May 2, 2025 • 37 mins
In this thought-provoking episode of Crunchy Stewardship, cousins Chrissy Rombach and Katie Jones turn their attention to a vital element of our health: water. Building on their commitment to holistic well-being rooted in biblical principles, they explore the unseen world of our drinking water and the potential toxins lurking within.
Chrissy and Katie share their growing awareness of water quality issues and delve into the processes designed to purify our water, questioning whether these methods come with hidden costs to our long-term health. They discuss the addition of fluoride, its intended benefits for dental health, and the emerging research linking it to neurodevelopmental concerns. The conversation broadens to include other common contaminants like heavy metals, pharmaceutical residues, and the pervasive issue of microplastics.
Throughout the episode, they emphasize the importance of being informed consumers and offer practical, budget-friendly solutions for improving the water we consume daily. They also invite listeners to join their Facebook group, 'Crunchy Christian Mamas on a Budget,' for continued discussion and shared learning.
Episode Takeaway:
Considering your current water consumption habits and the information shared in this episode, what is one small, manageable step you feel inspired to take this week to better steward the water you and your family drink?
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Water as a Health Cornerstone
01:00 Understanding Water Filtration & Disinfection
06:40 The Role and Controversy of Fluoride in Water
09:27 Unseen Contaminants In Your Water
14:33 The Pervasive Problem of Microplastics in Water
23:38 Choosing the Right Water Filter
32:15 Practical Steps for Safer Water on a Budget
35:00 Conclusion and Community Support
Mentioned in this Episode:
- Landmark Study on Fluoride and IQ: https://www.thenewlede.org/2025/01/study-fluoride-linked-to-lower-iq-debate/
- Environmental Working Group (EWG) Water Quality Resources:
- What’s In Your Water: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/
- Water Filter Guide: https://www.ewg.org/research/getting-forever-chemicals-out-drinking-water-ewgs-guide-pfas-water-filters
- Brita Water Filter Chrissy Uses: https://amzn.to/4lU6C11
- Brita Faucet Filter: https://amzn.to/4jEdazm
- Berkey Water Filters: https://amzn.to/4cWaIll
- Dr. Brown's Glass Baby Bottles: https://amzn.to/44iPSdx
- Mason Bottle: https://amzn.to/3RHGlFn
*Links may provide affiliate commission. We thank you for your support of our show!
Connect With Us:
-->Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crunchychristianmama
-->FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Crunchy
(00:04):
Stewardship.
My name is Katie Jones,
Chrissy (00:07):
and my name is Chrissy Rombach.
We are two cousins who arepassionate about learning and
sharing knowledge to equipothers to steward their
spiritual, mental, emotional,financial, and physical health
in order to honor God in everyaspect of their lives.
Okay.
Katie (00:25):
In our podcast, we are taking a deep dive into what it
means to be a steward of ourlives as God originally intended
for us to do with our resourcesthat he has blessed us with.
Uh, we're gonna take a look attopics like food, medicine,
finances, mental health, andtons more, um, through a natural
(00:48):
lens and with a biblicalfoundation.
So without further ado, let'sget started on our second
episode ever here for crunchystewardship.
We are gonna talk all aboutwater and to get started, I, I
know, Chrissy, you have done alittle bit of research on this
(01:08):
water filtration process and soI wanna, I wanna kick us off
today and by you just kind ofsharing what it means to filter
our water and what that processlooks like.
Um, because I don't think a lotof us, I don't, I don't actually
know a lot about the process.
I just kind of know our watergets filtered.
Chrissy (01:26):
Yeah.
So, um, so the infamousdihydrogen peroxide or H2O water
treatment process, um, generallyhas about five steps, and the
responsibility of watertreatment kind of comes down to
either the city or the county,um, depending on where you live
in the United States.
(01:47):
And so the basis that I went offof was smack in the middle of
the country.
I said Denver.
Um, this is how Denver processestheir water as a general
outline.
And most cities follow about thesame five steps.
Um, but they might use differentchemicals, and additives and
things like that, just smallchanges.
(02:09):
But as a general overview, thereare five steps for the water
treatment process in the UnitedStates.
Those five steps arecoagulation, flocculation,
sedimentation, filtration anddisinfection.
So the first step coagulation.
Um., It's very similar to, uh,like blood coagulation.
(02:33):
So if you think about blood andif somebody's taking an
anticoagulant or a bloodthinner, it is preventing their
blood from clumping.
Mm-hmm.
And so this.
Coagulation step is very similarin that it focuses on the
clumps.
So the idea here is to get ridof the solid clumps that are
(02:53):
already in our water.
You know, they're, they reallydo take the dirtiest of the
dirty water, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Sewage.
Runoff, you've got stick,stones, stool, all the things
that's so gross to think about.
It is.
But so the first step is gettingrid of all those stick stones
and stools out of the water, sothey get rid of all the solids.
(03:16):
And what's left is a mixturethat they call floc, which is
pretty much just like a cloudysuspension of particles.
So it's a very smooth, cloudy.
Still gross looking.
Probably still smells a littlebit, probably is awful, but it
doesn't have any solids in it.
So the second step is calledFlocculation.
Mm.
Where they add differentpolymers to the water and they
(03:39):
mix it up really hard.
And these polymers act as like abinding agent and force these
dissolved sediments to kind ofbind together and create more
clumps, um, because we just gotrid of all the clumps, so we
gotta make more clumps.
And so
Katie (03:55):
yes,
Chrissy (03:55):
all the dissolved dirt that's still in the water then
clumps together and kind offalls to the bottom of this
tank, at which point they havelike this giant shovel thing at
the bottom of the tank that kindscooches it off to the side and
gets rid of it and that.
Step of the shovel thing,scooching it off to the side is
the sedimentation step.
(04:16):
You know, um, after thosepolymers create those clumps,
they then fall to the bottom assediment does, and then they get
scraped away.
Yeah.
So you get left with this clear,um water, you know, it's clear,
it looks good, um, but it stillcan contain, um, some germs and
(04:38):
toxins that are not good for us.
Uh, viruses, bacteria, thingslike that.
And so, this fourth step, theycall the filtration step, and
they have two layers offiltration.
It's, um, they're in verticallayers.
There's anthracite, coal andsand, and anthracite coal is
actually the purest form of coalthat is created in the earth.
(05:02):
It's, I saw about 98% pure coaland is used as a natural
filtration medium.
And so this combination ofanthracite coal and sand is
called the filter media.
And so any remaining particlesthat are left in the water gets
stuck in this filter media asthe water filters through it,
(05:26):
and so all the clear water goesthrough it and any remaining
sediment or other nasties thatis stuck in the water, gets
stuck in there and you're leftwith clear, zero sediment water.
Um, but you know, bacteria andviruses cannot get stuck by sand
(05:47):
unfortunately.
So this last step is called thedisinfection step in which they
add.
Um, different cities adddifferent things.
I saw some cities add chlorine.
Some cities add what's calledchloramine, which is a
combination of chlorine andammonia that are used together
(06:08):
to kill that bacteria and theviruses.
And leaves us with clean,drinkable water that you can
consume without being concernedfor your health and all the
other nasties that was in thewater to start off with.
So that's kind of like a generaloverview of it.
I'm sure there are morespecifics.
I am not a water treatmentprofessional.
(06:33):
And I have heard, you know, theydo also add fluoride to water in
some areas of the United States.
Katie, have you looked into likewhy do they add fluoride and
what exactly does it do to ourbodies as we drink it?
Katie (06:50):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I, I keep running across a lotabout fluoride and I keep, like
hearing a bunch of stuffrecently that's been like,
fluoride isn't actually as safeas we really thought it was.
Because one of the main reasonsI think that they started adding
fluoride to the water wasbecause there were some links to
(07:11):
the fact that fluoride wasreally good for our teeth.
Um, it helps to keep them strongand white and.
And it helps to protect themfrom getting lots and lots of
cavities.
And so I think that the inintention originally was good
for, you know, the governmentwas like, okay, we want to
protect people's dental health.
(07:33):
And so I think there was a lotof good intentions behind
fluoride.
But with good intentions thataren't studied for long-term
effects.
I think now we're starting tofind that fluoride is actually
linked to a lot of negativestuff.
