How to Buy Sparkling Water

Have you noticed how water is all the rage now? Everyone is drinking it. Bottled. Canned. It’s everywhere.

When I was a kid the only bottled water available in the grocery store was distilled water. My mom used them to fill the iron or some other appliance. Now there is an entire aisle (sometimes more) of different kinds of water.

I thought I’d give tips on how to buy the healthy versions. There are plenty that are not healthy. The unhealthy ones are full of sugar, caffeine, artificial sweeteners and more. Some of them are as bad as soda.

The first thing I want you to do when you pick up a bottle or can of water is look at the nutritional information. If it does not say “0 carbs” put it back down. Easy.

Then look at the ingredients list. Do you see artificial sweeteners, artificial ingredients, or things you cannot pronounce? If so, it’s not for you. Put it back.

One we get asked about often is Clear American sold at Walmart. That has aspartame in it. Yikes. You do not want to buy products like that, or any of the other “sparkling water” with artificial sweeteners in them. Why? Because that’s not water anymore — that’s soda. So keep looking. Walmart has plenty of other options.

Some waters have “natural flavoring.” That’s okay as long as it’s not so much that the carb number goes up. You don’t have to give up flavor to have good water to drink.

There are classics on the shelves like San Pellegrino, Evian, Perrier and others. Those are examples of European waters that come from fresh springs deep in the earth. There are a TON of very inexpensive spring waters that are US sourced, too. Look for those, too.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to find “reverse osmosis” water you are in luck. It’s non-spring water that was put through a process to remove pollutants, lead, fluoride, and other “nasties” that are in many waters. (If your water from your tap smells funny, it probably has some of those ingredients in it).

Syfo is one brand of water that is new. That one is reverse osmosis water. I was lucky enough to first find it a few months ago when we were temporarily living in Nashville. I am pretty sure it’s got national distribution now. My husband loves it. It not only comes in plain but also cherry and lemon/lime. He’s especially attracted to how much fizz it has.

Syfo is not expensive but there are others that are even more economical. One of my favorites is La Croix. I’m a Wisconsin girl so I am drawn to Wisconsin products. New on the shelves is Spindrift. That one comes in lots of flavors. You can buy cases of 12 and even 24 in some canned waters.

There are tons of options now and here’s why.

I once worked for a top dog in the food/beverage industry. He told me once 5% of the population starts buying a product, every major manufacturer will jump on board. They start competing with each other to get some of the share of the market.

Water clearly falls into that category now.

Drink up. Try to get 70 oz of water a day or more. The new rule of thumb is to divide your weight in half and shoot for drinking that much per day in ounces. Your body will thank you and in short order your body will begin to tell you it craves water.

Cheers,