pH-balanced, antioxidant, super hydrating water isn’t new.

It’s been around for 40 years in Asia and it spread there like wildfire. People experienced the benefits, understood the importance of prevention and it made good, intuitive sense. The machines needed to create the water were stocked on shelves like toasters and LCDs in the US.

Up until now, that is. Until UltraStream.

It’s simpler, it’s smaller and it’s easier to own. It’s intuitive. There is nothing complicated to understand. No multi-thousand dollar price tag. No difficult installations or wasted water. No buttons, meters, audio alarms, electronics, etc. Just a simple, clean design – if we do say so ourselves.

We’re not Multi Level Marketers.. so we price UltraStream reasonably.

• No ‘clever’ marketing.
• Just a dedicated team of ordinary people who think business should be at the service of people…not at their expense.

We hope you’ll agree.

If you have questions, thoughts, a difference of opinion, etc…please talk to us. We’ll do our best to respond.

More about us.

About AlkaWay

AlkaWay “the company” came together in 2000, begun by me, Cassie Bond and my partner Ian Blair Hamilton. We’re both avid health researchers, so we saw, we understood, and we began.

 Important Facts 

We own our own premises here in Byron Bay (well, with a little help from our bank). Now it’s solar powered, with a new R&R area for our staff. 

We believe in debt-free business. A product sold with the possibility of the company that sold it suddenly disappearing isn’t our idea of ethical business. We have expanded our business using our own capital. Sure, it’s slower, but we’ve seen companies disappear though nothing more than debt load, and that’s not in line with our vision.

We believe in doing the right thing by our employees.  We don’t see them as employees but as co-creators of our shared vision. Maybe that’s why they stay with us. Go Team!

Last week, Rob Thomas of WaterFYI did a short comparison video.  Rob has a deep passion for helping people feel better and reverse the epidemic of poor health through what people drink.

I’ve seen too many of these types of videos to count, but this one is different.  Usually when you see a lineup of electric ionizers, the comparison is done to show which one is “better”.  Then you flip the YouTube channel and find just the opposite in another video.

Which is why this video was refreshing.  Rob showed they all perform well.  Something he’s been saying to the frustration of Brand X, Y and Z for years on his blog.  Each one as you’ll see created the same purple water.

What’s humbling to us at alkaStream, is that our little, simple and affordable system performed as well as the ones that cost 5-12x as much.

Good for us…even better for you.

Thanks Rob.

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Gabe

A new customer brought a common problem to light again this week. She was super excited to get her alkaStream and start enjoying the benefits of alkaline water. She had researched extensively and previously tried water created by a very expensive system. It made sense and she loved the water. Just couldn’t afford it.

When the alkaStream arrived, she quickly got it installed and couldn’t wait to try it out. Before she drank it she wanted to test the water with the strips she had been using to test her body’s pH.

She was shocked to find the water registered between 5.5 and 6.0 on her strips…the exact opposite of alkaline. When I talked with her, she redid the test and once again got the same number. I had her test the tap water, and it measured even lower. Close to 5.0. Which means what?

Strips don’t work.

Fortunately, there was an aquarium/pet store close by with lots of different pH measuring devices. The simplest, and what I recommend, are called pH testing or pH reagent drops. Quick, cheap and easy to read. If you don’t have a store that carries them, there are several places online to grab them for $4-8. Just make sure they have a wide enough range…at least 4.0 – 10

The drops told a different story. There was no mistaking the alkaStream water was alkaline.

So, the moral of the story, use the strips to measure your body’s pH and the drops to measure the water (or soda, bottled water, etc). I don’t know why, I just know it’s always that way.

This may be the best overview I’ve ever seen about how the pH of a food or drink impacts your health. Too many people make this concept difficult to understand and get way too far into the details. Eyes glaze over, skepticism creeps in and the decision to make a change and feel better never happens.

The knowledge you gain from this 9 minute video can do more benefit for you than anything taught in 12 yrs of medical school.

Which is sad and empowering at the same time.

The concept of a plant-based diet being healthier than one full of processed grains, dairy and corn-fed-factory-bred meat is pretty common knowledge. Not only is science backing this “diet” up, but intuition does as well.

