How Clean Is Your Water? The Benefits of Drinking Filtered Water

Hi, this is Rita Hogan and welcome to the Dogs are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens. So let's get to it and dive right in. Hi, welcome back to another episode of this podcast. Thanks for being a follower. I really appreciate it. I know it's just me rambling on and the interesting thing is I get a lot of requests to be on my podcast. People want to be on the podcast and maybe you want to hear guests. I'm not positive. You can let me know, you can write into the pod and let me know. But right now I am not able to have guests on the podcast. I am embarking on a nine month book tour. Check out the dates on my website theherbaldog.com under tour dates. I have a few up right now, but I am making my way. I'm going to be out east, I'm going to be in the Nashville area. I'm going to be in the Carolinas, in Florida, in Arizona, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, possibly B.C. if we can work some stuff out. Possibly Toronto, New York, upstate New York, Long Island, New Haven, Boston, parts of Vermont, gonna go see my publisher up there and some other. Oh, I'm gonna be near Washington D.C. three places in Virginia, possibly Kansas City, I've heard. And then I'm gonna be over in the uk, in Ireland, in the uk, United Kingdom. So lots of stuff happening this year. I'm totally j about it. Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your ears, but pretty excited. So one of the things that I think about when I am on the road is water. Okay, we're going to talk about water today and water is so important and one of the things, you know what kind of water is in pet foods. I know that companies like Goodyear's Gracious, who is one of our lovely sponsors for this podcast. Check them out@goodness gracioustreats.com they have a lot more than treats. They use filtered water. Does your pet food use filtered water? I think about water a lot when I'm traveling and like I said, it's a big deal for me. And I'm about to embark on this tour and what am I going to do for water? I'm going to make sure that I bring my water container so I don't have to buy plastic water bottles full of water gac. I drink plain water. I don't put stuff in my water. I don't add all those drink mixes. But this Makes me remind myself of the importance of filtered water in general, especially for our pets, but for all of us. And why should you filter your water? It's so important because there's contaminants in the water. There's hardly any clean sources of water left on the planet, especially due to our use glyphosate. We need to get that out of our lives and not replace it. Chemical pollutants are big. You know, they're, you know, chlorine, fluoride, aluminum, chlor. Well, also chloramines, which is chloride and chlorine, and then heavy metals, lead, mercury. There's pesticides, herbicides, glyphosate. We want to reduce these substances in our water because it's. It contributes to toxic load. Okay? Toxic load is everything when it comes to people and dogs. We want to help our livers. All right? So these contaminants are a big deal. And then you can have, you know, biological contaminants like bacteria, viruses, protozoa. Protozoa, yuck. Right? Don't want that. I don't want to drink that. Your dogs don't want to drink that. And so we want what would be referred to as microbiologically safe. Say that about 50 times. Microbiologically. I think that would be the term safe water. Okay? We don't want added bacteria and viruses and protozoa amoebas in our water. And then there's things like sediment. You know, I had a. I had a house on the ocean that was just awesome. But unfortunately, it had so much rust in the well, the water was yellow. If you took a bath, it was like you were bathing in pee. Do you want to bathe in pee? I don't think so. And then any time we had people over, we had to explain, yeah, the water's really yellow. And we triple filtered it. It didn't matter. It was still yellow. And it was gross. It was absolutely gross. Don't want water like that. Don't want to drink water. We used a Berkey then, and it would come out clear, but that was just for us to drink. Like, no shower filters, no whole house filters. None of those would filter the yellow out of the water. It would bring it down, but it was nasty. So, you know, you have that taste and odor, too. You want to get rid of those. You want to get rid of the disinfectants. You want to get rid of the pharmaceuticals in the water. There are tons of pharmaceuticals in the water because people put them down the toilet or the sink. Don't do that. Put them in a airtight container in the trash or bring them to a recycling facility, okay? Because those should not be in our water. So you want to bring down those, like, you know, just harmful contaminants in our water. And people forget about this. We. We just kind of, you know, it looks clear. I'm going to drink it. No, it is not. It is not clear. And you should not drink it unless it is filtered. And then we have some people that are like, well, I am just going to give my dog bottled spring water. Oh, good. Don't. Don't give it bottled water. It is filled with endocrine disruptors, okay? Bpa. Bps? Well, it's BPA free. What they're using is a replacement called bps, and it is just as bad, okay? These leach into the water bottles. I mean, these leach into the water when they're exposed to