Should I ditch the tea? vote

bigmamma3

I am very bad at drinking water I have days were I'm good then others I have pretty much none. I don't drink fizzy drinks or squash the one thing I do have all the time is tea with milk I think I'm an addict I get.headaches if I don't have at least 4cups a day and yesterday I had 8 (I was at my nans) I try to have it with skimmed milk as much as possible but that's not always easy when out.

So I have decided to turn to you and ask shouls i ditch the tea?

Yourfitpal

I vote No

taso42_DELETED

what about keeping the tea, ditching the milk

cupcakelover103

what about trying green tea? chamomile and peppermint? I love tea, and drink a lot of it, but do you add sugar to yours? That would add up to a lot of extra calories per day.
Tea doesn't have much caffeine in it, well compared to coffee anyways, but i'm all for moderation and 8 cups a day is too much. However, i think 4 is fine (as long as your not adding sugar)

JeninBelgium

what about keeping the tea, and reducing the amount of milk- how much milk do you put in it anyway (I use less than a tablespoon when I drink it, and milk does have calcium and other good things in it)
also are you using sugar in your tea?
can you use decaf tea?

McKayMachina

I drink green tea with 0-calorie stevia sweetener. The EGCG in the tea helps increase metabolism...and it tastes yummy!

mogenfire

Wait a sec, what is wrong with lots of tea? I drink the 0 calorie tea with no caffeine. I don't add anything to it. Is there anything wrong with lots of that??

wenders123

Being a Brit, I love my tea. I drink it and add the milk cals to my diary .....

strapple

what about keeping the tea, ditching the milk

i agree with this
tea is good for you but....
even skim milk has excessive milk fat that you should be avoiding!

try some lowfat soymilk with the tea or even rice/almond milk.
you might even enjoy the flavor! :}

ineednapkin

How about for every cup of tea you drink you also drink a cup of water? Not necessarily one right after the other but keep a tally in your mind or on here and then you could have the best of both worlds

jennsie

I have tea with milk too (no sugar anymore for the past several years), but I don't have it that often. You will get headaches if you try to get off anything that has sugar/caffeine/etc in it. But once you're off, you're off it.

I actually have green tea more often - Clippers Green Tea. I keep the bag in it and brew it so it's nice and strong. I know some people say they hate the taste of it, but I don't mind it.

wonnder1

ummmm...milk is bad now?

There are good calories and bad calories. I myself place milk in the good category.

My vote is to let them have tea. We may be dieting but god, we still have to live!

mikerouse

I vote an overwhelming no. Tea has antioxidants and the water intake will do you good. However, you really should consider dropping the milk and drinking it black for a while. I know, I know, wash my mouth out! But I tried it for a while and now I always have it black. It feels like a better hit.

bigmamma3

I gave up sugar years ago I've drank tea with milk since I was little so think im a true caffeine addict plus being a brit its the only drink you ever seem to be offered everywhere you go. I might give green tea a go I've tried herbal tea but it tastes like pond water of air freshener lol.

McKayMachina

By the way...green tea is not enough of a diuretic to negatively affect hydration. You can count it toward your water intake.

I'm sure it's true for other teas as well.

strapple

I don't personally see milk a good category when your main goal is to shed pounds unless it's in a small amount and skim. There are other ways to get the nutrients of milk without the milk fat. I think if the original poster doesn't want to give up her tea, the easiest way to cut on the calories is to switch to an alternative milk product or cut it out completely.

At our adult age our bodies don't require the nutrients we get from milk anyways. That's why so many adults are lactose intolerant.

helloiloveukitty

I'd keep the tea and incorporate more water but ditch the milk or cut it down to one tea with milk a day and the rest of the tea without

taso42_DELETED

I gave up sugar years ago I've drank tea with milk since I was little so think im a true caffeine addict plus being a brit its the only drink you ever seem to be offered everywhere you go. I might give green tea a go I've tried herbal tea but it tastes like pond water of air freshener lol.

It was worth staying up late just to witness actual brits discussing tea! :drinker:

McKayMachina

I myself place milk in the good category.