I recently came across like anarticle that was posted, uh,
(07:56):
early January.
I have it up here to kind ofreference, but the, the title of
it is like A Landmark Study,Affirms Fluoride's Link to Lower
IQ.
And there's like been a lot ofthings like that where fluoride
is actually linked to likeneurodevelopment and cognition
issues.
So like the, that there's likean impact on these things,
(08:17):
especially in children whosebrains are not fully developed.
They're obviously just, they'reso young and.
They can be impacted by thesekinds of things in a harsher way
than us as adults can.
And so like I've always kind ofknown, okay, children really
shouldn't have like fluoridetoothpaste, like we should be
(08:40):
doing fluoride free toothpaste.
But I never really understoodwhy.
And so now I've been kind ofstarting to like look into why
this is important, but alsothere's been a lot more negative
impacts.
That they're starting torecognize with fluoride, even in
adults.
Um, it just like long termthings.
Interesting.
It's not like you're gonna havefluoride and it's gonna kill you
(09:01):
immediately, but it's just likethe long term impacts of having
these things in our systems.
Um, and so, and I think thatthat's true too with water in
general is like, okay, you know,in general they are putting
stuff into our, our water likechlorine and ammonia that is
(09:24):
supposed to help kill offbacteria.
But at what cost?
Right?
Yeah.
Like, okay, maybe havingchlorine, maybe drinking
chlorine every day, like smallamounts of it is not great.
And that's where I've mm-hmm.
Kind of come across this idea ofGRAS generally recognized as
safe.
(09:44):
Yeah.
And they, they label a lot ofthe things that we ingest,
Chrissy (09:48):
I hear that in a lot of places, like, oh yeah, you know,
if you.
Google search, is this productsafe?
It's never a yes or no.
It's, I know, generally regardedas safe, you know?
Yes.
And it, it's comes to questionlike, what is that generally
regarded?
What does generally mean?
Like, for the most part to havea lot of it, to have a little of
(10:10):
it, it's mostly healthy until apoint.
Yeah.
Katie (10:15):
What does that mean?
It's hard because a lot of thesethings, like again, obviously
all of us have been drinking ourwater.
Mm-hmm.
And none of us are like fallingover dead immediately.
So it's not like poisoning us toa point where we're dying.
Like on impact.
At least in the United States.
It's not.
At least in the United States.
Yes.
(10:36):
Well, well that like, that'swhat I'm saying is like in
chlorine is.
Is generally safe in low doses.
Right.
But then what happens, like whenit's being added to our, like
we're drinking so much water andwe're told to drink lots of
water.
We, we, our body needs water.
Right?
So what happens when we'redrinking tons of these chemicals
(10:56):
day in and day out?
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's like, maybe, maybe that'snot.
The greatest thing.
Chrissy (11:04):
I wish there was a way that we could get the harmful
bacteria and viruses out of ourwater without having to add
chlorine.
Which chlorine is really justanother way of saying bleach.
It's, it's a nicer form ofbleach if you really think about
it.
It's a very similar chemicalcompound,
Katie (11:24):
and we all know we shouldn't drink bleach.
Chrissy (11:26):
I just, I wish there was a way that we could filter
out the bacteria and viruseswithout having to use harmful
chemicals like chlorine andammonia.
Um, that I don't know of any Doyou
Katie (11:42):
From like a big, like a government standpoint, like
doing it statewide?
I don't think that there's likea, a process necessarily.
I mean, I guess maybe boilingthe water.
Oh yeah.
Could, would probably do that.
I don't know.
I, but that would be veryexpensive.
It probably would be really hardto like, heat up large amounts
(12:03):
of water and Yeah, it's, it'sreally interesting.
I mean.
You think about like, okay, wellthen what are we supposed to do
if there's all these chemicalsin our water?
Like, how do we avoid them?
Especially if nowadays, youknow, we start to learn.
Like I, I read an article, um,from EWG, which, which we'll
(12:24):
link to in the notes, so you cantake a look at it too, but.
There's tons of stuff like when,when you start to look at water
that there, there is fluoride,which is dangerous.
Mm-hmm.
Or they're starting to recognizeas more dangerous.
But there's also traces of leadand arsenic, iron, mercury, um,
obviously the chlorine, which wetalked about.
(12:44):
Um, but even things like, Iliterally heard a podcast the
other day that was like, thereare literally, um hormones from
birth control and stuff like inour water.
Yes.
And I'm like, that probably isnot good for children to drink
like hormones like.
Okay.
Chrissy (13:01):
Also, in the hospital system, we are encouraged not to
waste narcotics in the sink.
We have a special bucket thathas like a coagulation piece.
Oh, coagulation in the bottom ofit.
That like solidifies thenarcotics that we pour'em into,
um, or dump them into, and itprevents the extra narcotics
(13:23):
from getting into our waterfiltration system.
Katie (13:26):
Oh my gosh.
You know what I'm just thinkingabout is like, yeah.
Every time that somebody haslike.
Like leftover, yeah, pain medsfrom their surgeries, a lot of
people I think I even have inthe past, like just dumped them
down the because I'm like, well,I don't want them to be in my
cabinet.
And then somebody, you know,goes and picks them up and takes
(13:46):
this drug.
Mm-hmm.
So, yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Like I've even been a part ofthe problem of adding, see, so
like what else are peopleputting in the water that like
stays around?
Chrissy (13:56):
Well, thankfully there are actually household ways that
we can get some of these other,um, toxins out of our water.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
So Katie, I know you've done alittle bit more research than I
have into different methods thatwe can implement in our own
(14:17):
households to protect us more sofrom these extra drugs, metals,
um, and plastics that are in ourwater.
So what are some of thoseresources that you found that we
can implement easily?
In a cost effective manner inour homes.
Katie (14:33):
Yeah.
Plastics is a really interestingone too that you mentioned,
because, I think many of us knowlike filtered water is typically
better than the tap water thatwe drink from our sink at home.
Like again, the tap water is notgoing to like kill you, right?
It's better than drinking fromthe pond in your backyard,
right?
Like so.
Yes.
(14:54):
But.
Uh, filtered water.
Like, there's like differentlevels of that even so many of
us think okay, I'm gonna go anddo bottled water, which is a
higher quality than typicallythe tap water from our sinks
and.
There, there's a lot, like I, Idon't know a ton about like each
(15:15):
of the brands and all thisstuff, and they all go through
their own special process offiltering the water so that it
doesn't have all of theseharmful chemicals and heavy
metals and hormones and andthings like that.
But what's interesting is that.
Taking now bottled water fromthe grocery store.
You know, you think about thebig mm-hmm.
Packs of the plastic waterbottles.
(15:38):
What then poses as an issue isthey're being held in plastic
containers.
Right.
Which now we're all starting toalso recognize like
microplastics are a really bigproblem.
And I literally read Chrissythat the other, like the other
day that.
I don't actually know if it'stotally, if it was from air
alone or because it was, it wasan email that I read from this
(15:59):
air.
Um, purifying company, and theywere talking about how each of
us ingests about a credit cardworth of microplastics a day.
And it's like, oh my word.
Like that's, that's terrifying.
Like literally eating plastic.
Like that's how prevalentplastic is in our world these
(16:20):
days.
And it's like, oh my gosh.
So.
I think one of the big thingswith water too, is trying to
eliminate as much plastic thatit comes in contact with as
possible, because whether it'sin a bottled water or something
else mm-hmm.
In our household, like it'sgoing to leak very, very, very
small amounts of plastic intoour water that we're then going
(16:42):
and drinking and then puttinginto our bodies and.
As I, as I, I
Chrissy (16:47):
currently drink out of a plastic cup.
Katie (16:50):
I know.
Literally ditto.
I have a plastic cup right nowtoo that I'm drinking my little
smoothie out of, but it's like,so, okay.
Bottled water is filtered andit's, it's probably better than
drinking the tap water from yoursink.
Yeah, for sure.
But we need to be careful abouthow much we, we use and so.
(17:12):
Really quick on another note forif you're thinking, what other
plastics do I have in mykitchen?
