Counting water from beverages?

kaddydaddy

Hi everyone,

I'm curious as to whether water from various beverages, like tea, coffee and the like, count towards the daily recommended 64 oz. of water.

I've heard both that it does and that it doesn't, and thought it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this.

Thank you for your time!

-Brian

mandyschalk

bump

SaraTonin

Tea without sugar or milk counts.

MayhemModels

Thats a good question, I normally have a couple cups of coffee and maybe a 6oz glass of juice but i still drink my 64oz of water per day, I just think it helps control my hunger between meals

VixFit2011

I'm wondering the same thing and would it be added to the water intake button?

kaddydaddy

Is there a rule of thumb for telling which beverages count?

sheggymarie

I have heard that anythingi that is not caffeinated counts towards your "water" intake. But that's what my dietician told me post gastric bypass, so I don't know if that goes for everyone or is surgery specific.

FunkBunny

If it has caffiene I don't count it, but if you drink de-caf...it's good. In my book anyway.

casi_ann

I know coffee is a diuretic and shouldn't be counted as one of the waters. When we teach patients we actually teach that for every cup of coffee they should drink two cups of water to make up for the loss of fluid.

kaddydaddy

When it comes to caffeinated beverages, what is the amount of water to drink to counter the diuretic effect?

SaraTonin

I don't buy the idea that any beverage is more of a diuretic than it hydrates you. You could live on coffee in the dessert! It's just that there is enough junk in any non-water beverage that it doesn't fully hydrate you (because you have to expend water processing it), so we should still get at least 64oz of water on top of any other drinks.

Water being water or tea without milk and sugar.

Ljc3

It would be nice! But I vote no. water is water. No caffeine. No sweeteners. No dyes. Just pure water. Thats just my opinion though im curious what experts would say!

susanswan

My own personal "Susan philosophy" is No. They are telling us to drink "water", not fluid. I don't want to cheat myself and delude myself into thinking if I switch my water intake to solely decaf with unsweetened soy milk it is an even trade. I think "water" as water is valuable to how our bodies work. So yes, I still drink my own homemade 16 - 20 oz decaf lattes (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and THEN my 8 glasses of water in between! That is a LOT of drinking! I do count ice that I add to my frozen drinks in the summer, and if I want to delude myself, I imagine that my occasional herb tea is "water" because I don't drink very strong tea. I believe that many things count for "fluid" including eating anything with moisture in it and especially oranges, grapefruits, pineapple, and such, but they don't count as "water".

emusingmom

I've read, and been told, that if it is a caffeine containing drink, add a glass of water for each cup you drink to 'counter-act' the caffeine. If it is decaf, and 'natural' then it can count. That means tea does, but 'rooibos' doesn't. Or if it is a flavoured drink, then 'no' - unless it is something like a 'Crystal Lite' or similar. So a cup of black or green tea could be included, but a Chai Latte, not so much! Decaf coffee, black, probably could be, but I'd limit the number of cups. Nothing quenches like plain old water with a bit of lemon &/or lime.....maybe with a splash of honey or other natural sweetner if you find it too tart, but I find it's not necessary!!

susanswan

I don't buy the idea that any beverage is more of a diuretic than it hydrates you. You could live on coffee in the dessert! It's just that there is enough junk in any non-water beverage that it doesn't fully hydrate you (because you have to expend water processing it), so we should still get at least 64oz of water on top of any other drinks.

Water being water or tea without milk and sugar.

That is an interesting thought. I remember some ludicrus study of a guy drinking ONLY beer for liquid or maybe that was to live off of only beer and of course that didnt work out too well! I'd like to see a study on drinking a diuretic beverage only to see what the true facts are and of course that is an extreme and probably not too many people do that. But it is an interesting thought. But a similar idea is say you go to the beach in Florida and the water is so warm. Well it is warm in comparison to cooler oceans like in California, but you can still get hypothermia over time of course because the water temp is maybe 88 degrees and your body is 98.6 degrees. It doesn't sound reasonaable at first, but over time it will happen -lost at sea type of situation,not spending the day having fun in the water, of course. Another extreme and unlikely for most.

kaddydaddy

How about the little sugar free flavor packets, like the lemonade ones? I like to drink those from time to time, but didn't know if the additives reduced the absorption of water.

