tap water ok for me to drink??!

[mumbles12]

Can I drink tap water yes or no?
I live in the stoke on trent area of staffordshire uk, I cant find much info about fluroide and other chemicals in the water.

Ive ditched green tea "for good" after finding out about the ridiculous fluoride content..
im more than happy to drink water for the rest of my life now, I dont drink coffee or tea,
to be honest though I dont feel im any healthier than tom or harry down the road drinking squash and coke lol!

I think the chemicals in water are actually starting to interfere with my brain function as I can concentrate on anything anymore.. "not exaggerating" (cant spell).

What should I do? Buy some test sticks? Whats better for me to drink filtered or distilled water?
and if filtered are the "jug type" ones you see in places like argos actually anygood? Or do I need an under sink one? I cant get the house purified as its not actually my house lol. Im just a lodger so to speak..

need to sort this asap, its putting me off even drinking anything.

[21_12_2012]

All tap water is total crap. You'd be extremely lucky to get anything out of a tap that isn't contaminated with all kinds of sick nasties (chemical and bacterial)

The 'mainstream/shop-bought filters' (brita etc) are next to useless.

They take out large particles of crap and make it taste a bit better, but basically they're a scam.

Distilled is as pure as it gets, i have used one for years on and off and had no problems (except the cost of electric to make the water)

I now mainly use my British Berkefeld filter (gravity filter...stand alone....doesnt connect to water mains) with 2 black berkeys and 2 arsenic/fluoride filters in it.
All in all the filter cost around £200 including delivery and including the 4 filters inside.

Avoid tap water though. The chlorine in itself is lethal, never mind the other stuff in it.

[plam]

Originally Posted by mumbles12

Can I drink tap water yes or no?
I live in the stoke on trent area of staffordshire uk, I cant find much info about fluroide and other chemicals in the water.

Ive ditched green tea "for good" after finding out about the ridiculous fluoride content..
im more than happy to drink water for the rest of my life now, I dont drink coffee or tea,
to be honest though I dont feel im any healthier than tom or harry down the road drinking squash and coke lol!

I think the chemicals in water are actually starting to interfere with my brain function as I can concentrate on anything anymore.. "not exaggerating" (cant spell).

What should I do? Buy some test sticks? Whats better for me to drink filtered or distilled water?
and if filtered are the "jug type" ones you see in places like argos actually anygood? Or do I need an under sink one? I cant get the house purified as its not actually my house lol. Im just a lodger so to speak..

need to sort this asap, its putting me off even drinking anything.

Are you sure it's only the chemicals in water?

I don't drink tap water. I drink evian or pureblue (spring water).

[plam]

Originally Posted by 21_12_2012

I now mainly use my British Berkefeld filter (gravity filter...stand alone....doesnt connect to water mains) with 2 black berkeys and 2 arsenic/fluoride filters in it.
All in all the filter cost around £200 including delivery and including the 4 filters inside.

Which model exactly did you get?
Thanks

[mumbles12]

Originally Posted by plam

Are you sure it's only the chemicals in water?

I don't drink tap water. I drink evian or pureblue (spring water).

Whats that supposed to mean? Please clarify..

also bottled water is just as bad, I thought most people on here would have known that, if im wrong then feel free to provide evidence by all means.

[mumbles12]

Originally Posted by 21_12_2012

All tap water is total crap. You'd be extremely lucky to get anything out of a tap that isn't contaminated with all kinds of sick nasties (chemical and bacterial)

The 'mainstream/shop-bought filters' (brita etc) are next to useless.

They take out large particles of crap and make it taste a bit better, but basically they're a scam.

Distilled is as pure as it gets, i have used one for years on and off and had no problems (except the cost of electric to make the water)

I now mainly use my British Berkefeld filter (gravity filter...stand alone....doesnt connect to water mains) with 2 black berkeys and 2 arsenic/fluoride filters in it.
All in all the filter cost around £200 including delivery and including the 4 filters inside.

Avoid tap water though. The chlorine in itself is lethal, never mind the other stuff in it.

ok but doesnt distilled strip minerals from the water? Does it use a lot of electircity?
how come you switched to the gravity filter?

and how often do you have to replace the cartridges and at what cost?

im pretty desperate and want to buy something online today if possible,

ive been drinking tapwater for years, just found out the wheat bread I eat and the raw porridge oats (tesco) I have in the morning both contain gluten..
I took one of those york food intolerance tests and im apparently intolerant to lactose, gluten, and borderline intolerant to wheat..