Just think about like, okay, theKeurig that you're using, Keurig
is made from plastic and thenthe K-cups that you're putting
the coffee or tea in, um,, intothe Keurig from are also plastic
and the water kettle that youmight be using to heat up your
(17:34):
water.
If it's like one of those pluginones might be plastic.
So it's like there's a lot,there's a lot of plastic.
Chrissy (17:40):
And Tupperware Tupperware's a big one, I think.
Our society has done a reallygreat job of kind of like
drilling it into our heads of donot heat Tupperware.
Mm-hmm.
Don't put Tupperware in themicrowave, not microwave safe.
Um, even if it says microwavesafe, I hear a lot of people
saying, don't put it in themicrowave.
Nonetheless.
Use a glass plate or a glass cupor bowl or whatever.
(18:02):
Um, and that's so true, youknow?
Yeah.
Tupperware I think is one of thebiggest ones that is a very easy
switch, you know, switching toglass tupperware dishes, you
know, Pyrex has a bunch ofdifferent sizes and everything
like that of Tupperware, youknow, so
Katie (18:20):
it's interesting.
My dad is a plastics chemist andactually we had a conversation
about literally this plastic cupthat I am holding right now,
years ago, and we talked aboutthat.
With plastic like kitchenwareespecially, it's really easy.
Like most of it says like, yeah,it's dishwasher safe, put it in
your dishwasher.
But he always told me to handwash anything plastic, whether
(18:44):
it was the cup or a like aplastic Tupperware thing.
Um, and we always talked aboutit from a standpoint of making
that product last longer becausewhen plastic is heated up, so in
the microwave, for example, orin the dishwasher when it's
heated up at these hightemperatures, the plastic thing
(19:05):
starts to degrade even quickerthan it would just if you hand
washed it or if just didn't heatit up in general.
And so we always talked about itfrom like a a longevity
standpoint, but now it's like,oh my gosh.
Like you think about thebreakdown of plastic.
Yeah, yeah.
Like every time I would wash itin the dishwasher, it probably
starts to like degrade thelining of it and it starts
(19:27):
leaking into my liquids andfoods
Chrissy (19:29):
and ah, that makes me remember, like growing up we
used Tervis Tumblers all thetime.
Yes.
You know, in Texas, I still havesome.
Well, they're great, you know,they don't sweat.
You keeps your drinks warm orcold or however.
Um, but I always wondered likeour Tervis Tumblers started
looking gnarly after a few yearsand we'd go over to our friend's
(19:53):
house and their Tervis Tumblers,they were 10 years old, just
still looked brand new and theywere still really shining and
sparkly.
And I asked my mom like, why dotheirs Tervis Tumblers look so
much better than ours?
She said, oh, we put ours in thedishwasher.
It's not very good for them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And.
Now I realize like, oh my gosh,we were breaking down the
plastic and that's all we drankout of.
(20:13):
We did not have glass cups todrink out of.
Mm-hmm.
Katie (20:18):
Um, well, so many of us think like, like for us, it's so
hard too with kids because kidsdrop things and if they're
glass, inevitably they're goingto break if they get dropped
enough or from the right heightand plastic obviously doesn't do
that.
So it does last longer from thatstandpoint, but it's.
It's hard.
It's like a balance, right?
(20:39):
You have to find out what worksbest for you and your family.
Mm-hmm.
Because, yeah, there's somethings that we still have that
are plastic because of havingchildren, but.
Like then you think, okay, am Iactually maybe harming my child
a little bit more because I'mallowing them to eat and drink
from plastic materials that arenow leaking into their systems
(21:03):
and could cause all sorts ofendocrine disruption and stuff,
and you're just like, oh mygosh.
Like it's kind of terrifyingsometimes being a parent.
Yeah.
'cause you're like, every littledecision really can make a
lasting impact.
And so.
Chrissy (21:17):
Do they make, do they make stainless steel bottles for
babies?
Katie (21:22):
Yes, actually, so we, um, that's a really great question.
So we actually switched to usingglass and stainless steel
bottles.
So Dr.
Brown's is the brand that we'vebeen using for bottles and it's
like, it is a glass bottle, butit comes in like a silicone
sleeve.
So it has a little bit more oflike a protection to it.
(21:43):
Um, and then I recently found,um.
This brand called Mason Bottle.
They make both glass andstainless steel, and I ended up
getting their stainless steelone because they have
interchangeable tops to it.
That can be like a baby bottlenipple, but then you can change
it to then be a straw cup.
(22:03):
And so my son right now, he's,um, switching, he's like in the
process of starting to learn howto use other cups besides just
bottles.
And he actually really likes thelittle straw cup with this mason
bottle brand.
Chrissy (22:14):
Very cool.
Katie (22:14):
And so, yeah, it's, it's great.
There's, there's a lot of goodoptions that aren't glass, like
if you're afraid of having glassaround kids.
Um, so stainless steel is.
Is one of the safest productsfor the kitchen, whether it's
like cooking materials ordrinking or plates or whatever.
So it's not always like thenicest'cause they're, it can,
(22:35):
stainless steel can be reallyloud too when you Yeah.
Bang it on stuff.
But it's dropping at least notgonna a stainless,
Chrissy (22:40):
Dropping a stainless steel water bottle in a silent
classroom.
Katie (22:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And now Kai's been dropping hisstainless steel little sippy cup
recently and it's like, whoa.
Like the whole house is like,ah.
So.
But I, you know, the other thingfiltering our water is I think
one of the keys
Chrissy (22:58):
Yeah.
Katie (22:59):
to the whole puzzle, because we can't really rely on
our city or county or state orwhatever.
Like we can't rely on thegovernment to just fix this
problem because it's such a big,you know, you think about the.
Big water filtration plants,like they're so huge and to
change anything costs a lot ofmoney right on, on how they're
gonna do it.
So using different chemicals isnot always going to be like a,
(23:22):
oh, we're gonna do this todayand it's gonna be fixed.
So we as consumers have to bevery aware of what we're putting
into our bodies.
And so finding a filtered wateris important.
Maybe not choosing plastic aslike a plastic water bottle.
Yeah.
But instead looking for like awater filtration system for our
house.
(23:42):
Yeah.
Now Chrissy, I know that youhave like kind of done a little
bit of research on this becauseyou use one, right?
Chrissy (23:50):
Yes, I do.
My husband and I, we use a Britawater filter.
Um, and I love it.
It really does change the tasteand the flavor of our water.
Like our tap water kind of justhas like a meh yeah, taste to
it.
Um, and the Brita creates like amore depth to the flavor of the
(24:14):
water.
Katie (24:14):
Yeah, like freshness maybe.
Chrissy (24:15):
Oh, I sound like a water sommelier right now.
That's actually a thing.
Did you know that watersommelier?
Katie (24:22):
Really?
I'm like, I know about winepeople like, but no water.
Wow.
Chrissy (24:27):
Yes, it is a job.
But anyway, so we use a Britawater filter and I kind of went
through and figured out exactlywhat Brita filters out and the
classic.
Standard Brita water filterremoves that chlorine from the
water that they use in thatfinal filtration step of the
disinfection.
(24:48):
So that's a big one.
It removes the chlorine.
It also removes a lot of, um,heavy metals like mercury,
copper, and cadmium from ourwater, which unfortunately, a
lot of those might not be in thewater when it leaves the water
treatment plant, but think aboutit, if your underground water
pipes are 50, 60 years old,yeah.
(25:11):
They might be made of theseheavy metals instead of PVC,
which PVC is plastic, so I don'tknow, which is kind of,
Katie (25:19):
is there really even a good system to use?
I'm like, ugh, we're all doomed.
Chrissy (25:23):
Let's go back to the Roman stone.
You know, like how the Roman,the Roman aqueduct, let's go
back to that.
But anyways, um, they also doremove those microplastics from
the water.
If you do have pVC pipes insteadof the metal pipes, um, that
release plastics.
(25:43):
The Brita water filter doesremove microplastics and
asbestos.
Um, oh yeah, so that's a bigone, especially if you live in
an older community where a lotof homes were built using
products that contain asbestos.
Um.
That is a good one.
Now, the one thing that thestandard Brita filter does not
(26:05):
remove is lead, which is a verycommon heavy metal that does get
into our water from pipes.
