Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - What Type of Water Should You Drink? Tap? Bottled? Alkaline?

Episode Date: July 30, 2021

I’ve churned through over 150,000 emails, social media comments and messages, and blog comments in the last 6 years. And that means I’ve fielded a ton of questions. As you can imagine, some questions pop up more often than others, and I thought it might be helpful to take a little time every month to choose a few and record and share my answers. So, in this round, I answer the following question: What type of water should you drink? Tap? Bottled? Alkaline? If you have a question you’d like me to answer, leave a comment below or if you want a faster response, send an email to [e-mail]. Mentioned on the Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: https://buylegion.com/vip Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

Hey, Mike Matthews here, and welcome to another episode of Muscle for Life. Thank you for joining me today. Now, as you can imagine, I have fielded a lot of communication and a lot of questions over the years. I've easily gone through over 200,000 emails, social media comments and messages, and blog comments since I got into the fitness racket back in 2012. And some questions pop up more often than others. And some are very topical. Sometimes they are related to things that a lot of people are talking about. And so I thought it would be helpful to take some time on the podcast now and

then and answer questions that people are asking me. On ones that I think all of you out there may benefit from or may enjoy as well. So in this episode, I'm going to be answering the question, what type of water should I drink? Alkaline? Bottled? Tap? Also, if you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, definitely check out my VIP one-on-one coaching service because my team and I have helped people of all ages and all circumstances lose fat, build muscle, and get into the best shape of their life faster than they ever thought possible. And we can do the same for you. We make getting fitter, leaner, and stronger paint by numbers simple by carefully managing every aspect of your training and your diet for you. Basically, we take out all of the guesswork. So all you have

to do is follow the plan and watch your body change day after day, week after week, and month after month. What's more, we've found that people are often missing just one or two crucial pieces of the puzzle. And I'd bet a shiny shekel it's the same with you. You're probably doing a lot of things right, but dollars to donuts, there's something you're not doing correctly or at all that's giving you the most grief. Maybe it's your calories or your macros. Maybe it's your exercise selection. Maybe it's your food choices. Maybe you're not progressively overloading your muscles, or maybe it's something else. And whatever it is, here's what's important. Once you identify those one or two things you're missing, once you figure it out, that's

when everything finally clicks. That's when you start making serious progress. And that's exactly what we do for our clients. To learn more, head over to www.buylegion.com. That's B-U-Y-L-E-G-I-O-N.com slash VIP and schedule your free consultation call, which by the way, is not a high pressure sales call. It's really just a discovery call where we get to know you better and see if you're a good fit for the service. And if you're not, for any reason, we will be able to share resources that'll point you in the right direction. So again,

if you appreciate my work and if you want to see more of it, and if you also want to finally stop spinning your wheels and make more progress in the next few months than you did in the last few years, check out my VIP coaching service at www.buylegion.com slash VIP. Once upon a time, water was water. It was pretty simple. These days, though, you have many different types of water available, and they always claim to be better than tap water, far better than toxic tap water. And they often claim to be better than each other too. Each of these different types often claim unique health benefits. And one of the more popular types of special quote unquote water out there is alkaline water. And to understand what this is

and why it is a scam, really, we first have to understand pH. So in chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity of a solution. So if it is less than seven, a pH of less than seven is considered acidic and a pH of greater than seven is alkaline. Thus alkaline water is water with a pH over seven. And people who sell alkaline water will tell you that it is better for your health and usually by increasing the alkalinity of your blood or just your body. They'll leave it vague. Now, why is that good? Well, the rest of the pitch is when your body becomes too acidic, then different types of disease can develop and different types of bugs, pathogens can flourish. But if you maintain a more alkaline environment in your body, then the diseases can't take hold and the microbes die off. And so then what is often

