand health claims around it aren’t backed by strong evidence.

Second, the relief: that scary “dead water pulls the minerals out of you” idea about RO and distilled? Also a myth. We get our minerals overwhelmingly from food, not water, and your kidneys manage your mineral balance beautifully. Pure water is simply… pure. It’s actually considered the gold standard for removing contaminants. (My tiredness that year almost certainly had nothing to do with my faucet — sorry, dear Swiss doctor!)

And the oatmeal mystery? Not life force — minerals. Water ranges from “soft” (low mineral, like RO) to “hard” (high mineral), and that, along with things like altitude, genuinely changes how grains soak and cook. The resort’s mineral-rich water and my pure home water behaved differently in the bowl for real, ordinary reasons. Mystery solved — and no magic required.

The answer I’d been chasing for years turned out to be wonderfully freeing: your body isn’t nearly as fragile as the water salesmen would have you believe.

A quick, honest tour of your options

Tap water: in most places it’s treated and safe; taste and quality vary. A good filter is a lovely upgrade.

Spring & mineral water: naturally carries minerals that give it a fresh, pleasant taste. If you can get good spring water, enjoy it.

Reverse osmosis & distilled: the purest of all — wonderful for removing contaminants. Low in minerals, but that’s no health problem for anyone eating a normal diet. Some add a remineralizing filter just for a smoother taste.

Alkaline water: perfectly safe, and many people simply love how smooth it tastes. Just know you’re buying it for the taste and the enjoyment — not for a body-pH miracle.

Where I finally landed

After all that searching, here’s my happy, unfussy conclusion: the “best” water is simpler than I made it. 

Drink clean water, drink enough of it, and drink the kind you actually enjoy so you’ll reach for it all day long. If that’s filtered tap in a favorite glass, wonderful. If you love the silky taste of your alkaline water like I do, pour it happily. And the single biggest win of all — the one that dance professor gave me years ago — is to skip the throwaway plastic and fill up a bottle you love. Your body, and this beautiful planet, will both thank you.

I currently buy distilled water for me and I add RW Minerals to it. I buy Spring Water for my kids. No more trips with 5 5-Gallon buckets every few weeks to the spring or to the chiropractors office. I have it delivered! :) The extra money is worth the time savings for me. 

So here’s to staying wonderfully, simply hydrated. Cheers — raise your glass with me!

“…whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst…” — John 4:14

With much love,

Steffanie

A caring note: I’m a wellness educator and a mom sharing my journey — not a doctor, and none of this is medical advice. Staying hydrated with clean, safe water matters; the specific type or pH matters far less to your health than most marketing suggests. Any drinking water should meet local safety standards, so filter as needed and check that your source is safe. If you have a health condition (kidney concerns, ongoing heartburn or reflux, and the like), please talk with your doctor about what’s right for you rather than relying on any water to fix it.