And, you know, there's lead insoil and ground and things like
that.
And so, um, Brita does have inelite version of their filter,
Ooh, that does remove lead andsome additional heavy metals
from the water.
(26:26):
Um, but then after that.
You kinda have to think like,okay, well, is my Brita water
pitcher made of plastic?
And if so, maybe I could likefilter the water into a glass
jug.
Um, or,
Katie (26:42):
oh, that's a great idea.
Chrissy (26:43):
You know, if you have like a glass water pitcher, um,
Brita does make attachments forthe faucet in the sink.
And so you can put thatattachment on and fill up a
glass water pitcher and thereyou go.
You've got, or just fill it upstraight into your water cup.
That would make a lot moresense.
Katie (27:02):
Yeah, no, that's, I, I didn't even think about that
because I, I do know many ofthose, like really, um, small,
like the, they're just kind ofmore personal size pictures tend
to be made of plastic.
And, um, I was looking intowater filters a while ago
because, you know, I go downthese paths and I'm like, oh my
gosh, everything's gonna killus.
And so now I need to filtereverything.
(27:25):
And so.
The one brand that I came acrossthat's kind of like the top
tier.
Like if you're not gonna go,'cause you can get like a whole
house water filtration system.
Yes.
Where it's like actuallyinstalled.
And so every like faucet in yourhouse, whether it's the shower
or your sink, every singlefaucet has this nice filtered
(27:45):
water, but that's expensive.
Like they're, they're like oneto$3,000 worth.
So like to, to get thatinstalled.
Chrissy (27:53):
And no renter is going to do that.
Katie (27:55):
Yeah.
So if you're renting, it's not,it's not a, an easy solution
there.
So one of the, uh, filters thatI came across that is supposed
to be kind of like the top tieris called the Berkeley Water
Filter.
And it is like a stainless steelbasin.
They make like a bunch ofdifferent sizes.
Like the smallest one isconsidered their, like travel
size, but it's still like, it'sa big container that would sit
(28:17):
like on your counter and ituses, um, reverse osmosis.
It's nice'cause it is stainlesssteel.
However, like those things areexpensive too.
They're like, I think$300 or$400, and that's not always
practical.
So finding something like aBrita water filter, I'll share a
link to, um, a site.
(28:38):
It's actually EWG's like list ofwater filters and like they're.
Tests that they did on them and,and the percentage of stuff that
it takes out from the water,like, so what it actually
filters.
So I'll share that so thatpeople can kind of check it out
and see which filter might workbest for them.
Mm-hmm.
Um, because some of them can bepretty expensive, but I like
your solution though, Chrissy,on um using like the Brita, but
(29:01):
then potentially putting it intoyeah.
One of those nice glass ones.
Or like one of those like whatabout the like ceramic pretty,
you know, you think about,there's a lot of like nice
filters, so it's like, okay, usethe plastic one, but then take
it outta there so it's notsitting in the plastic and just
leaching into your, yeah.
Right.
Water the time.
Chrissy (29:19):
I think that's actually a really great, um, method.
Or the, like I said, theattachment for the faucet.
You know, you could just fill upyour mm-hmm.
Drinking cup right from the tap,um, without really having to
have an InBetween holding spaceknow.
Katie (29:35):
How often do you know, like at least for your Brita
filter, like how often do youhave to change out the filter?
Chrissy (29:43):
I wanna say every couple months, two to three
months maybe.
Okay.
I think most Brita filters havelike a little button on top that
tells you like the quality of,ah, your filter.
I don't know exactly how itworks.
It knows if it has like a timeron it or if it like measures by
(30:04):
how often I open the lid.
To refill it?
Katie (30:10):
Oh yeah.
It's intriguing because
Chrissy (30:11):
I would think if a filter is not being used for two
weeks, it might still have twomore weeks left of life to it.
Yeah, I don't know.
Katie (30:23):
Yeah, I don't know either.
And that's kind of the wholepoint of our show is like, we
are definitely not the expertshere on any of this.
And we just love getting toshare what we're learning about
all of this.
And I think, you know, as wecontinue moving forward, we
wanna talk about some of theselike key areas of toxin.
You know, our last episode wason food.
(30:44):
This one's on water.
We wanna talk about air.
Um, and I think we'll go intosome of the other, like bigger
areas that.
Toxins get into our systems andhow we can kind of, at least
what we're learning about andhow to avoid them.
Mm-hmm.
But as we kind of start wrappingup, I wanna go into some of the
takeaways that we have, um, thatwe wanna share with people.
(31:05):
It can be really overwhelmingwhen we learn some of this stuff
because you're like, oh my gosh,I had no idea that my water was
like poisoning me.
And, and that's, that's likethe, the route that I often go
is like, oh my gosh, I can'tbelieve this, this is
outrageous.
And then I share everything withWes and he's like, okay, yeah,
calm down.
I, and, and I like the voice ofreason, but
Chrissy (31:25):
I think in general, there's two main responses that
I hear from people when I starttalking about all of these
things.
And it's very much one side ofthe spectrum or the other.
And very rarely is there a voiceof reason in the middle.
The response is either, oh mygosh, I'm gonna die.
I can't eat anything, I can'tdrink anything.
I can't use any personal careproducts.
(31:46):
I'm just gonna sit in a hole andnot expose my any myself to
anything.
And the other side of thespectrum is.
Well, it's in everything.
It's on everything.
So I'm gonna die one way oranother.
Mm-hmm.
Doesn't matter how it goes, youknow?
And so it's a, a side of apathyversus like extreme concern.
(32:06):
And it's very hard to find thatmiddle ground of like, okay, how
do I find very small fixes?
Or very small steps that I canuse to better my environment and
the things that I put in my bodybit by bit, you know?
Yeah.
It's not an overnight change.
(32:27):
This is a very slow process thatdoes take quite a few years to
implement into our lives.
And so before we exit thisepisode, I think we should
probably go through like what ismaybe the first one or two steps
that somebody can take to startchanging their water for the
(32:47):
better, no matter what kind ofwater treatment plant their city
or county has?
Um, what can our listeners do toprotect themselves from the
toxins that is in the city waterand also for a cost effective
price, um, that's not gonnabreak the bank?
Katie (33:07):
Yeah, I think one of the, the quick fixes that we took,
um.
Would be to switch just thewater bottle that you're using
or the cups that you're using inyour house.
So switching them from plasticto either stainless steel or
glass.
And, and that was kind of aneasy one for us.
Um, for our reusable waterbottles.
'cause we take our water bottleseverywhere and we were for years
(33:31):
using a plastic water bottle andyou could just literally see
them degrading like the colorwas changing and they, it was
just bad.
And so once I realized that,that was probably leaking a lot
of plastic into our water, we,we, we made the switch to
stainless steel ones and Iactually really like them.
Um, I think they're, they'reprettier too, so.
That was an easy switch andwe're still fixing our cups at
(33:54):
home, but that's mine.
What about you, Chrissy?
Chrissy (33:57):
I feel like my first observation, I did the stainless
steel water bottle also, andI've realized it doesn't smell
as much as, yeah, plastic, youknow, plastic water bottles, if
you leave it closed with alittle bit of water in the
bottom for even overnight.
It just smells musty in themorning.
Mm-hmm.
Stainless steel water bottlesdon't smell like that.
(34:20):
Nope.
So that's an observation I'vemade.
Um, let's see.
The first step I would recommendis to get some sort of water
filter to add to your tap water.
Mm-hmm.
Um, for instance, as I saidearlier, we use the Brita water
filter.
It works phenomenally for us.
(34:42):
Um, and if somebody has a lot ofpeople in their household or a
lot of people over frequently,then that attachment to the
water faucet can be very easy toimplement, to get quick water
that is good for you.
So that's great.
Katie (35:00):
We'll share links to most of the stuff that we mentioned
today, and if you have anyquestions about something we
mentioned and we didn't add alink to, um, we would encourage
you to join us over in ourFacebook group that we've
created called Crunchychristian.
Mamas on a Budget because.
I think one of the things againthat we've been, that we're
(35:22):
really serious about is we wannatake these steps to become as
non-toxic as possible, but alsobe good stewards of our finances
and not do the whole overloadwhere we're like, I need to go
get a whole house filtrationsystem and I need to buy all
organic foods and I need to dothis and that and change out
everything.