claimed by people who sell these waters is by just drinking a couple of bottles per day, you can dramatically reduce your risk of disease and dysfunction, and you can protect yourself against many of the toxic factors of our modern environment. A lot of the chemicals that we're exposed to in our day-to-day living through air and food and beverages. And here's the thing. It is true that maintaining a proper pH in our blood is very important. And if it drops too low or goes too high, we die. That's true. And it is also true that there are a lot of poisonous substances that our bodies are exposed to just in the course of day-to-day living. And I think it's probably a good idea to take simple measures to reduce our exposure to these things. We can't eliminate our exposure altogether. Even if we were to retreat to the hinterlands of Canada,

we're still going to be breathing in chemicals that were not present 50 years ago or 100 years ago. And there are going to be some of these chemicals in the food that we eat inevitably, regardless of whether we are growing plants, because now the chemicals chemicals in the food that we eat inevitably, regardless of whether we are growing plants, because now the chemicals are in the soil and they're going to be there for a long time. Or if we're eating animals, even if we were to hunt the animals, well, the animals, of course, were drinking water that is at least going to be slightly contaminated and they're eating plants and things that grew in soil that's slightly contaminated. So we are just going to have to learn to live with the world that we have. But again, there are some simple measures that we can take to lower our exposure. For example, we can eat fewer highly processed foods, which are

often loaded with chemicals to enhance taste, to enhance shelf life and other factors. We can choose organic produce selectively. You don't have to eat all organic. That can be quite expensive if you can afford it. It's not a bad idea. It's not going to make much of a difference in and of itself. But again, with each of these strategies that I would share, none of them will make a big difference if you just look at them in isolation. But if you add them all together, the cumulative effect can be significant. So if you look at something like the dirty dozen, and if you chose organic over conventional, if you eat a fair amount of those types of foods, then you are going to be lowering your exposure to more harmful pesticides. Of course, organic foods still have pesticides

and you should still wash them. That's another little tip. Wash your produce properly before eating it. Also, I think it's smart to use shampoos and soaps and beauty products, especially makeup if you put on makeup every day that aren't loaded with chemicals because, of course, your body absorbs things very effectively through the skin. And so those are just a few examples of minor adjustments that we can make to our lifestyle to make it a little healthier or more conducive to good health. And if you want to learn more about that, and particularly artificial estrogens that we are exposed to in many different ways, you've probably heard about this and that

it can be a problem, or maybe you've heard that it's totally not a problem. Well, go listen to the interview I did with Anthony Jay. This was published some time ago, episode 166. But if you just go to the podcast feed or if you're on my YouTube channel, search for Anthony Jay. And I have done two interviews with him, I believe, but this was the first. And so anyway, coming back to alkaline water in particular, that is not on my list of simple changes that I recommend because research shows that what we eat and drink has almost no impact on the pH of our blood or of our organs. And that's a good thing because if we could significantly impact the pH of our blood or our organs with food and beverages, we'd be dead

already. Because like body temperature, blood pH is very tightly regulated. It has to be in a range of 7.36 to 7.44. And this is something that scientists have understood for a long time. The research goes back to the initial research, goes back to the 1930s. And to really move the needle on blood pH, it requires extremes, diabetes, starvation, drinking way too much alcohol. Those are the kinds of things that can really cause pH to change, not drinking a couple of bottles of water. And therefore, of course, it's no surprise that there is almost no research available on drinking alkaline water. And the little research that we do have indicates that it offers no health benefits whatsoever, at least no unique health benefits.