heat, okay? Being left in the warehouse, being in a truck, plastic degrades. BPA is an endocrine disruptor. It can cause cancer when you disrupt the endocrine system, okay? Interfere. And it interferes with hormones. And hormones do so many great things for the body. We need our good hormones, okay? So plastic bottles are not the answer. Plus, they're an environmental disaster. And I don't care if you believe in global warming. I don't care if you don't, okay? Pollution is real. It's everywhere and it's gross. We've got to stop polluting our environment. Rita, Shut up and talk, dog. I understand. I understand, but it's true, okay? Our everyday actions have effects. And then there's these lovely things called phthalates, spelled with a P, P, H, T, H, A, L, A, T, E, s. They are nasty. So phthalates are plasticizers. And they leach into our food. They leach into our water. We don't want them. They cause developmental issues. They are, you know, they are a disruptor of hormones. Again, they've been linked to cancer. They've been linked to dementia. They've been linked to problems, obviously, other problems in the brain, reproductive issues. Don't like them. And women, they are not your friend, okay? They are not your friend. And then we have these lovely things called microplastics that if you were to test your blood right now, you'd have plastic in your blood, in your tissues. Microplastics are everywhere. We don't want them. So that's another reason to filter your water, okay? Tiny plastic particles are getting into your dog's system and our system. We don't want Them. And they're horrible for the environment. They're horrible for wildlife, okay? So filter, filter, filter, filter, filter. And then we have things like runoff. You know, you have waste runoff from factory farms that go away into the water. We've got, you know, we've got. Well, there's poo in the water. I know it's true. But it's allowed to a certain degree, to a certain parts pill per million. Yuck. Yuck. So waste pollution, plasticizers, microplastics, amoebas, protozoan. Filter, filter, filter, filter, filter, filter, filter. Because endocrine disruption is a big deal, okay? It totally increases your risk of cancer and your dogs getting cancer, okay? Long term exposure to these types of chemicals is no bueno. It's no good. You need to use a quality water filter, okay? So there's filters like purely filtered or clearly, clearly filtered. That's a Great 1. Hydroviv. Hydroviv.com uses your zip code in the United States to give you what you need. What's in that municipality's water. There are reverse osmosis systems. Now, if you're using reverse osmosis, you need to add minerals back into the water. There's a lovely company called Beam Minerals. B as in boy, E, a M, Beam minerals that you can add back in the water. I recently had a great conversation with one of my friends who has been using reverse osmosis for a long time, and she's been having more anxiety. And a lot of these trace minerals, if you lack them, they can cause anxiety. And if you have too many, they can cause anxiety. But trace minerals in reverse osmosis water is very important. I like to use a glass container or a stainless steel container. I just bought a stainless steel water fountain for my dogs. I love them. They love it. Before I put the water in the fountain, I filter it again. I use Hydroviv. But there's a lot of filters out there. We want to filter chlorine, we want to fill, filter plasticizers, microplastics. We want to filter fluoride. Fluoride is not good for you, okay? A lot of people say, oh, fluoride is good for your teeth. No, it is not good for you. It is called a halogen, okay? Halogens mess with endocrine function and that includes the thyroid, okay? We don't want halogens in our water. We don't want it in our food. Now, there's one halogen that is iodine, right? And that is needed in trace amounts, okay? Fluoride is a trace mineral and we're getting so much of it, we don't want it in our water. We get it other places. Okay. It, you know, trace amounts. Yes, non trace amounts. Harmful. Okay, Harmful. And the halogens include fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astazine, or as seen astatine. Astatine. Come on, Rita. A s T a T I N E. It's, it's a hard one. It's a hard one. Again, these are trace and we're getting so much of them that it's becoming like problematic. Okay. So, you know, halogens can get into things like polyvinyl chloride and dioxins and pesticides and herbicides. They're toxic. They've been, of course, linked to endocrine disruption, cancers. Flame retardants are part of the hala, the halogenated compound world. Flame retardants, Bromides, okay. Flame retardants are called polybromide D, phenyl esters. God, that is a mouthful in my notes. Wow. So a lot of these things can leach into the water. We don't want them. Water disinfection is a big deal in getting these things into our body. Chlorine, a halogen, causes panic, fear, fright, restlessness, anxiety. Okay. When you shower with it, it atomizes. And so you want a shower vitamin C filter on your shower for chlorine. You want to get the fluoride out of, of your water as well. All right. If you want to use fluorinated toothpaste, fine. I advise against it. But if you want to, go ahead. But don't drink fluoride. It's the same thing with drinking chlorine. Okay, Just say no. Okay, so now I just want to elaborate on what I just talked