'cause again, that can beoverwhelming, but it can be
(35:43):
really expensive.
And so we wanna support eachother in this journey to, to
being less toxic in our lives,but do it on a budget.
So come join us over on Facebookand, and let's keep chatting
about this and share what you'velearned because again, Chrissy
and I here are not the expertsand we don't know everything.
I would love to learn more,honestly, like if you could help
(36:06):
us, please help us.
So come join us there.
Uh, we're getting our websiteset up and we'll have some free
resources for you to join, um,to, to check, check out, and,
um, we'll help you on thisprocess and we'll just share
some of the things that we'velearned on how to do this on a
budget.
But Chrissy, is there anythingelse that you would like to add
(36:29):
before we sign off?
Nope.
I think we covered everythingthat I thought of.
Well, fantastic.
We are, we pray over all of youguys and just hope that these
episodes can be helpful in yourjourney to being a better
steward of, of everything, ofyour body, of your mind, your
soul, your spirit, yourfinances, um, and your families.
(36:51):
So praying that this episode washelpful for you and we will see
you next time.
Bye.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Crunchy
(00:04):
Stewardship.
My name is Katie Jones,
Chrissy (00:07):
and my name is Chrissy Rombach.
We are two cousins who arepassionate about learning and
sharing knowledge to equipothers to steward their
spiritual, mental, emotional,financial, and physical health
in order to honor God in everyaspect of their lives.
Okay.
Katie (00:25):
In our podcast, we are taking a deep dive into what it
means to be a steward of ourlives as God originally intended
for us to do with our resourcesthat he has blessed us with.
Uh, we're gonna take a look attopics like food, medicine,
finances, mental health, andtons more, um, through a natural
(00:48):
lens and with a biblicalfoundation.
So without further ado, let'sget started on our second
episode ever here for crunchystewardship.
We are gonna talk all aboutwater and to get started, I, I
know, Chrissy, you have done alittle bit of research on this
(01:08):
water filtration process and soI wanna, I wanna kick us off
today and by you just kind ofsharing what it means to filter
our water and what that processlooks like.
Um, because I don't think a lotof us, I don't, I don't actually
know a lot about the process.
I just kind of know our watergets filtered.
Chrissy (01:26):
Yeah.
So, um, so the infamousdihydrogen peroxide or H2O water
treatment process, um, generallyhas about five steps, and the
responsibility of watertreatment kind of comes down to
either the city or the county,um, depending on where you live
in the United States.
(01:47):
And so the basis that I went offof was smack in the middle of
the country.
I said Denver.
Um, this is how Denver processestheir water as a general
outline.
And most cities follow about thesame five steps.
Um, but they might use differentchemicals, and additives and
things like that, just smallchanges.
(02:09):
But as a general overview, thereare five steps for the water
treatment process in the UnitedStates.
Those five steps arecoagulation, flocculation,
sedimentation, filtration anddisinfection.
So the first step coagulation.
Um., It's very similar to, uh,like blood coagulation.
(02:33):
So if you think about blood andif somebody's taking an
anticoagulant or a bloodthinner, it is preventing their
blood from clumping.
Mm-hmm.
And so this.
Coagulation step is very similarin that it focuses on the
clumps.
So the idea here is to get ridof the solid clumps that are
(02:53):
already in our water.
You know, they're, they reallydo take the dirtiest of the
dirty water, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Sewage.
Runoff, you've got stick,stones, stool, all the things
that's so gross to think about.
It is.
But so the first step is gettingrid of all those stick stones
and stools out of the water, sothey get rid of all the solids.
(03:16):
And what's left is a mixturethat they call floc, which is
pretty much just like a cloudysuspension of particles.
So it's a very smooth, cloudy.
Still gross looking.
Probably still smells a littlebit, probably is awful, but it
doesn't have any solids in it.
So the second step is calledFlocculation.
Mm.
Where they add differentpolymers to the water and they
(03:39):
mix it up really hard.
And these polymers act as like abinding agent and force these
dissolved sediments to kind ofbind together and create more
clumps, um, because we just gotrid of all the clumps, so we
gotta make more clumps.
And so
Katie (03:55):
yes,
Chrissy (03:55):
all the dissolved dirt that's still in the water then
clumps together and kind offalls to the bottom of this
tank, at which point they havelike this giant shovel thing at
the bottom of the tank that kindscooches it off to the side and
gets rid of it and that.
Step of the shovel thing,scooching it off to the side is
the sedimentation step.
(04:16):
You know, um, after thosepolymers create those clumps,
they then fall to the bottom assediment does, and then they get
scraped away.
Yeah.
So you get left with this clear,um water, you know, it's clear,
it looks good, um, but it stillcan contain, um, some germs and
(04:38):
toxins that are not good for us.
Uh, viruses, bacteria, thingslike that.
And so, this fourth step, theycall the filtration step, and
they have two layers offiltration.
It's, um, they're in verticallayers.
There's anthracite, coal andsand, and anthracite coal is
actually the purest form of coalthat is created in the earth.
(05:02):
It's, I saw about 98% pure coaland is used as a natural
filtration medium.
And so this combination ofanthracite coal and sand is
called the filter media.
And so any remaining particlesthat are left in the water gets
stuck in this filter media asthe water filters through it,
(05:26):
and so all the clear water goesthrough it and any remaining
sediment or other nasties thatis stuck in the water, gets
stuck in there and you're leftwith clear, zero sediment water.
Um, but you know, bacteria andviruses cannot get stuck by sand
(05:47):
unfortunately.
So this last step is called thedisinfection step in which they
add.
Um, different cities adddifferent things.
I saw some cities add chlorine.
Some cities add what's calledchloramine, which is a
combination of chlorine andammonia that are used together
(06:08):
to kill that bacteria and theviruses.
And leaves us with clean,drinkable water that you can
consume without being concernedfor your health and all the
other nasties that was in thewater to start off with.
So that's kind of like a generaloverview of it.
I'm sure there are morespecifics.
I am not a water treatmentprofessional.
(06:33):
And I have heard, you know, theydo also add fluoride to water in
some areas of the United States.
Katie, have you looked into likewhy do they add fluoride and
what exactly does it do to ourbodies as we drink it?
Katie (06:50):
Yeah, it's interesting.
I, I keep running across a lotabout fluoride and I keep, like
hearing a bunch of stuffrecently that's been like,
fluoride isn't actually as safeas we really thought it was.
Because one of the main reasonsI think that they started adding
fluoride to the water wasbecause there were some links to
(07:11):
the fact that fluoride wasreally good for our teeth.
Um, it helps to keep them strongand white and.
And it helps to protect themfrom getting lots and lots of
cavities.
And so I think that the inintention originally was good
for, you know, the governmentwas like, okay, we want to
protect people's dental health.
(07:33):
And so I think there was a lotof good intentions behind
fluoride.
But with good intentions thataren't studied for long-term
effects.
I think now we're starting tofind that fluoride is actually
linked to a lot of negativestuff.
I recently came across like anarticle that was posted, uh,
(07:56):
early January.
I have it up here to kind ofreference, but the, the title of
it is like A Landmark Study,Affirms Fluoride's Link to Lower
IQ.
And there's like been a lot ofthings like that where fluoride
is actually linked to likeneurodevelopment and cognition
issues.
So like the, that there's likean impact on these things,
(08:17):
especially in children whosebrains are not fully developed.
They're obviously just, they'reso young and.
They can be impacted by thesekinds of things in a harsher way
than us as adults can.
And so like I've always kind ofknown, okay, children really
shouldn't have like fluoridetoothpaste, like we should be
(08:40):
doing fluoride free toothpaste.
But I never really understoodwhy.
And so now I've been kind ofstarting to like look into why
this is important, but alsothere's been a lot more negative
impacts.
That they're starting torecognize with fluoride, even in
adults.
Um, it just like long termthings.
Interesting.
It's not like you're gonna havefluoride and it's gonna kill you
(09:01):
immediately, but it's just likethe long term impacts of having
these things in our systems.