And the reason why there's not much research on it is scientists don't see any reason to research it. The mechanisms in play already indicate that it doesn't matter how alkaline the water is. Water is going to function like water. So don't waste your money on alkaline water. Now, what about bottled water in general? Well, despite evidence that shows that bottled water is on the whole less regulated and no safer on average than tap water, many people think that bottled water is higher quality, that it is at least filtered, right? And so most people are likely to drink bottled water

if they are going to drink water over their tap water. And sometimes they think the tap water is unsafe, sometimes because it tastes a little bit funky. Although research has shown with blind taste tests that most people can't tell the difference between your average bottled water and tap water, which isn't surprising, right? Because your average bottled water does taste pretty bad. Now, one valid concern with drinking a lot of bottled water is microplastic contamination. Now, what is that? Well, microplastic is what it sounds like. It's very small pieces of plastic debris that are in the bottles of water. In one study, for example, 259 bottles of water were looked at from 11

different brands, and 93% of them showed some level of microplastic contamination. And although more research is needed on the health ramifications or the potential health ramifications, studies do show that microplastic can cause a range of health problems, including issues with your endocrine system, your nervous system, your kidneys, your digestive system, your excretory system, respiratory system, skin. Based on the evidence that is available, I would say it is probably smart to reduce your exposure to microplastic as much as you feasibly can without making huge sacrifices or without being a zealot about it. For example, if you're

going to drink the occasional bottle of water, don't worry about it. But if you are currently drinking a gallon of bottled water per day every day, you may want to rethink that. Another reason to not drink bottled water is the plastic, because most bottles end up in landfill sites where then they leak dangerous chemicals into the soil that can then enter the food chain, mess with ecosystems, mess with human health. And that, by the way, is why I'm moving Legion away from bottles and toward bags as much as I can, as much as consumers will allow and the market will allow. Bags use a lot less plastic, so that's a lot more friendly to the environment. And protein powders

are already done. That is in the works in a couple of months. Legion will be transitioning from the bottles to the bags. And then I'm going to see if I can also sell pre-workout in bags, because we sell a lot of pulse. That's Legion's pre-workout. And if I can move from bottles to bags, then that is going to significantly cut down on Legion's plastic footprint. And from there, can I do other powders? Can I do pills? It's going to be a little bit market-driven because I know some consumers, well, many consumers, they don't like bags. They want bottles. Many retailers don't like bags. They want bottles. So I have to balance the environmental concerns with the business concerns, but the macro trend is moving toward bags,

which is great. So I do expect in the next year or so to have a lot of Legion's line. I would love to do everything in bags. And also to that point, just to further reduce Legion's plastic footprint and help clean up plastic waste, I am going to be creating an indefinite, I would say permanent, but I suppose things could change, an indefinite standing partnership with a charity that focuses exclusively on cleaning up plastic waste. And I'm going to be dedicating a portion of Legion's sales to that charity. We'll just make quarterly donations, again, to help clean up the environment and be more socially responsible as a company because Legion does move a fair amount of plastic into consumers' hands. And I know many of our customers do recycle, and that's great. But I think that Legion can contribute to the motion as well. And in the future, I would love to move away from plastic altogether. I've looked into it. Right now,

there are not any economically viable solutions, and certainly not for the scale that Legion needs. But I do think that that is going to change in the next probably three to five years. I would not be surprised if I'm able to eliminate plastic altogether from Legion's lineup, Legion's range of products and use fully biodegradable materials. I hope so. I would love to do it. But of course, I'm not going to use that as an excuse to do nothing. I'm going to move ahead with what I can do right now and build on it over time. Okay, so drinking a bunch of bottled water is not the best for your health. It is not good for the environment.

And it's also not good for your wallet because the stuff is expensive. Some research has estimated that households that buy bottled water spend thousands of dollars more per year. water spend thousands of dollars more per year. So we're talking about hundreds of dollars per month on water compared to households that simply use tap water for all of their water drinking and water use needs. Now, tap water, though, is not very popular because it often tastes funky, and I understand that, and people often are concerned that it's not safe to drink. Now, research does show that tap water is not unsafe to drink, like many people think, at least in most places here in the US. So if you're thirsty and you're out of your bottled water, or if you want to make some oatmeal or make some tea, you can use tap water. It is not going to harm your body at all. However, if you are going to be drinking a lot of water, which you should be,