I dont even know how many calories I need each day just to function, nevermind how to get them and from what foods anymore.. I thought I was eating healthy all these years, turns out im full of shit.. Im pretty underweight, people tell me I look ill, im 142ibs at 5'10 1/2, I think im 20ibs underweight, I used to be pretty athletic and weighed around 155, but when you think about it I still would have been underweight.. The biggest ive ever been is 160 and I couldnt even maintain it. Its no good talking to the retards on sites like bb.com cus they disregard possibility of illness, and the fact im not into bodybuilding (as a training style), I think I should be about 160 "sedentary" and probs bout 170 when active.. Until I figure this out im not gonna get bk into training.

[martg]

Bottled water is kind of complicated, but basicly if it's labelled as spring water then it really is, if it's labelled ANYTHING else it could just be tap water.

Even if it is spring water they can add whatever they want, although it would have to be mentioned somewhere on the label.

[mumbles12]

Originally Posted by 21_12_2012

All tap water is total crap. You'd be extremely lucky to get anything out of a tap that isn't contaminated with all kinds of sick nasties (chemical and bacterial)

The 'mainstream/shop-bought filters' (brita etc) are next to useless.

They take out large particles of crap and make it taste a bit better, but basically they're a scam.

Distilled is as pure as it gets, i have used one for years on and off and had no problems (except the cost of electric to make the water)

I now mainly use my British Berkefeld filter (gravity filter...stand alone....doesnt connect to water mains) with 2 black berkeys and 2 arsenic/fluoride filters in it.
All in all the filter cost around £200 including delivery and including the 4 filters inside.

Avoid tap water though. The chlorine in itself is lethal, never mind the other stuff in it.

Originally Posted by martg

Bottled water is kind of complicated, but basicly if it's labelled as spring water then it really is, if it's labelled ANYTHING else it could just be tap water.

Even if it is spring water they can add whatever they want, although it would have to be mentioned somewhere on the label.

And ill bet that spring water that is non toxic is expensive as shit right?
I need something cost effective, tbh I think its a bit insulting that we have to even pay for water.. What is "the best" we can do (other than a new home filtration system)?

[alienbiketrail]

I drink tap water at my place,but it depends completely on the location I may not drink from another tap at a house down the road, and personally very particular about water and careful where I drink from.

Always smell your water,and taste without swallowing that's why we have taste buds

[mumbles12]

Originally Posted by alienbiketrail

I drink tap water at my place,but it depends completely on the location I may not drink from another tap at a house down the road, and personally very particular about water and careful where I drink from.

Always smell your water,and taste without swallowing that's why we have taste buds

I know m8, but it just tastes like...."water!" lol, are test kits a worthy investment? Id ring the council but therein lies the problem..."councel!" so they could effectively just lie about water contaminants in each area....

reverse osmosis filters seem to be a scam.. Ive just found a link talking about how it makes the water acidic which is associated with cancer and other disease, talk about being back to square one!

what about boiling water in the kettle? does that do anything??

so far the choices are

*distilled water = stripped of all minerals.

*reverse osmosis water filtration system = water too acidic.

*lol "argos jug filter" = duhh.. They no work mucch.

tap water (neat) = I get to drink chlorine and fluoride and other stuff.

bottled water = can get expensive if you like to drink a lot of water, mineral water no good, and spring you must check the label.

so all in all, trying to find a method of hydrating healthily is even harder than cleaning up ones diet.

We are basically fubared then. Theres people on here who either drink bottled, use osmosis, distilled, and they alll have their flaws. How can I check my tap water for contaminants then?

[dr shock]

Originally Posted by mumbles12

I know m8, but it just tastes like...."water!" lol, are test kits a worthy investment? Id ring the council but therein lies the problem..."councel!" so they could effectively just lie about water contaminants in each area....

reverse osmosis filters seem to be a scam.. Ive just found a link talking about how it makes the water acidic which is associated with cancer and other disease, talk about being back to square one!

what about boiling water in the kettle? does that do anything??

so far the choices are

*distilled water = stripped of all minerals.

*reverse osmosis water filtration system = water too acidic.

*lol "argos jug filter" = duhh.. They no work mucch.

tap water (neat) = I get to drink chlorine and fluoride and other stuff.

bottled water = can get expensive if you like to drink a lot of water, mineral water no good, and spring you must check the label.

so all in all, trying to find a method of hydrating healthily is even harder than cleaning up ones diet.

We are basically fubared then. Theres people on here who either drink bottled, use osmosis, distilled, and they alll have their flaws. How can I check my tap water for contaminants then?

They are poisoning us with more than just water..Just drink the tap shit.