Um, and so, and I think thatthat's true too with water in
general is like, okay, you know,in general they are putting
stuff into our, our water likechlorine and ammonia that is
(09:24):
supposed to help kill offbacteria.
But at what cost?
Right?
Yeah.
Like, okay, maybe havingchlorine, maybe drinking
chlorine every day, like smallamounts of it is not great.
And that's where I've mm-hmm.
Kind of come across this idea ofGRAS generally recognized as
safe.
(09:44):
Yeah.
And they, they label a lot ofthe things that we ingest,
Chrissy (09:48):
I hear that in a lot of places, like, oh yeah, you know,
if you.
Google search, is this productsafe?
It's never a yes or no.
It's, I know, generally regardedas safe, you know?
Yes.
And it, it's comes to questionlike, what is that generally
regarded?
What does generally mean?
Like, for the most part to havea lot of it, to have a little of
(10:10):
it, it's mostly healthy until apoint.
Yeah.
Katie (10:15):
What does that mean?
It's hard because a lot of thesethings, like again, obviously
all of us have been drinking ourwater.
Mm-hmm.
And none of us are like fallingover dead immediately.
So it's not like poisoning us toa point where we're dying.
Like on impact.
At least in the United States.
It's not.
At least in the United States.
Yes.
(10:36):
Well, well that like, that'swhat I'm saying is like in
chlorine is.
Is generally safe in low doses.
Right.
But then what happens, like whenit's being added to our, like
we're drinking so much water andwe're told to drink lots of
water.
We, we, our body needs water.
Right?
So what happens when we'redrinking tons of these chemicals
(10:56):
day in and day out?
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's like, maybe, maybe that'snot.
The greatest thing.
Chrissy (11:04):
I wish there was a way that we could get the harmful
bacteria and viruses out of ourwater without having to add
chlorine.
Which chlorine is really justanother way of saying bleach.
It's, it's a nicer form ofbleach if you really think about
it.
It's a very similar chemicalcompound,
Katie (11:24):
and we all know we shouldn't drink bleach.
Chrissy (11:26):
I just, I wish there was a way that we could filter
out the bacteria and viruseswithout having to use harmful
chemicals like chlorine andammonia.
Um, that I don't know of any Doyou
Katie (11:42):
From like a big, like a government standpoint, like
doing it statewide?
I don't think that there's likea, a process necessarily.
I mean, I guess maybe boilingthe water.
Oh yeah.
Could, would probably do that.
I don't know.
I, but that would be veryexpensive.
It probably would be really hardto like, heat up large amounts
(12:03):
of water and Yeah, it's, it'sreally interesting.
I mean.
You think about like, okay, wellthen what are we supposed to do
if there's all these chemicalsin our water?
Like, how do we avoid them?
Especially if nowadays, youknow, we start to learn.
Like I, I read an article, um,from EWG, which, which we'll
(12:24):
link to in the notes, so you cantake a look at it too, but.
There's tons of stuff like when,when you start to look at water
that there, there is fluoride,which is dangerous.
Mm-hmm.
Or they're starting to recognizeas more dangerous.
But there's also traces of leadand arsenic, iron, mercury, um,
obviously the chlorine, which wetalked about.
(12:44):
Um, but even things like, Iliterally heard a podcast the
other day that was like, thereare literally, um hormones from
birth control and stuff like inour water.
Yes.
And I'm like, that probably isnot good for children to drink
like hormones like.
Okay.
Chrissy (13:01):
Also, in the hospital system, we are encouraged not to
waste narcotics in the sink.
We have a special bucket thathas like a coagulation piece.
Oh, coagulation in the bottom ofit.
That like solidifies thenarcotics that we pour'em into,
um, or dump them into, and itprevents the extra narcotics
(13:23):
from getting into our waterfiltration system.
Katie (13:26):
Oh my gosh.
You know what I'm just thinkingabout is like, yeah.
Every time that somebody haslike.
Like leftover, yeah, pain medsfrom their surgeries, a lot of
people I think I even have inthe past, like just dumped them
down the because I'm like, well,I don't want them to be in my
cabinet.
And then somebody, you know,goes and picks them up and takes
(13:46):
this drug.
Mm-hmm.
So, yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Like I've even been a part ofthe problem of adding, see, so
like what else are peopleputting in the water that like
stays around?
Chrissy (13:56):
Well, thankfully there are actually household ways that
we can get some of these other,um, toxins out of our water.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
So Katie, I know you've done alittle bit more research than I
have into different methods thatwe can implement in our own
(14:17):
households to protect us more sofrom these extra drugs, metals,
um, and plastics that are in ourwater.
So what are some of thoseresources that you found that we
can implement easily?
In a cost effective manner inour homes.
Katie (14:33):
Yeah.
Plastics is a really interestingone too that you mentioned,
because, I think many of us knowlike filtered water is typically
better than the tap water thatwe drink from our sink at home.
Like again, the tap water is notgoing to like kill you, right?
It's better than drinking fromthe pond in your backyard,
right?
Like so.
Yes.
(14:54):
But.
Uh, filtered water.
Like, there's like differentlevels of that even so many of
us think okay, I'm gonna go anddo bottled water, which is a
higher quality than typicallythe tap water from our sinks
and.
There, there's a lot, like I, Idon't know a ton about like each
(15:15):
of the brands and all thisstuff, and they all go through
their own special process offiltering the water so that it
doesn't have all of theseharmful chemicals and heavy
metals and hormones and andthings like that.
But what's interesting is that.
Taking now bottled water fromthe grocery store.
You know, you think about thebig mm-hmm.
Packs of the plastic waterbottles.
(15:38):
What then poses as an issue isthey're being held in plastic
containers.
Right.
Which now we're all starting toalso recognize like
microplastics are a really bigproblem.
And I literally read Chrissythat the other, like the other
day that.
I don't actually know if it'stotally, if it was from air
alone or because it was, it wasan email that I read from this
(15:59):
air.
Um, purifying company, and theywere talking about how each of
us ingests about a credit cardworth of microplastics a day.
And it's like, oh my word.
Like that's, that's terrifying.
Like literally eating plastic.
Like that's how prevalentplastic is in our world these
(16:20):
days.
And it's like, oh my gosh.
So.
I think one of the big thingswith water too, is trying to
eliminate as much plastic thatit comes in contact with as
possible, because whether it'sin a bottled water or something
else mm-hmm.
In our household, like it'sgoing to leak very, very, very
small amounts of plastic intoour water that we're then going
(16:42):
and drinking and then puttinginto our bodies and.
As I, as I, I
Chrissy (16:47):
currently drink out of a plastic cup.
Katie (16:50):
I know.
Literally ditto.
I have a plastic cup right nowtoo that I'm drinking my little
smoothie out of, but it's like,so, okay.
Bottled water is filtered andit's, it's probably better than
drinking the tap water from yoursink.
Yeah, for sure.
But we need to be careful abouthow much we, we use and so.
(17:12):
Really quick on another note forif you're thinking, what other
plastics do I have in mykitchen?
Just think about like, okay, theKeurig that you're using, Keurig
is made from plastic and thenthe K-cups that you're putting
the coffee or tea in, um,, intothe Keurig from are also plastic
and the water kettle that youmight be using to heat up your
(17:34):
water.
If it's like one of those pluginones might be plastic.
So it's like there's a lot,there's a lot of plastic.
Chrissy (17:40):
And Tupperware Tupperware's a big one, I think.
Our society has done a reallygreat job of kind of like
drilling it into our heads of donot heat Tupperware.
Mm-hmm.
Don't put Tupperware in themicrowave, not microwave safe.
Um, even if it says microwavesafe, I hear a lot of people
saying, don't put it in themicrowave.
Nonetheless.
Use a glass plate or a glass cupor bowl or whatever.
(18:02):
Um, and that's so true, youknow?
Yeah.
Tupperware I think is one of thebiggest ones that is a very easy
switch, you know, switching toglass tupperware dishes, you
know, Pyrex has a bunch ofdifferent sizes and everything
like that of Tupperware, youknow, so
Katie (18:20):
it's interesting.
My dad is a plastics chemist andactually we had a conversation
about literally this plastic cupthat I am holding right now,
years ago, and we talked aboutthat.
With plastic like kitchenwareespecially, it's really easy.
