Why Alkaline Water Could Be More Harmful Than Helpful
Alkaline water in the last few years has been the “new trend”… However, before we started seeing an uptick of bottled alkaline water on our grocers shelves, I had my firsthand experience over a decade ago. I invested in not just one, but two units of the infamous Kangen units. I was in my mid twenties at that time, starting my healing journey. I thought that my investment would help with my hydration, and my psoriasis, which was not that bad at the time. Before I go further in my own personal experience with the consumption of Kangen alkaline water- as I mentioned on my site, my parents had their own water softening company, installing these filtration systems, including our own home, where I had that luxury growing up with soft conditioned water. I moved to LA in 2009 and so there went to benefits of living with mom and dad and of course, the access to this amazing water.
When I saved up enough money, I knew I wanted to continue having the benefits of good water, already knowing the effects of plastic exposure, I invested (and was quite proud) of my Kangen unit purchase. I even told my mom about it thinking I was now sharing some new info to her about what I learned. It was the first time I heard about alkaline and when I watch that “presentation” of this show that the reps would put on, I was sold. The reps will tell you, the water filtered through the unit is only good for 72 hours of the alkaline to keep its potency. So, back to one of my points… those of you buying bottled alkaline water, from the time the water was bottled, shipped to the store and put on the shelves, the chances are highly likely that the 9.5 pH alkaline, is not what is in the bottle they are claiming and what you’re paying for. Secondly, 9.5 pH is actually not the ideal pH you want to drink. It’s more around 7.5 pH. So you are paying for alkaline water, that may not even be alkaline by the time you consume it.
Here is my next point… so my psoriasis only started showing up at the age of 19 or 20. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease and there are a NUMBER of autoimmune diseases which I can have an entire blog on alone, but ultimately autoimmune diseases stem from inflammation that is caused by stress, environmental toxins and of course, diet. A few years of drinking alkaline water, all of a sudden I started getting larger breakouts of my psoriasis. It normally only showed up on my scalp. This time, it started showing up not only on my scalp but on my body. I thought perhaps it was from the stress of being on my own, out of my parents home, bathing is highly chlorinated hard water that would turn my skin in red spots after showering, or the foods I was eating. I never had known food allergies. Ate almost everything but in balance all my life.
A few more years after to the present day, my psoriasis is worse than its ever been. Which has led me further and deeper into my own holistic healing. I took food sensitivity tests, stool tests and mold tests to understand how or what the inflammation is stemming from? From these tests was how I found out I had leaky gut, SIBO and sensitivities to foods that were seemingly “healthy” such as tomatoes, mushrooms, oregano, cashews, eggs and yes, no surprise- dairy. I’ve never been lactose intolerant yet, I developed food sensitivities to foods I’ve been consuming some on a frequent basis, for years. Some my entire life. In doing my research, I discovered that drinking the amounts of alkaline water through the years would also contribute to my leaky gut, SIBO and gut health. I certainly am not blaming the alkaline water wholly, as I view things holistically, there is never really ONE thing that makes us sick. However, water should not affect us in any negative way, unless it’s from a third world country (Montezuma’s revenge is all I have to say) or any untreated water for obvious reasons, regardless where it’s from. This led me back to my rediscovery of reverse osmosis water. This is why I became an authorized rep with Rayne Water. Purely from passion of my own personal health concerns and seeing the value in informing others.
Which leads me to one last and major point. Drinking alkaline water is not meant to be drank on a daily basis. I drank 9.5 pH alkaline water daily and it has been discovered that consuming on a daily basis can lead to dehydration and disrupting our digestive health. To the point I slightly mentioned above. This was a big aha, connecting the dots moment for me. In addition, why I choose not to consume gluten, dairy, eggs, grains, legumes, or anything that will trigger more inflammation in my body. So be sure to stay hydrated with the proper water source, preferably filtered through reverse osmosis and invest in a whole house water unit to protect not your your gut health, hair, skin and overall hydration but also your homes plumbing “health” too. Your over the counter Brita’s are barely scratching the surface, buy non plastic bottles if you must buy bottled water and invest back in your health, more consciously.