[alienbiketrail]

Originally Posted by mumbles12

I know m8, but it just tastes like...."water!" lol, are test kits a worthy investment? Id ring the council but therein lies the problem..."councel!" so they could effectively just lie about water contaminants in each area....

reverse osmosis filters seem to be a scam.. Ive just found a link talking about how it makes the water acidic which is associated with cancer and other disease, talk about being back to square one!

what about boiling water in the kettle? does that do anything??

so far the choices are

*distilled water = stripped of all minerals.

*reverse osmosis water filtration system = water too acidic.

*lol "argos jug filter" = duhh.. They no work mucch.

tap water (neat) = I get to drink chlorine and fluoride and other stuff.

bottled water = can get expensive if you like to drink a lot of water, mineral water no good, and spring you must check the label.

so all in all, trying to find a method of hydrating healthily is even harder than cleaning up ones diet.

We are basically fubared then. Theres people on here who either drink bottled, use osmosis, distilled, and they alll have their flaws. How can I check my tap water for contaminants then?

I would say the best for you would be to know how the water is in your location,and if there has been issues.

Asking around and get different opinions really helps,the local water supply you should know what could be issues or the history of how old tanks and the delivery system is.

Bottled water sometimes just comes from a public water supply anyway,and yours may be better than theirs,and it gets expensive.
If you drink water and your body starts telling you that it is messing with your intestines, you will know very quick, if the water probably is not drinkable.

We have very sensitive stomachs when it comes to bad drink or food.

[beldazar]

Filtered rainwater for us here. just one step better than the tap stuff but still full of gawd knows what but since we used to survive very well on stream water I'm not particularly bothered. Besides, I'm on a water meter and I begrudge paying for toxic water so I will have mine free thanks very much!
It tastes so much better than tap stuff.

[plam]

Originally Posted by mumbles12

Whats that supposed to mean? Please clarify..

also bottled water is just as bad, I thought most people on here would have known that, if im wrong then feel free to provide evidence by all means.

I drink evian because the taste is good.
That's all I base my decision on.
The minute evian starts to taste bad to me I'll ditch it.
Plus their bottles are less plastic than others'
I've no connection etc etc.

I'm not saying is good, it's just less bad

The pureblue in bottles is spring water
and it's very good.

And you're right

all in all, trying to find a method of hydrating healthily is even harder than cleaning up ones diet.

[mumbles12]

Originally Posted by alienbiketrail

I would say the best for you would be to know how the water is in your location,and if there has been issues.

Asking around and get different opinions really helps,the local water supply you should know what could be issues or the history of how old tanks and the delivery system is.

Bottled water sometimes just comes from a public water supply anyway,and yours may be better than theirs,and it gets expensive.
If you drink water and your body starts telling you that it is messing with your intestines, you will know very quick, if the water probably is not drinkable.

We have very sensitive stomachs when it comes to bad drink or food.

Hows the best way to find this info out m8? Its just on another forum some guys telling me not to trust what the council say about the water.

I definately dont "feel" a problem with my intestines (how would I know?), I pee it out quite well, and always clear as day,but its my brain im concerned its messing with the function of.. And the fluoride anti brain chemsitry thing seems plausible tbh cus I have major problems with concentration and its gotten worse lately..

And plam, I was really hoping you or someone else would tell me im wrong lol, and that there would be some great solution..

right so back to one of my original quedtions is it worth testing the water myself i.e. Strips? Or do these only check for individiual compounds (id imagine they do) i.e. Strip for chlorine, strip for fluoride or calcium and so on..

[beldazar]

Mumbles, do you have WI-FI near you? That's not too good with concentration either.
I'm not sure that just changing your water would have that much of an effect on you unless you are also doing a complete change of diet? (Not knowing what indeed is your diet, could be stinging nettles and dandelion leaves for all I know )

Too much going on, like flashing lights, loud music, exciting scenarios can affect concentration which is why they like children stuck playing computer games all day long.

This article is a bit.. ermm... well I wish it wasn't so!

The stimulation of the digital age is changing the make-up of our brains, with potentially disastrous results, writes Nicholas Carr.

ALTHOUGH the worldwide web has been around for just 20 years, it is hard to imagine life without it. It has given us instant access to vast amounts of information, and we're able to stay in touch with friends and colleagues more or less continuously.

But our dependence on the internet has a dark side. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.

I've been studying this research for the past three years, in the course of writing my new book The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember. But my interest in the subject is not just academic. It's personal. I was inspired to write the book after I realised that I was losing my own capacity for concentration and contemplation. Even when I was away from my computer, my mind seemed hungry for constant stimulation, for quick hits of information. I felt perpetually distracted.