Like most of it says like, yeah,it's dishwasher safe, put it in
your dishwasher.
But he always told me to handwash anything plastic, whether
(18:44):
it was the cup or a like aplastic Tupperware thing.
Um, and we always talked aboutit from a standpoint of making
that product last longer becausewhen plastic is heated up, so in
the microwave, for example, orin the dishwasher when it's
heated up at these hightemperatures, the plastic thing
(19:05):
starts to degrade even quickerthan it would just if you hand
washed it or if just didn't heatit up in general.
And so we always talked about itfrom like a a longevity
standpoint, but now it's like,oh my gosh.
Like you think about thebreakdown of plastic.
Yeah, yeah.
Like every time I would wash itin the dishwasher, it probably
starts to like degrade thelining of it and it starts
(19:27):
leaking into my liquids andfoods
Chrissy (19:29):
and ah, that makes me remember, like growing up we
used Tervis Tumblers all thetime.
Yes.
You know, in Texas, I still havesome.
Well, they're great, you know,they don't sweat.
You keeps your drinks warm orcold or however.
Um, but I always wondered likeour Tervis Tumblers started
looking gnarly after a few yearsand we'd go over to our friend's
(19:53):
house and their Tervis Tumblers,they were 10 years old, just
still looked brand new and theywere still really shining and
sparkly.
And I asked my mom like, why dotheirs Tervis Tumblers look so
much better than ours?
She said, oh, we put ours in thedishwasher.
It's not very good for them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And.
Now I realize like, oh my gosh,we were breaking down the
plastic and that's all we drankout of.
(20:13):
We did not have glass cups todrink out of.
Mm-hmm.
Katie (20:18):
Um, well, so many of us think like, like for us, it's so
hard too with kids because kidsdrop things and if they're
glass, inevitably they're goingto break if they get dropped
enough or from the right heightand plastic obviously doesn't do
that.
So it does last longer from thatstandpoint, but it's.
It's hard.
It's like a balance, right?
(20:39):
You have to find out what worksbest for you and your family.
Mm-hmm.
Because, yeah, there's somethings that we still have that
are plastic because of havingchildren, but.
Like then you think, okay, am Iactually maybe harming my child
a little bit more because I'mallowing them to eat and drink
from plastic materials that arenow leaking into their systems
(21:03):
and could cause all sorts ofendocrine disruption and stuff,
and you're just like, oh mygosh.
Like it's kind of terrifyingsometimes being a parent.
Yeah.
'cause you're like, every littledecision really can make a
lasting impact.
And so.
Chrissy (21:17):
Do they make, do they make stainless steel bottles for
babies?
Katie (21:22):
Yes, actually, so we, um, that's a really great question.
So we actually switched to usingglass and stainless steel
bottles.
So Dr.
Brown's is the brand that we'vebeen using for bottles and it's
like, it is a glass bottle, butit comes in like a silicone
sleeve.
So it has a little bit more oflike a protection to it.
(21:43):
Um, and then I recently found,um.
This brand called Mason Bottle.
They make both glass andstainless steel, and I ended up
getting their stainless steelone because they have
interchangeable tops to it.
That can be like a baby bottlenipple, but then you can change
it to then be a straw cup.
(22:03):
And so my son right now, he's,um, switching, he's like in the
process of starting to learn howto use other cups besides just
bottles.
And he actually really likes thelittle straw cup with this mason
bottle brand.
Chrissy (22:14):
Very cool.
Katie (22:14):
And so, yeah, it's, it's great.
There's, there's a lot of goodoptions that aren't glass, like
if you're afraid of having glassaround kids.
Um, so stainless steel is.
Is one of the safest productsfor the kitchen, whether it's
like cooking materials ordrinking or plates or whatever.
So it's not always like thenicest'cause they're, it can,
(22:35):
stainless steel can be reallyloud too when you Yeah.
Bang it on stuff.
But it's dropping at least notgonna a stainless,
Chrissy (22:40):
Dropping a stainless steel water bottle in a silent
classroom.
Katie (22:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And now Kai's been dropping hisstainless steel little sippy cup
recently and it's like, whoa.
Like the whole house is like,ah.
So.
But I, you know, the other thingfiltering our water is I think
one of the keys
Chrissy (22:58):
Yeah.
Katie (22:59):
to the whole puzzle, because we can't really rely on
our city or county or state orwhatever.
Like we can't rely on thegovernment to just fix this
problem because it's such a big,you know, you think about the.
Big water filtration plants,like they're so huge and to
change anything costs a lot ofmoney right on, on how they're
gonna do it.
So using different chemicals isnot always going to be like a,
(23:22):
oh, we're gonna do this todayand it's gonna be fixed.
So we as consumers have to bevery aware of what we're putting
into our bodies.
And so finding a filtered wateris important.
Maybe not choosing plastic aslike a plastic water bottle.
Yeah.
But instead looking for like awater filtration system for our
house.
(23:42):
Yeah.
Now Chrissy, I know that youhave like kind of done a little
bit of research on this becauseyou use one, right?
Chrissy (23:50):
Yes, I do.
My husband and I, we use a Britawater filter.
Um, and I love it.
It really does change the tasteand the flavor of our water.
Like our tap water kind of justhas like a meh yeah, taste to
it.
Um, and the Brita creates like amore depth to the flavor of the
(24:14):
water.
Katie (24:14):
Yeah, like freshness maybe.
Chrissy (24:15):
Oh, I sound like a water sommelier right now.
That's actually a thing.
Did you know that watersommelier?
Katie (24:22):
Really?
I'm like, I know about winepeople like, but no water.
Wow.
Chrissy (24:27):
Yes, it is a job.
But anyway, so we use a Britawater filter and I kind of went
through and figured out exactlywhat Brita filters out and the
classic.
Standard Brita water filterremoves that chlorine from the
water that they use in thatfinal filtration step of the
disinfection.
(24:48):
So that's a big one.
It removes the chlorine.
It also removes a lot of, um,heavy metals like mercury,
copper, and cadmium from ourwater, which unfortunately, a
lot of those might not be in thewater when it leaves the water
treatment plant, but think aboutit, if your underground water
pipes are 50, 60 years old,yeah.
(25:11):
They might be made of theseheavy metals instead of PVC,
which PVC is plastic, so I don'tknow, which is kind of,
Katie (25:19):
is there really even a good system to use?
I'm like, ugh, we're all doomed.
Chrissy (25:23):
Let's go back to the Roman stone.
You know, like how the Roman,the Roman aqueduct, let's go
back to that.
But anyways, um, they also doremove those microplastics from
the water.
If you do have pVC pipes insteadof the metal pipes, um, that
release plastics.
(25:43):
The Brita water filter doesremove microplastics and
asbestos.
Um, oh yeah, so that's a bigone, especially if you live in
an older community where a lotof homes were built using
products that contain asbestos.
Um.
That is a good one.
Now, the one thing that thestandard Brita filter does not
(26:05):
remove is lead, which is a verycommon heavy metal that does get
into our water from pipes.
And, you know, there's lead insoil and ground and things like
that.
And so, um, Brita does have inelite version of their filter,
Ooh, that does remove lead andsome additional heavy metals
from the water.
(26:26):
Um, but then after that.
You kinda have to think like,okay, well, is my Brita water
pitcher made of plastic?
And if so, maybe I could likefilter the water into a glass
jug.
Um, or,
Katie (26:42):
oh, that's a great idea.
Chrissy (26:43):
You know, if you have like a glass water pitcher, um,
Brita does make attachments forthe faucet in the sink.
And so you can put thatattachment on and fill up a
glass water pitcher and thereyou go.
You've got, or just fill it upstraight into your water cup.
That would make a lot moresense.
Katie (27:02):
Yeah, no, that's, I, I didn't even think about that
because I, I do know many ofthose, like really, um, small,
like the, they're just kind ofmore personal size pictures tend
to be made of plastic.
And, um, I was looking intowater filters a while ago
because, you know, I go downthese paths and I'm like, oh my
gosh, everything's gonna killus.
And so now I need to filtereverything.
(27:25):
And so.
The one brand that I came acrossthat's kind of like the top
tier.
Like if you're not gonna go,'cause you can get like a whole
house water filtration system.