about. So bacteria in the water. What bacteria, Rita, you know, well, our water can be contaminated with E. Coli, salmonella. What is that? Camp. Camp pillar bacteria. It's nasty. You know, they cause gastrointestinal infections. They can lead to vomiting and diarrhea and abdominal pain and definitely systemic illness. Right? Systemic illness. Illness throughout. And it's not good for anyone, especially immune compromised dogs and people. You know, there's a lot of autoimmune in dogs now. There's a lot of autoimmune in people. We want to keep bacteria populations down in water. And the only way to do that is to filter. And then, you know, I talked about viruses in water and a lot of people can't get their head around that. But there are water borne viruses in non filtered water and then parasites that affect Dogs, giardia. Okay. And they affect people, too. Cryptosporidium. Those two are often found in unfiltered water. And if you have a compromised gut, you're going to have problems. And you're not going to think of giardia. I haven't been to a foreign country. No, you've been to your water tap. And that can lead to chronic diarrhea. It can lead to unknown weight loss, dehydration, and it's very hard on our dog systems. And then I did mention heavy metals, but there's other, you know, there's other metals besides lead. There's copper, which can cause panic, fright, restlessness, you know, signs of anxiety, mercury. And there's lots of copper storage disease right now in dogs, probably due to the synthetic copper that they're getting in food. But you want to keep an eye on copper levels. And copper and mercury is a big deal, you know, a big deal. You want to keep them out of the water. So you want to make sure that your water doesn't. Your filter filters these things out because, you know, these types of heavy metals lead to neurological issues, to kidney damage, and are definitely a systemic problem. Systemic. And then, you know, one of the biggest things in which water filtration makes it easy is, like I said before, agricultural runoff and industrial waste finding its way into our waterways and into our water. Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, glyphosate, lawn chemicals, flea and tick chemicals, it's all in the water. So when I get up in arms about this, there's a reason, and it's just one of the easiest things that you can do for your health and your dog's health and your liver health. Okay? I mean, definitely we want to get those things out. Now, I mentioned chlorine and fluoride, but chlorine is a disinfectant, and it's definitely used in municipal water. And chlorine has byproducts of the entire disinfection process. Okay? They're called trihalomethanes, and they are not nice to you, to your dog, or anyone else. Okay? And dogs, remember, they have a smaller body mass than we do. You know, think of the little teacup Chihuahuas out there drinking their little wawa. You have to say wawa because they're cute and they're tiny and everything is tiny. So you want to keep that water as clean as possible and wash your dog bowls daily to get the nasty out. Yeah, there's so much to think about. But there's other things in water, too, that are a concern like biofilm, okay? Algal toxins. So biofilm happens when the water is stagnant, when it doesn't move. And that's just complex communities of bacteria that have a party and don't want to dissipate. They want to hang out with each other and all their little other microorganism friends and they can form this film on the interior surface of pipes and water containers. And that's why you want to wash your pitchers that you're filtering with and change your filters. And you want to filter your water in general. Okay. Because that's how bacteria protects itself from us, basically. And I think that because water isn't that like immediate, traceable origin of disease, it's often overlooked and it should not be. It's so, so, so, so important. And I want to talk about it. I wanted to talk about it today because I'm getting ready to pick water bottles and head off, you know, on the road. And I don't like buying water from the store, so I buy a good filter and filter my own water when I'm on the road. Or you can get filtered water from a lot of places, like airports have their own filtration system. And if you are anywhere that has a soda gun, opt for the water out of the soda gun. Just say, can I have water? It's non carbonated. Can I have water out of the soda gun? Because that water is filtered and it tastes so much better. Whenever I'm out at a restaurant, I tell them I'd like water from the soda gun, please. And I can tell the difference. You know, you can taste the chlorine, especially in cities that give their, that chlorinate their water. You know, I chose where I live, Olympia, Washington, because they do not fluoridate their water, but they definitely chloridate. Is that a word? I'm not sure. They put a lot of chlorine into their water and it definitely can taste it. So go for the gun. Go for the gun. Yeah. So you're going to do a few things when you filter your water. You're going to lighten your dog's toxic load. You're going to lighten your load. You're going to keep yourself from being subjected to microplastics and all of the gunkly gook I just talked about. And it's such an easy way to help the immune system, right? It's an easy way to help the immune system. Don't drink unfiltered water