Could my loss of focus be a result of all the time I've spent online? In search of an answer to that question, I began to dig into the many psychological, behavioural, and neurological studies that examine how the tools we use to think with - our information technologies - shape our habits of mind.

The picture that emerges is troubling, at least to anyone who values the subtlety, rather than just the speed, of human thought. People who read text studded with links, the studies show, comprehend less than those who read words printed on pages. People who watch busy multimedia presentations remember less than those who take in information in a more sedate and focused manner. People who are continually distracted by emails, updates and other messages understand less than those who are able to concentrate. And people who juggle many tasks are often less creative and less productive than those who do one thing at a time.

The common thread in these disabilities is the division of attention. The richness of our thoughts, our memories and even our personalities hinges on our ability to focus the mind and sustain concentration. Only when we pay close attention to a new piece of information are we able to associate it ''meaningfully and systematically with knowledge already well established in memory'', writes the Nobel prize-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel. Such associations are essential to mastering complex concepts and thinking critically.

When we're constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be when looking at the screens of our computers and mobile phones, our brains can't forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give distinctiveness and depth to our thinking. Our thoughts become disjointed, our memories weak. The Roman philosopher Seneca may have put it best 2000 years ago: ''To be everywhere is to be nowhere.''

In an article in Science last year, Patricia Greenfield, a developmental psychologist who runs UCLA's Children's Digital Media Centre, reviewed dozens of studies on how different media technologies influence our cognitive abilities. Some of the studies indicated that certain computer tasks, such as playing video games, increase the speed at which people can shift their focus among icons and other images on screens. Other studies, however, found that such rapid shifts in focus, even if performed adeptly, result in less rigorous and ''more automatic'' thinking.

In one experiment at an American university, half a class of students was allowed to use internet-connected laptops during a lecture, while the other had to keep their computers shut. Those who browsed the web performed much worse on a subsequent test of how well they retained the lecture's content. Earlier experiments revealed that as the number of links in an online document goes up, reading comprehension falls, and as more types of information are placed on a screen, we remember less of what we see.

Greenfield concluded that ''every medium develops some cognitive skills at the expense of others''. Our growing use of screen-based media, she said, has strengthened visual-spatial intelligence, which can strengthen the ability to do jobs that involve keeping track of lots of rapidly changing signals, such as piloting a plane or monitoring a patient during surgery. But that has been accompanied by ''new weaknesses in higher-order cognitive processes'', including ''abstract vocabulary, mindfulness, reflection, inductive problem solving, critical thinking, and imagination''. We're becoming, in a word, shallower.

Studies of our behaviour online support this conclusion. German researchers found that web browsers usually spend less than 10 seconds looking at a page. Even people doing academic research online tend to ''bounce'' rapidly between different documents, rarely reading more than a page or two, according to a University College London study. Such mental juggling takes a big toll. In a recent experiment at Stanford University, researchers gave various cognitive tests to 49 people who do a lot of media multitasking and 52 people who multitask much less frequently. The heavy multitaskers performed poorly on all the tests. They were more easily distracted, had less control over their attention, and were much less able to distinguish important information from trivia.

The researchers were surprised by the results. They expected the intensive multitaskers to have gained some mental advantages. But that wasn't the case. In fact, the multitaskers weren't even good at multitasking. ''Everything distracts them,'' said Clifford Nass, one of the researchers.

It would be one thing if the ill-effects went away as soon as we turned off our computers and mobiles. But they don't. The cellular structure of the human brain, scientists have discovered, adapts readily to the tools we use to find, store and share information. By changing our habits of mind, each new technology strengthens certain neural pathways and weakens others. The alterations shape the way we think even when we're not using the technology.

The pioneering neuroscientist Michael Merzenich believes our brains are being ''massively remodelled'' by our ever-intensifying use of the web and related media.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Merzenich, now a professor emeritus at the University of California in San Francisco, conducted a famous series of experiments that revealed how extensively and quickly neural circuits change in response to experience. In a conversation late last year, he said that he was profoundly worried about the cognitive consequences of the constant distractions and interruptions the internet bombards us with. The long-term effect on the quality of our intellectual lives, he said, could be ''deadly''.

Not all distractions are bad. As most of us know, if we concentrate too intensively on a tough problem, we can get stuck in a mental rut. But if we let the problem sit unattended for a time, we often return to it with a fresh perspective and a burst of creativity.

Research by the Dutch psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis indicates that such breaks in our attention give our unconscious mind time to grapple with a problem, bringing to bear information and cognitive processes unavailable to conscious deliberation. We usually make better decisions, his experiments reveal, if we shift our attention away from a mental challenge for a time.

