Viewpoint: Water is water
As part of any healthy diet, or even just staying cool during the completely natural yet entirely draining summer heat waves – it’s very important to keep the human body pumped with water (after all, water makes up around 2/3 of the body).
The simple, refreshing, two-element compound is one of the sole necessities of our existence.
When did it become so complicated?
Maybe I’m just easy to please as far as water goes. Unless it tastes rusty or like it should belong in a toilet, there’s a great chance I’ll drink it. I think this is where I fall short with much my generation (height excluded).
I’ve tried to be cool and drink whatever came in the hippest bottle; I’ve tested the major name brands one would find in a vending machine (Dasani, Aquafina, Deer Park). Honestly though -- what’s the difference?
I have friends who’ll battle me to the bone; one, in fact, who threatens to leave the coffee shop table if I dare to buy that franchise’s brand.
“I hope you know you’re drinking filtered sewage water,” one would say. Another: “How can you drink that? It’s cheap.”
“It’s water,” I reply. “Water is water.”
Apparently not.
Take a look at some of the options from the large pool of 21st century water choices:
Vita Coco Coconut Water
Free of fat and cholesterol, yet packed with nutrients, potassium and electrolytes, it’s also all-natural. You know you live in the 21st century when one of the disclaimers for water is all-natural.
Skinny Water
With its “0 Calories, 0 Sugar, 0 Guilt” clause, any dieter, health buff or ‘Wateritician’ is bound to have tried this one. It’s unclear whether it has helped drinkers to lose weight, but their website leads me to believe that it will help maintain both a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle.
Smart Water
A child of the Coca-Cola Corporation, this vapor distilled, liquid fuel (with an added hint of electrolytes) gets much of its appeal from its look...I’m sure of it. It’s served in a sleek, smooth, round clear bottle - very che'che'. I’m partial to Smart Water. It makes me feel like a genius.
Fiji Water
A natural artesian water, a big perk of Fiji is the fact that it is virtually untouched by human hands until a person unscrews the cap. I guess that’s cool. Also, it is in this instance as well where I think people like the look of the bottle.
Tap water:
Whether straight from the faucet or after it has passed through a filtration system like a Brita filter -- pay your plumbing bill on time and voilà! You are now free to be plain and simple, and do it like they did before wasting plastic was a ‘thing’.
Rachel Wallen, a May of 2012 Penn State grad, is a Student Brand Manager for Vita Coco, a coconut water company.
From her experience, in dealing with the newly trendy yet surprisingly un-nutty water, she has seen that up and coming coconut water is only trendy because it’s new. That aside, she truly believes that its benefits will help maintain a permanent spot in people’s diets. “I think that lately, people are placing a lot of emphasis on the health benefits of the beverages they are consuming and moving away from the trend of it,” she said.
“As with anything, people either love it or they don’t,” she later added.
I think why people buy certain water is up for debate: do they believe in its promised benefits? Do they like the bottle? Do they think their water choice will change people’s views of them?
Who knows.
Honestly, I’m not sure what the best type of water is out there and I’m not so sure there’s someone who does. Yet, anything that can aid my parched, thirsty throat (in the words of The Waterboy’s Bobby Bouche): “now, that's what I call high quality H2O.”
Of two things I am sure: it’s important to stay hydrated and I’m kind of thirsty.
Allie Caren is a Summer 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.
This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.