and reduce your exposure to plastic water. Water in plastic and are all of you who are on the spring water train, okay? If you're getting the water from a spring and you're filtering it and drinking it, fine. But so many people feed plastic spring water. That definitely falls under plastic water. But however, so a lot of studies have been done. Consumer Reports and like the Environmental Working Group have done studies on so called spring water. In many of the cases, it has turned out to be tap water, okay? Not water drawn directly from a natural spring. And a significant percentage of bottled water that is labeled as spring water is derived from mixed sources and municipalities. Your tap or their tap, okay? Don't fall for that. And if you have a company that is giving spring water, make sure they're delivering it in glass bottles. How long has it been stored in the plastic? You know, the idea of spring water is beautiful. You know, it is. I've been in the mountains, I've drink water from up on top of Mount Tahoma, which is the volcano outside of our lovely little city of Olympia. I've done that with a filter, but I've done it. And the water tastes amazing. And it is from certain springs up there or glacier runoff. But that's not usually the case when you're buying it at the Costco, okay? The Costco is Costco. It's watching pricing. And so just be careful. Don't fall for all of that rigamarole in marketing, okay? Do your homework. And again, one of the best things to do is save the bottled water for emergencies only. Get a good filter and you can test your water after you filter it. There's water testing things out there. You can test your water and see, I would test your water at least once every two years. You know, if you have someone come out and test your water for all the stuff that I just discussed, the amoebas, you know, the protozoan, the bacterial counts, the microbes, the viruses, the heavy metals, the halogens, all of that stuff. Have it tested and know what you're drinking. You'll feel a lot better when you stop drinking pollutants, okay? It's another reason to gear towards purchasing organic food because it's grown with filtered water, with good water. The most of it is lots to discuss here, lots to think about. I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, you know, but I think about water when I'm about to embark on a trip. And water is very important to me. I don't, you know, I drink tea, I drink water. I don't drink a lot of anything else. I don't drink soda. I don't drink any of that stuff. I don't drink powders and just all the things that they want you to do. I don't. And water is life. And it's life for me, you and your puppies and your kitties. All right. Have you ever seen a chicken drink water? Okay. We have two rescue chickens down, Netta and Henrietta. And watching them drink water, I could do it all day long. They're so cute. They get the water in their beak and then they tip their head into the sky and drink it and you could see it go down. It's just the cutest thing ever. I just wanted to tell you, if you get a chance to see a chicken drink water, do it. And my chicken's water. Filtered. It's filtered water. Yes, it's true. They also have a heated bed at night because I love them. So, anyways, that's what I wanted to tell you about filtered water. It's a lot. It's a lot. But take it one step at a time. Look for, you know, even a basic water filter is better than none. All right. But look at your water sources in your house and see how you can make them better. That's what I am here to tell you do. Want to say thank you to Real Mushrooms because they are sponsoring this podcast and they are sponsoring my book tour and they are awesome. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to Real Mushrooms and their lovely products. I will be taking my turkey tail, my lion's mane, and Tremella on the road with me. My dogs take lion's mane and turkey tail. And I just got done formulating an awesome cooling mushroom formula for a company that's probably not going to come out for a few months, but I'll let you know when it does. Okay? So happy mushroom to you. Thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast, Apple. And don't forget, sharing is caring. So if you love Dogs Are Individuals podcast, share it with your friends and family who love dogs. This will help me so much. And remember, as a listener, I appreciate you much. Thanks to Resonant Media, my podcast production team. This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to canineherbalist.com click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast, and I'm going to talk to you in our next episode. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. This podcast doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor, veterinarian or healthcare provider first before starting anything new. And that includes herbs. I'm not a doctor and I don't treat disease or prescribe anything. I'm a traditional herbalist providing herbal support education only. Regarding any products I may suggest the statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of of these products has not been confirmed by FDA approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here on the podcast is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from your vet. Please consult your veterinary professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product.