Pick a vegetarian blog, website, author or media personality and look at their content. You’ll find a cornucopia of flavorful recipes and meal ideas built around fresh, organic, photogenic produce. All will agree food gets more nutritious and better for us the closer it is to the original, intended form.

Pretty simple.

But there are only a few places where you will find the same rule of thumb when it comes to what we drink. If these nutritional experts do venture into liquid topics, you’ll find recommendations spanning reverse osmosis, distilled, findaspring.com and slightly filtered tap water. There are even reviews and opinions of flavored bottled and sugary sports drinks.

Which is confusing. Because many of those recommendations are exactly the opposite of their food guidelines.

There are many reasons why switching to more plants helps with our health. Nutrient density, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, lack of processed fats, etc can all be credited. Each one has their own scale and offers a different way to compare, which can also lead to some confusion.

Which is why we like the pH scale. It gives a big picture perspective and uses a common denominator all foods can be compared to. With very few exceptions, plants are more alkaline than meats. Processed is more acidic than fresh and perishable. So whether they know it or not, plant based nutrition guidelines are also recommending an alkaline diet.

But drinking reverse osmosis water in bottles, buying distilled from the local health food store and sucking down sports drinks will slow (or reverse) the improvement great alkaline foods provide. RO and distilled are void of minerals and added flavors meant to help them go down easier are often just sugar derivatives. Each of which damage the body’s fragile pH balance.

If we apply the close-to-the-source guideline to those types of waters like we do with foods, they don’t stack up. You wouldn’t find anything like those in wild, untainted sources.

And while this may sound kind of crazy, from the body’s perspective, it’s like washing down a salad by drinking a steak. Which no nutritionist in their right mind would recommend.

We can improve how we feel by improving what we eat. We can do it even faster if we improve what we drink as well.

We’ve made a conscious decision to leave the electric water ionizer companies alone. We aren’t running ads trying to steal customers or scare them into thinking they are wasting $$ by buying an electric system. I’ve told countless people who have called or emailed asking about the differences between alkaStream and an electric option that they need to choose what feels right, works for them and fits their budget.

Then whatever system they choose, they need to be happy with it, not look back and drink a lot.

[And I get that question a lot, so we will have a comparison chart posted soon. Probably in the FAQ section.]

But last week, I received an email about this post. It’s been out all summer and I hadn’t even seen it. There are several inaccuracies and I really didn’t want to spend the time to respond, but she uses a picture of an alkaStream. That’s kind of like someone holding a picture of your kid up next to the word Ugly. You have to stand up.

So I responded and submitted a comment. Which sat on her blog pending and “awaiting moderation” for several days. Until today…when she deleted it.

I had someone tell me this morning there are no truths in marketing. You either lie through what you say or what you don’t say. I think that’s crap. It just means we’ve lowered our standards so much we now accept that. Others will live up to our expectations. Whether its our kids, our elected leaders, or the guy who looks like a bum while on a date with a girl who’s dressed up. [That's a tip ladies...guys will always slide as much as you let us]

Standards are good because they make us better.

Those of us helping spread alkaStream have either left the electric ionizer world completely, because of behavior like this, (among other things) or are adding alkaStream to the lineup because they are looking out for their customers. It’s a win for both sides. Customers get a good deal and the dealers make profit they would have otherwise lost.

We started this journey because we knew we wouldn’t be able to change the industry from the inside out. We had to change the conversation, go a different direction and work with people who want to help more than just themselves.

Stepping back into this muck makes me remember why.

In case you care, here’s what I sent her. Romi, if you read this, the offer is still open. Just call or email. gabe@alkastream or 785-856-3912.

Hey Romi,

I had someone forward me this article and thought I’d drop you a line. There we a couple of things that caught my eye.

“The majority of those health benefits come from the antioxidant properties created during the ionization process – electrolysis.”

Electrolysis is only one way to ionize, and it’s actually the most unnatural way of doing so. You don’t find electric cords in nature shocking the water. It’s done thru natural chemical reactions.

“However no non-electric water ionizer option can produce the same level of antioxidants found in standard electric water ionizers.” Who says extreme -ORPs (eg. -500 thru -700) are better for you? From my perspective it’s hard to beat nature. Water in it’s natural and intended state is what we should be drinking…adding electricity to it just doesn’t feel right. And what about the amount of free hydrogen created through the alkaStream, Revolutionizer or the Elita (if they get it working)? You can’t measure it with a meter, but basic chemistry proves that it’s there.

