Last week we looked at why hydration was so important and this blog post carries on from that - this week we focus on what we are consuming our water out of.
These days we a faced with a higher toxic load than ever before. One of the simplest ways to help our body deal with this extra burden is to drink your required amount of pure water each day and drink it from either glass, a non plastic cup or stainless steel.
The reasons being...
Plastic drink bottles are cheap and readily available but this is the faster way to be consuming a range of toxins that contribute to a multitude of health issues not to mention weight gain.
Yes, you heard right - if you are one of those people who is struggling to lose the last few kgs this is really something to take action on.
Plastic products contain "endocrine disrupting chemicals" which can mimic the action of the sex hormone; estrogen creating an oestrogen dominance picture in the body - if you are female and this is an issue you may typically experience irregular or abnormal menstrual periods, bloating (water retention), breast swelling and tenderness, headaches (especially pre-menstrually) mood swings (most often irritability and depression) weight and/or fat gain (particularly around the abdomen and hips), and thyroid dysfunction to name a few.
These "endocrine disrupting chemicals" can interfere with the production of the male sex hormone testosterone and also interfere with the thyroid hormones.
Plastic is made up of a multitude of chemicals - the number on the bottom of a plastic bottle/container denotes what materials were used to make it. Here are a few of them:
#3 (PVC) leaches phthalates which is known to cause developmental and reproductive damage.
#6 (polystyrene) leaches styrene which can cause nervous system effects and liver damage. Bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone disruptor mimics estrogen and creates a heavy load on the liver and contributes to an estrogen dominance picture.
Many people who have plastic say "Oh, but its BPA free" - this is a new type of plastic #7. Its probably better than the other stuff but it wears quickly when exposed to heat (think dishwasher, hot car in summer, on the beach in the sun) and will contain other chemicals that just haven't had there effects on the human body so widely published .
Drinking from a stainless steel or glass drink bottle is the best option as you don't get any toxins with your water. It is also the most sustainable and respectful choice for our beautiful world. Every year around 30 billion plastic drink bottles end up in the worlds water ways and oceans. If your a visual person that equates to enough plastic bottles placed end to end, to go around the world more than 150 times, every single year.
This is a huge plastic pollution problem and even when buried in a landfill these plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years to biodegrade.
One of the Mount Taranaki Ascending sponsors Ecotanka fulfills all of what I look for in a drink bottle.
The stainless steel bottle is eco-friendly, reusable for many years, its not going to leach anything into the water, easy to clean and also if you happen to drop it - its not going to shatter on you.
If your in need of a drink bottle check out www.ecotanka.co.nz
Ecotanka kindly donated two of there awesome bottles for the Mount Taranaki ascending Project and the lucky winners were Tracy and Rebecca. A perfect prize after a very sweaty Body Attack gym session at Rampage Fitness! They will be very handy for the adventures ahead!!!