to harm your body at all. However, if you are going to be drinking a lot of water, which you should be, something around a gallon per day, depending on where you are in the US, the tap water that's available to you may be contaminated with a lot of different chemicals, maybe very small amounts. And it may not matter if you looked at it, again, in a vacuum. But if you're exposed to many different types of chemicals, small amounts of many different types of chemicals in many different ways every day, again, the cumulative effect can be significant. So drinking filtered tap water is one of these other little quote-unquote lifestyle hacks that I think is worthwhile because it's inexpensive and it makes for better tasting water and water that is more conducive to good health. Now, as far as options

go, if you have a new fridge that allows you to install a good high quality water filter, you can just go with that. If you don't have a water dispensing component in your fridge, and so if you need a pitcher, that's a very simple way to filter water. I like the company Zero Water. Their stuff isn't very expensive and it comes with a water testing device that allows you to see how many parts of particulate or sediment per million are in the water. And the last time I used one of their products, it's been a bit because I switched from the Zero Water pitcher to a reverse osmosis system, which I'll talk about in a second. But the last time I did use it, the water was coming out at zero to one parts per million. So very clean water. It tasted like nothing,

which I like just a very neutral flavor. I don't care to have minerals in my water. For example, I get minerals through my food. Some people will say, no, no, no, don't drink very filtered water. Don't drink water that comes out at zero parts per million or one part per million. Don't use a reverse osmosis system because it's going to strip minerals from your body. That's nonsense. There's no research to support that. And if you are eating well, if you're eating a lot of nutritious foods, and if you're taking a good multivitamin like Legion's Triumph, you don't need to get minerals from your water. You just need the hydrogen and the oxygen. So that's a good option for a water pitcher that you can just fill up with tap water and leave it in your fridge. And then finally there's reverse osmosis, which is what I have been drinking for

many years now. Although not currently because I'm in a halfway house, I guess you could say. I bought a 30 acre farm in Ocala, Florida, and there is a house on the property that I'm going to tear down. I'm going to build a new house, but I have to live in this house while I first build a new barn, which is going to have a two-bedroom apartment. And then my family and I are going to move into that barn apartment. And then we are going to tear down the existing barn, the old barn, and tear down the main house and then build the new house. And so currently I am drinking the water out of the

fridge and it's good water. It's good enough. It's a newer Samsung fridge. And so it uses a high quality water filter. It's not going to get rid of as much stuff as a good reverse osmosis system. For example, the reverse osmosis system that I had in Virginia was made by a rather obscure company called Pure Water Systems. And it took out everything, including fluoride. And there are other reverse osmosis options that will do the same. And when I get into this new barn that I'll be building, I'm going to install a good reverse osmosis. I may just go with that company again, but I'm going to look for cheaper options as well because they are pretty expensive.

And I'll bet you that there are other companies out there that produce systems that are just as good for a bit less money. So that's it for water drinking. Tap water is fine if you want to do that. If you are willing to spend a little bit of money, you can get a good filtration system, something that even just sits in your fridge. And I would recommend that. And if you want to spend a little bit more money, then I would go with a good reverse osmosis system and don't be afraid to drink bottled water here and there. If that is all that's available to you, that is certainly better than becoming dehydrated. For example, let's say you're out in the sun and you're playing volleyball and you really need some water, you're starting to feel a little bit off, drink the bottled water. It's totally fine. Again, I just wouldn't recommend drinking a gallon of bottled water seven days a week.

All right. Well, that's it for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and you don't mind doing me a favor, please do leave a quick review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to me from in whichever app you're listening to me in, because that not only convinces people that they should check out the show, it also increases search visibility. And thus it helps more people find their way to me and learn how to get fitter, leaner, stronger, healthier, and happier as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live,

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anything that you think I could help you with, definitely send me an email. That is the best way to get ahold of me, mikeatmuscleforlife.com. And that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode, and I hope to hear from you soon.