I’d be happy to send you one and let you test it. Just let me know.

Gabe

_______________________________________________________________________________

3 November Update.

So it took a month, but Romi responded. Not directly to me or through an email, but by posting a comment on her page after changing the original article. I can’t explain it, but I had a random thought today to check and there it was. Almost like she didn’t want me to know about it. Why would she do that?

Oh yea…questionable behavior. I remember.

Here’s my response. Let’s see if this makes it and how long it takes.

Hi Romi,

Glad I had a little voice in my head tell me to come back and check this today. Why didn’t you just send me an email so I knew you wanted to test an alkaStream? You have my contact info? You didn’t want me to not see your response did you?

I find it interesting how much this article has changed since the first version I responded to. Now there is more I have to address.

Most of which comes down a broad question. Natural vs. synthetic. Is natural food better than synthetic? How about vitamins and supplements…whole food or synthetic? Since you mentioned infants…breast milk or formula? Stove top heating or microwave? Why is synthetic (electric) ionized water the outlier?

I know you’ve done a lot of research on ionized water. Where is the proof that low -ORPs are better for you? If there isn’t proof, then is it safer to assume what nature would create is better? At what point does the antioxidant become an oxidant. I know Dr. Young has talked about that, just can’t find it.

You are also only focusing on -ORP as the antioxidant. I would encourage you to do some research on free hydrogen and how the body breaks it down after we drink. You can’t measure it with an mV meter.

Non-electrics don’t rely on source minerals. The alkaStream sends water through a layer of minerals and utilizes water’s ability as a solvent to pick up what it wants and carry it into our glass. It’s why we work so well in-line with RO systems. If you don’t want a 9.5 pH, then speed up the flow of the water. The less time it’s in contact with the minerals and ionization media, the less potent it will be. Nice slow mineral shot in the morning as a detox, speed it later in the day. Just want filtered?…go full speed. There is plenty of variation available.

Is the ability to make acidic water worth $2000 more when you can pick it up by the gallon at your local store for $0.89? What’s advertised as beauty water from an ionizer is lining the shelves at the grocery store. My family has been using bottle water for a year now and we haven’t missed a beat. And we only use what we need…the rest of the time it’s not running down the drain. Need the really low pH water, grab an activeIon for $189. Easy, portable, on demand, no chemicals needed and well worth the money.

Here’s part of the answer.

I’m a big pattern guy. Behavior, habits, health, history and even weather tend to follow patterns and repeat. In my previous life as a weather forecaster in the Air Force, I learned very early that if I could identify a pattern, I could improve the accuracy of our forecasts.

Pattern identification also helps in parenting, marriage and health. Have you ever thought about why you “always” react the same way to a spouse or kids? Or why you feel the urge to eat when XYZ happens? Or why diseases seem to keep getting worse and happening sooner with each new generation?

Just look for patterns. The answers are often very simple. Changing the result is where it gets more difficult.

So over the last couple of months, there has been a very clear pattern develop over the phone, chat and email inbox. It goes like this.

“Hi, I have a question. Does your system make alkaline water like the expensive ionizers?” — Yes

“How does yours work?” — Naturally with dissolved minerals…just like what happens in nature.

“OK…well what about ORP? Can your system create that as well?” — Yes. Water’s natural reaction with some of the dissolved minerals results in the same antioxidant benefits.

“and yours filters as well?” — Yes it does.

“OK. So why is yours so much more affordable?” — For 2 reasons. It’s not difficult to make clean, alkaline water when you use natural minerals and filter media. We cut out all the bells and whistles and just get down to providing simple affordable water. We also don’t utilize an inflated business model like the MLM companies do. When you have to pay 8 layers of distributors for each sale, it adds a lot of overhead to the product. For those of you that attended a product presentation at a hotel, guess who pays for your fancy evening in the end?

And then the final question. “Then why would anyone buy one of the expensive electric system?”

That’s the hardest one to answer. Another lesson I learned from the Air Force is that if you don’t have an answer, don’t make something up. Especially in weather. The best response was “I don’t know Sir/Ma’am, but I’ll find out and get back to you.”

So I need some help. Any ideas?