Healthy, fresh drinking water is one of the most important things to consume on a daily basis. However, unfortunately, the water in bigger cities is often full of contaminants requiring many people to process their tap water before drinking. These systems, like a reverse osmosis filter, do a great job of removing toxins and contaminants from drinking water, but they also remove minerals that are essential for your body.
To ensure they’re drinking the best water possible, many people wonder whether there’s a way to add these lost minerals to their drinking water. In this article, we’ll discuss both why minerals are important for your body as well as how to add these minerals back into your drinking water.
Why Does My Drinking Water Need Minerals?
Our bodies need many different minerals to function properly. Typically, we’re able to get most of these minerals from food and drinking water. However, especially with the increased consumption of processed fast food, acidic drinks, and filtered water, people don’t always get all of their essential minerals from their diets. Therefore, adding minerals to your drinking water can be very beneficial for your body while also improving the taste and smell of your water. As an example, some of the most crucial minerals you should add to your drinking water are magnesium, calcium, and zinc. Additionally, some people also add a few drops of iodine and some fulvic acid.
To determine what minerals you may want to add to your water, you should always first consult with your doctor. Aside from your doctor, you could also work with other professionals like water specialists and dieticians to help determine your specific needs.
6 Simple Ways To Add Minerals To Your Drinking Water
These are 6 simple methods we recommend to get more minerals into your daily drinking water, many of which use basic items and ingredients from around your house.
1. Add A Mineral-Rich Salt
Although it might sound a little unusual, adding a little salt to your water is a great simple method to add minerals to your water. However, keep in mind that we are not talking about the standard table salt here. Himalayan sea salt is a great example of a non-processed, mineral-rich salt that is full of 84 trace minerals. Adding a small amount of mineral-rich salt like Himalayan sea salt to your water means you’ll be able to get those trace minerals directly from the water. The key to adding mineral-rich salt to your drinking water, however, is knowing how much you should add because you don’t want your water to taste salty!
The ideal amount to add is around one pinch of salt for a glass of water. You’re aiming for enough salt to add minerals to your water without impacting the taste. As another option, you can also add one-quarter of a teaspoon to one gallon of water to have a bulk amount of lightly-salted water.
To streamline the process, always aim for fine salt that will easily dissolve. Alternatively, you can make a mixed salt solution and store it in a glass dropper bottle. After creating the salt solution, you can simply add a few drops to your water to easily remineralize each glass.
2. Add Trace Mineral Drops
If you want to avoid adding salt to your water, another option is to add trace mineral drops directly. As an added benefit, using trace minerals in your drinking water will also make it taste way better than before! Further, the process of adding trace mineral drops to your water is extremely simple. All you need to do is add a couple of drops of the minerals to your glass of water or water bottle. You can also add it to a pitcher for a larger portion of mineral-rich water to share.
You should be able to find trace mineral drops at almost any pharmacy or grocery store. These drops most commonly contain trace amounts of minerals such as copper, chromium selenium, zinc, iron, and manganese which are all helpful for your body. Many types of drops also contain a very important macromineral called magnesium. Trace mineral drops are in most cases quite affordable and readily available. With only one 8 oz. bottle of trace mineral drops you can remineralize from 100 to 200 gallons of water, making them a cost-effective and simple way to get your minerals in through your drinking water.
3. Make Spa Water
If you are looking to add some minerals and improve the taste of your tap water by adding extra flavor, you can also try making your own spa water. Spa water is basically water that has been infused with raw fruits, vegetables, and herbs to add flavor and additional nutrients. Depending on the specific vitamins and minerals you want to add to your water, you’ll pick a different combination of herbs, vegetables, spices, and fruits to use. Plus, spa water is a great substitute for juices and sodas.
