First of all, what exactly is distilled water?

Dictionary.com defines distilled water as “water from which impurities, as dissolved salts and colloidal particles, have been removed by one or more processes of distillation; chemically pure water.” (Cited from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/distilled-water)

It seems like this is the kind of water you want to drink. Impurities have been removed and we don’t want those in our bodies, right? If we look closer at the definition, distilled water is “chemically pure water” in which “dissolved salts and colloidal particles” have been removed. Some of these are bacteria and other foreign substances that we don’t necessarily want to put in our bodies. However, many of these substances are essential minerals that we need for hundreds of processes in our bodies. They work WITH the water we consume to move through our body to keep our organs running smoothly and keeping us alive and well. These minerals are also known as electrolytes. Electrolyte minerals include Calcium, Chloride, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Sodium.

We get most of our mineral needs met from food sources. That is IF, you are eating a nutrient-dense, whole-food diet and your body is breaking down and absorbing the nutrients from that food with an optimally running digestive system.

Even though these minerals are available in trace amounts in non-distilled drinking water, like purified or tap water, every little bit helps. This is especially the case with calcium and magnesium which a large portion of our population is unknowingly deficient in due to food processing and produces that is grown in minerally depleted soil for example.