But Dijksterhuis's work also shows that our unconscious thought processes don't engage with a problem until we've clearly and consciously defined what the problem is. If we don't have a particular goal in mind, he writes, ''unconscious thought does not occur''.

The constant distractedness that the net encourages - the state of being, to borrow a phrase from T. S. Eliot, ''distracted from distraction by distraction'' - is very different from the kind of temporary, purposeful diversion of our mind that refreshes our thinking. The cacophony of stimuli short-circuits both conscious and unconscious thought, preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively. Our brains turn into simple signal-processing units, shepherding information into consciousness and then back out again.

What we seem to be sacrificing in our surfing and searching is our capacity to engage in the quieter, attentive modes of thought that underpin contemplation, reflection and introspection. The web never encourages us to slow down. It keeps us in a state of perpetual mental locomotion.

The rise of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, which pump out streams of brief messages, has only exacerbated the problem.

THERE'S nothing wrong with absorbing information quickly and in bits and pieces. We've always skimmed newspapers more than we've read them, and we routinely run our eyes over books and magazines to get the gist of a piece of writing and decide whether it warrants more thorough reading.

The ability to scan and browse is as important as the ability to read deeply and think attentively.

What's disturbing is that skimming is becoming our dominant mode of thought.

Once a means to an end, a way to identify information for further study, it's becoming an end in itself - our preferred method of both learning and analysis.

Dazzled by the net's treasures, we have been blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture.

link

[plam]

Originally Posted by mumbles12

right so back to one of my original quedtions is it worth testing the water myself i.e. Strips? Or do these only check for individiual compounds (id imagine they do) i.e. Strip for chlorine, strip for fluoride or calcium and so on..

I wouldn't you advise to test the water
Just don't drink it if you think it's bad for you
Your body has already tested it for you
Hence you have these thoughts

Obsessing about food and water
could be equally detrimental to one's health
as being totally ignorant about it.

[mumbles12]

Originally Posted by plam

I wouldn't you advise to test the water
Just don't drink it if you think it's bad for you
Your body has already tested it for you
Hence you have these thoughts

Obsessing about food and water
could be equally detrimental to one's health
as being totally ignorant about it.

Then what am I supposed to drink in order to survive?
I agree about the obsessing, but I am currently eating a diet containing wheat and gluten that im intolerant too, because atm idk what to switch to, i.e. I know brown rice is great for carbs as opposed to glutonous wheat bread from the supermarket, I eat tinned sardines five times a week, I switched from tuna cus of the mercury, I eat raw porridge oats for breky, but that contains gluten, for tea its mostly whatevers in the freezer lol, I live with my mum see, , I work and all, but I need cost effective, healthy alternatives to how ive been treating my body, but also I need enough calories as idk if anyone "skimmed" over this but im underweight..

as for wifi, im using my phone sony ericson (i wouldnt even buy a blackberry due to excess radiation), there is a broadband connection in my room for downstairs, but no computer in my room, the only other electricals in my room that I keep unplugged are tv, printer, and dvd player, oh yea! And stereo lol.. Theres also a bass amp I dont even use no more, but it is unplugged..

flashing lights I dont think are a problem as im having this issue during daytime..
tv I dont watch no more, maybe like five minutes downstairs whilst I eat my tea lol, videogames I dont play.. In fact atm when not at work im just using this site, and going to the library, "and this is where I know somethings wrong" ill pick up a few books on philosophy, sit down and I cant get comfortable, keep perfectly still, or stop looking at people as they walk by lol.. Ill be reading but thinking about something else if that makes sense.. Im not stressed I dont think, but I do suffer with depression..

I will not take anti depressants as ive already seen what it can do, by looking at members of my family, and councelling is very draining, and non constructive "you just talk and go round and round" when alls you needed was perfect diet, release from mental strain, vigorous excercise and the occasional good shag!

Its true!

my problem is im getting frustrated at the amass of negative info about what the government have poisoned next, my food intolerances, and my struggle with weight..
if I can just restore "balance" to my body, i stand a much better chance of getting the old me back. This is why ive started out posting on the health and nutrition section of this site, as if the body is healthy I strongly believe that the mind will follow, that in itself should be step 1 to being awakened shouldnt it? Just like a workour regimen, you get what you put in.
"in" as in=into your body.

I apologise if I sound like a jeriatric but I do know if the neighbours dont shut up im goin put slayer on and run into the wall a few times til they get the message.

[plam]

Try cold showers! The type water does not matter ... only the temperature!

[mumbles12]

Originally Posted by plam

Try cold showers! The water does not matter!

I used to do those.. Might be a good time to start doing that again (cold showering, not showering in general of course).. But what do you mean the water does not matter plam?
please clarify..