4. Add a Greens Blend
Adding a greens blend to your drinking water has a lot of benefits. For example, it’s an ideal option for people who want to increase their vegetable consumption but don’t like many green vegetables. Instead, the greens blend is a convenient way to easily drink the vitamins and minerals that would otherwise come from eating vegetables. Additionally, there are many greens blend options that taste delicious, particularly when added to ice-cold water. Finally, drinking a greens blend is quite beneficial as the ingredients that the powder contains are easily utilized and absorbed in your body.
The best way to make your own green juice is by simply adding a cup of water, some ice, and your greens powder all to a shaker. The green powder you purchase should tell you the right proportion of powder to use for a cup of water. After adding these ingredients, put the lid on the shaker and shake it vigorously for about a minute. Now that your mixture is ready, drink it within 15 minutes so it doesn’t separate. If you’re looking to purchase a new green powder, one of the most popular blends nowadays is called Lean Greens, which contains about 20 active ingredients such as green tea, broccoli, spinach, spirulina, and wheatgrass. You can find several options on the market however with different blends of greens and nutrients to choose from based on your personal preference and needs.
5. Use a pH-Balancing Filter
You may not have heard of a pH-balancing filter before, but if you use water that has been filtered through reverse osmosis, this type of filter might be the ideal solution for you. To be clear, reverse osmosis systems are a great way to remove harmful contaminants such as Chromium 6, Arsenic, or Nitrates from your water. Keep in mind your reverse osmosis filtration systems will also filter out all the organic contaminants as well – this is where the pH-balancing filter comes into play.
As reverse osmosis systems can remove up to 99% of organic and inorganic contaminants, they make your drinking water way more acidic. The pH-balancing filter is there to add healthy minerals such as Magnesium and Calcium back into your drinking water. This process brings the pH level back to normal, improving the overall quality of your water and ensuring you’ll get those minerals from your water again. Installation is also relatively simple – pH-balancing filters are specifically designed to function as post-filters for reverse osmosis systems. To properly install a pH-balancing filter in your home, make sure you select one that fits your reverse osmosis system and you should be able to install it in no time.
6. Use a Water Bottle That Infuses Ionic Minerals
If you want an on-the-go option to ensure you’ll always have mineral-rich water, this water bottle method makes a great choice! With this type of water bottle, you can go running, camping or even just take a walk and drink water filled with ionized minerals. Using this type of bottle is also extremely simple as you don’t need to have pre-filtered water. Instead, you simply start with plain tap water and the water will filter everything for you.
Basically, your water bottle will infuse your water with ionic minerals so you can enjoy fresh and healthy drinking water. These bottles contain nanosilver as well as kaolin clay to help filter out any contaminants, such as chlorine while ensuring you don’t lose essential minerals. They also come in a huge variety of colors and have removable filters, many of which only need to be replaced once or twice a year. Finally, these bottles are also often quite affordable, making them a budget-friendly, convenient, and effective solution to improve your drinking water.
Mineral Water vs Plain Tap Water
One of the biggest differences between tap water and mineral water is the actual composition of the water itself. The plain tap water we drink on a daily basis can sometimes have dangerous contaminants in it. On the other hand, mineral water, especially if sourced from mineral springs and underground reservoirs, is full of beneficial minerals such as zinc, potassium, and calcium. These minerals not only have health benefits, as discussed in this article but can also improve the taste of the water.
Another potential issue with regular tap water is that, even if it would normally be fine to drink, it can also get contaminated if it is flowing through rusted pipes. By drinking mineral water from mineral springs or even remineralized water, you ensure the water is safe and tasty to drink no matter where you are.
Our Bottom Line
All in all, filtering your water is not a bad thing. It is a great way to remove contaminants from your drinking water, especially the dangerous ones such as Arsenic and Chromium 6. However, keep in mind that in this filtration process, most organic contaminants and minerals that can actually be beneficial are also often filtered out. Therefore, adding minerals back to your drinking water is very important. As you can see, there are many different methods and tricks you can use to enhance the overall quality of your drinking water and also improve its taste and smell. We hope this article helped show the importance of adding minerals to your water and several different ways to improve your own drinking water.