Yes.
Where it's like actuallyinstalled.
And so every like faucet in yourhouse, whether it's the shower
or your sink, every singlefaucet has this nice filtered
(27:45):
water, but that's expensive.
Like they're, they're like oneto$3,000 worth.
So like to, to get thatinstalled.
Chrissy (27:53):
And no renter is going to do that.
Katie (27:55):
Yeah.
So if you're renting, it's not,it's not a, an easy solution
there.
So one of the, uh, filters thatI came across that is supposed
to be kind of like the top tieris called the Berkeley Water
Filter.
And it is like a stainless steelbasin.
They make like a bunch ofdifferent sizes.
Like the smallest one isconsidered their, like travel
size, but it's still like, it'sa big container that would sit
(28:17):
like on your counter and ituses, um, reverse osmosis.
It's nice'cause it is stainlesssteel.
However, like those things areexpensive too.
They're like, I think$300 or$400, and that's not always
practical.
So finding something like aBrita water filter, I'll share a
link to, um, a site.
(28:38):
It's actually EWG's like list ofwater filters and like they're.
Tests that they did on them and,and the percentage of stuff that
it takes out from the water,like, so what it actually
filters.
So I'll share that so thatpeople can kind of check it out
and see which filter might workbest for them.
Mm-hmm.
Um, because some of them can bepretty expensive, but I like
your solution though, Chrissy,on um using like the Brita, but
(29:01):
then potentially putting it intoyeah.
One of those nice glass ones.
Or like one of those like whatabout the like ceramic pretty,
you know, you think about,there's a lot of like nice
filters, so it's like, okay, usethe plastic one, but then take
it outta there so it's notsitting in the plastic and just
leaching into your, yeah.
Right.
Water the time.
Chrissy (29:19):
I think that's actually a really great, um, method.
Or the, like I said, theattachment for the faucet.
You know, you could just fill upyour mm-hmm.
Drinking cup right from the tap,um, without really having to
have an InBetween holding spaceknow.
Katie (29:35):
How often do you know, like at least for your Brita
filter, like how often do youhave to change out the filter?
Chrissy (29:43):
I wanna say every couple months, two to three
months maybe.
Okay.
I think most Brita filters havelike a little button on top that
tells you like the quality of,ah, your filter.
I don't know exactly how itworks.
It knows if it has like a timeron it or if it like measures by
(30:04):
how often I open the lid.
To refill it?
Katie (30:10):
Oh yeah.
It's intriguing because
Chrissy (30:11):
I would think if a filter is not being used for two
weeks, it might still have twomore weeks left of life to it.
Yeah, I don't know.
Katie (30:23):
Yeah, I don't know either.
And that's kind of the wholepoint of our show is like, we
are definitely not the expertshere on any of this.
And we just love getting toshare what we're learning about
all of this.
And I think, you know, as wecontinue moving forward, we
wanna talk about some of theselike key areas of toxin.
You know, our last episode wason food.
(30:44):
This one's on water.
We wanna talk about air.
Um, and I think we'll go intosome of the other, like bigger
areas that.
Toxins get into our systems andhow we can kind of, at least
what we're learning about andhow to avoid them.
Mm-hmm.
But as we kind of start wrappingup, I wanna go into some of the
takeaways that we have, um, thatwe wanna share with people.
(31:05):
It can be really overwhelmingwhen we learn some of this stuff
because you're like, oh my gosh,I had no idea that my water was
like poisoning me.
And, and that's, that's likethe, the route that I often go
is like, oh my gosh, I can'tbelieve this, this is
outrageous.
And then I share everything withWes and he's like, okay, yeah,
calm down.
I, and, and I like the voice ofreason, but
Chrissy (31:25):
I think in general, there's two main responses that
I hear from people when I starttalking about all of these
things.
And it's very much one side ofthe spectrum or the other.
And very rarely is there a voiceof reason in the middle.
The response is either, oh mygosh, I'm gonna die.
I can't eat anything, I can'tdrink anything.
I can't use any personal careproducts.
(31:46):
I'm just gonna sit in a hole andnot expose my any myself to
anything.
And the other side of thespectrum is.
Well, it's in everything.
It's on everything.
So I'm gonna die one way oranother.
Mm-hmm.
Doesn't matter how it goes, youknow?
And so it's a, a side of apathyversus like extreme concern.
(32:06):
And it's very hard to find thatmiddle ground of like, okay, how
do I find very small fixes?
Or very small steps that I canuse to better my environment and
the things that I put in my bodybit by bit, you know?
Yeah.
It's not an overnight change.
(32:27):
This is a very slow process thatdoes take quite a few years to
implement into our lives.
And so before we exit thisepisode, I think we should
probably go through like what ismaybe the first one or two steps
that somebody can take to startchanging their water for the
(32:47):
better, no matter what kind ofwater treatment plant their city
or county has?
Um, what can our listeners do toprotect themselves from the
toxins that is in the city waterand also for a cost effective
price, um, that's not gonnabreak the bank?
Katie (33:07):
Yeah, I think one of the, the quick fixes that we took,
um.
Would be to switch just thewater bottle that you're using
or the cups that you're using inyour house.
So switching them from plasticto either stainless steel or
glass.
And, and that was kind of aneasy one for us.
Um, for our reusable waterbottles.
'cause we take our water bottleseverywhere and we were for years
(33:31):
using a plastic water bottle andyou could just literally see
them degrading like the colorwas changing and they, it was
just bad.
And so once I realized that,that was probably leaking a lot
of plastic into our water, we,we, we made the switch to
stainless steel ones and Iactually really like them.
Um, I think they're, they'reprettier too, so.
That was an easy switch andwe're still fixing our cups at
(33:54):
home, but that's mine.
What about you, Chrissy?
Chrissy (33:57):
I feel like my first observation, I did the stainless
steel water bottle also, andI've realized it doesn't smell
as much as, yeah, plastic, youknow, plastic water bottles, if
you leave it closed with alittle bit of water in the
bottom for even overnight.
It just smells musty in themorning.
Mm-hmm.
Stainless steel water bottlesdon't smell like that.
(34:20):
Nope.
So that's an observation I'vemade.
Um, let's see.
The first step I would recommendis to get some sort of water
filter to add to your tap water.
Mm-hmm.
Um, for instance, as I saidearlier, we use the Brita water
filter.
It works phenomenally for us.
(34:42):
Um, and if somebody has a lot ofpeople in their household or a
lot of people over frequently,then that attachment to the
water faucet can be very easy toimplement, to get quick water
that is good for you.
So that's great.
Katie (35:00):
We'll share links to most of the stuff that we mentioned
today, and if you have anyquestions about something we
mentioned and we didn't add alink to, um, we would encourage
you to join us over in ourFacebook group that we've
created called Crunchychristian.
Mamas on a Budget because.
I think one of the things againthat we've been, that we're
(35:22):
really serious about is we wannatake these steps to become as
non-toxic as possible, but alsobe good stewards of our finances
and not do the whole overloadwhere we're like, I need to go
get a whole house filtrationsystem and I need to buy all
organic foods and I need to dothis and that and change out
everything.
'cause again, that can beoverwhelming, but it can be
(35:43):
really expensive.
And so we wanna support eachother in this journey to, to
being less toxic in our lives,but do it on a budget.
So come join us over on Facebookand, and let's keep chatting
about this and share what you'velearned because again, Chrissy
and I here are not the expertsand we don't know everything.
I would love to learn more,honestly, like if you could help
(36:06):
us, please help us.
So come join us there.
Uh, we're getting our websiteset up and we'll have some free
resources for you to join, um,to, to check, check out, and,
um, we'll help you on thisprocess and we'll just share
some of the things that we'velearned on how to do this on a
budget.
But Chrissy, is there anythingelse that you would like to add
(36:29):
before we sign off?
Nope.
I think we covered everythingthat I thought of.
Well, fantastic.
We are, we pray over all of youguys and just hope that these
episodes can be helpful in yourjourney to being a better
steward of, of everything, ofyour body, of your mind, your
soul, your spirit, yourfinances, um, and your families.
(36:51):
So praying that this episode washelpful for you and we will see
you next time.
Bye.
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