I know this is a totally different conversation but I had to say it:

Milk is actually a totally unnatural food. Adult mammals consuming the mammary secretions of another species of mammal? :huh:

It's a gross and weird practice. As an adult, you wouldn't drink another HUMAN'S breast milk. But you don't think twice when it comes from a cow? Now, I eat dairy so I'm not an anti-milk products nut but you do have to admit it's a bit strange.

...and probably not what we ought to call "good" calories.

The National Dairy Council stopped using the slogan "Milk, It Does A Body Good" because...it really doesn't. There are benefits and drawbacks, as with anything.

/rant

strapple

I myself place milk in the good category.

I know this is a totally different conversation but I had to say it:

Milk is actually a totally unnatural food. Adult mammals consuming the mammary secretions of another species of mammal? :huh:

It's a gross and weird practice. As an adult, you wouldn't drink another HUMAN'S breast milk. But you don't think twice when it comes from a cow? Now, I eat dairy so I'm not an anti-milk products nut but you do have to admit it's a bit strange.

...and probably not what we ought to call "good" calories.

The National Dairy Council stopped using the slogan "Milk, It Does A Body Good" because...it really doesn't. There are benefits and drawbacks, as with anything.

/rant

dude you are seriously my new best friend

I've been saying this forever

Cows milk is meant to make a calf the size of a full grown cow. The only reason it exists is to make a small hoofed mammal into a giant one. It does nothing for humans but add an extremely unnecessary amount of fat to their bodies! We do not require milk past infancy, and this is why so many adults are lactose intolerant. It may give you calcium but the fat isn't meant to be taken in by a human body.

I have no idea why nobody believes me when I say this but you my friend, are my hero!

McKayMachina

We do not require milk past infancy, and this is why so many adults are lactose intolerant. It may give you calcium but the fat isn't meant to be taken in by a human body.

You're absolutely right. Check out this map of lactose intolerance by country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laktoseintoleranz-1.svg

Pretty eye-opening! :noway:

wonnder1

I'd totally buy those responses if you didn't eat yogurt or ice cream or cheese or any of the million ways we get milk in a day.

According to those reasonings all those products are unnatural and off the list. Personally I drink soy milk, but that's cause I like the flavor. I usually have it with a nice piece of cheese.

And the statement that no other animal will drink another's milk is untrue. Give a cat some milk, see what happens. No animal cooks its food, but we do. The logic is plain faulty.

The truth is that before the advent of agriculture--all adult humans, like the adults of other animal species, were lactose intolerant. This doesn't mean it is impossible to drink milk, it just tends to cause discomfort (for most individuals--some can have more dangerous/deadly reactions). But once we had agriculture, we began to raise animals for meat. Our ancestors, in times of hunger, also began drinking milk. It caused discomfort, but it was better than starvation. Over a surprisingly short period of time, people in agricultural communities developed the ability to tolerate lactose, as this increased survival.

This is called evolution. I guess if you wanted to follow the caveman diet you'd be okay.

But it's totally off topic anyway. Even at 8 cups of tea-we're talking maybe 1/4 c. of milk.

Pebble321

....
tea is good for you but....
even skim milk has excessive milk fat that you should be avoiding!
.....

I don't think this is so - whole milk is about 4% fat and skim milk is much lower again, so I don't see how it can have "excessive" fat. It would have milk sugars (lactose) - but the amount in a cup of tea is going to be pretty small. Whether it is a good idea to drink milk from another species is another topic altogether, everyone is going to have their own opinions on this!

To the OP, personally, I think if you enjoy your tea (with or without milk) then I don't think you have to give it up. It might be worth cutting down though, if you are getting headaches when you don't have it , it sounds like your body might be looking for the caffeine. One of the previous posters suggested alternating with some water - this might be a good idea. Hot water with frsh lemon in might work for you too as an alternative.

Overall, I think there are worse habits you could have

bigmamma3

I gave up sugar years ago I've drank tea with milk since I was little so think im a true caffeine addict plus being a brit its the only drink you ever seem to be offered everywhere you go. I might give green tea a go I've tried herbal tea but it tastes like pond water of air freshener lol.

It was worth staying up late just to witness actual brits discussing tea! :drinker:

lol we really do love our tea

girlinahat

The truth is that before the advent of agriculture--all adult humans, like the adults of other animal species, were lactose intolerant. This doesn't mean it is impossible to drink milk, it just tends to cause discomfort (for most individuals--some can have more dangerous/deadly reactions). But once we had agriculture, we began to raise animals for meat. Our ancestors, in times of hunger, also began drinking milk. It caused discomfort, but it was better than starvation. Over a surprisingly short period of time, people in agricultural communities developed the ability to tolerate lactose, as this increased survival.

This is called evolution.

so true. We owe much of our survival as a human race to the fact that we can eat such a wide range of foodstuffs. If you are of European extraction (that includes North America and Australia) then you are part of an evolutionary group that developed the capability to drink milk for longer - more nutrients were therefore available therefore better survival.

Recently there has been some concern in the UK regarding lack of iodine in diets - previously 50% of the RDA of iodine came from drinking milk. Milk is not bad for everyone. Sure there are some people who find milk a problem, but substitution isn't always the right way forwards.

littlemili

I vote you try a bunch of no caffeine teas which also don't require milk or sugar. Green rooibos is great as it is naturally sweet. Also regular rooibos, green (and flavoured green), mint, fruit, white etc. I no longer take milk in tea at all due to intolerance and now I get maybe 5 cups of waters worth a day from these less known teas.

Yes it's pretty minimal whether you take in milk and sugar in your tea, but if you are drinking just 1 cup a day, say with 1 milk 2 sugar, you can save 11,000 calories in sugar a year and 7,500 in milk. That is over 5lbs.

BerryH

I'd never get out of the house without my PG Tips and semi-skimmed in the mornings (17 calories!). Fortunately, we only have an instant drinks machine at work, no kettle and fridge, so that's pretty much all I have all day. I'd stick with the tea.

cathcakey

Despite tea having a diuretic effect (dehydrating the body) it is still overall a hydrating product ie: although it makes you pee more, you're still gaining water from the amount that you drink. So no, don't stop - particularly if you don't drink water regularly

missy1970eb

keep the tea, but persevere with the water especially if u have cellulite its fab for that

JeninBelgium

I myself place milk in the good category.

I know this is a totally different conversation but I had to say it:

Milk is actually a totally unnatural food. Adult mammals consuming the mammary secretions of another species of mammal? :huh:

It's a gross and weird practice. As an adult, you wouldn't drink another HUMAN'S breast milk. But you don't think twice when it comes from a cow? Now, I eat dairy so I'm not an anti-milk products nut but you do have to admit it's a bit strange.

...and probably not what we ought to call "good" calories.

The National Dairy Council stopped using the slogan "Milk, It Does A Body Good" because...it really doesn't. There are benefits and drawbacks, as with anything.

/rant

dude you are seriously my new best friend

I've been saying this forever

Cows milk is meant to make a calf the size of a full grown cow. The only reason it exists is to make a small hoofed mammal into a giant one. It does nothing for humans but add an extremely unnecessary amount of fat to their bodies! We do not require milk past infancy, and this is why so many adults are lactose intolerant. It may give you calcium but the fat isn't meant to be taken in by a human body.

I have no idea why nobody believes me when I say this but you my friend, are my hero!

I so totally want to see both of your diaries

k_b_fit

Unless you're drinking decaf tea, you need to be wary of how much tea (caffeine) you have. In small amounts, caffeine has little effect on your hydration but in large amounts....
I found this on the mayo clinic page.

""Question
Caffeine: Is it dehydrating or not?
I've been seeing ads that say cola and coffee drinks hydrate you as well as water does. Is this true?
Answer
from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

It is true. Researchers used to believe that caffeinated drinks had a diuretic effect. This means that you would urinate more after drinking them, which could increase your risk of becoming dehydrated. Recent research shows that this is not true and that caffeine only has a diuretic effect if you consume large amounts of it — more than 500 to 600 milligrams (or 4 to 7 cups of coffee) a day.

Still, caffeinated drinks can make you jittery, sleepless or anxious. Water is probably your best bet to stay hydrated. It's calorie-free, caffeine-free, inexpensive and readily available. ""

A rule of thumb is, drink twice as much water as caffeine. That way you don't have to worry about being dehydrated.