SaraTonin

^^ Oh no way, alcohol definitely doesn't count as possibly hydrating at all!

Not sure you'd survive longer stranded with beer than without beer. Definitely you'd survive longer not drinking straight vodka!!

At any rate, I agree with the idea that we need 64oz of just water. Some people say that the flavor packets are fine, but of course water water is better. It helped me to find a kind of ice that I liked.

milehighcritic

I count raw iced black or green tea. I stay away from the soda's even diet. I count fruit juice as part of the calories for that meal.

kaddydaddy

Does it make any difference in how much water one drinks in a given sitting? I usually get my water in 16 oz increments throughout the day, but I drink those servings pretty fast.

dobergfell

Does it make any difference in how much water one drinks in a given sitting? I usually get my water in 16 oz increments throughout the day, but I drink those servings pretty fast.

More posting to come, but drinking 16 oz of water in one sitting is no big deal, drinking a gallon in one sitting would be bad.

dobergfell

In every reputable study I have ever seen, ANY beverage contributes to hydration, whether it is water, soda, coffee, milk, etc. Furthermore, we get approximately 20% of our water intake from foods.

From my research, here are the main points:

- Everything we eat or drink contains water, some foods like lettuce contain 95% water.

- The 8 glasses of pure water recommendation we have all heard, is not based on good research as much as common sense wisdom.

- Drinking too much water can be dangerous (but you have to drink quite a lot to reach that threshold)

- Drinking ANY beverage will hydrate you. That doesn't mean that some beverages yield a slightly lower hydration level because of diuretics, but this difference is largly insignificant. This does not mean that all beverages are as healthy as water, many of them contain excess calories or chemicals that may cause harm.

- The data would seem to support drinking/eating an average of 11 glasses of water for women and 15 glasses of water for men...but this does not account for medical conditions, or needing extra water due to working out. It DOES include water from all sources including FOOD and caffeinated beverages.

- Excluding food, average women should drink at least 9 cups of beverages and average men should drink at least 12.5 cups of beverages.


Here are a few good articles with excerpts:


http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/wonders-of-water

"The Iinstitute of Medicine report did not specify requirements for water but made general fluid intake recommendations based on survey data of 91 ounces (that's 11-plus cups a day) for women and 125 ounces (15-plus cups a day) for men. Remember, these guidelines are for total fluid intake, including fluid from all food and beverages.
Approximately 80% of our water intake comes from drinking water and other beverages, and the other 20% comes from food. Assuming these percentages are accurate for most of us, the recommended amount of beverages, including water, would be approximately 9 cups for women and 12.5 cups for men."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_9_23/ai_n6004443/?tag=mantle_skin;content

"Most people meet their daily hydration needs simply by drinking when they're thirsty--and that includes beverages other than water, since they're almost entirely [H.sub.2]O. That means your day's tally should factor in soft drinks, coffee and tea, which will come as a great relief to anyone who remembers the old hydration adage to drink an extra cup of water for every cup of caffeinated beverage consumed. That too is passe, it turns out: A study at the University of Nebraska published in 2000 found no significant differences in hydration when subjects drank caffeinated beverages and when they drank the same beverages without caffeine."


I have found this information from various research studies, you are welcome to pose different opinions if you like, as I am not a nutritionist myself....just someone that likes to look at things scientifically.

angeljamin

Since so many people were interested in this subject, I thought I would post a quote from Health & Wellness, a great book from a Health class I took last session.

“Body water should be replaced by consuming pure water, milk or real juice. So-called enhanced waters are not pure. They contain a few grams of sugar, small amounts of vitamins and often caffeine…liquids containing caffeine (coffee, tea, sodas) and alcohol are diuretics, which means that some of the fluid ingested is lost in additional urine output” (Edlin & Golanty, 2010).

The section goes on to say that 64oz of water is a suggestion for normal body loss through sweat, urine, etc. If you are sweating or using the bathroom more than usual (i.e. exercise, sickness) you should drink more than the usual 8 glasses of water.

Hope this helps :happy:

angeljamin

In every reputable study I have ever seen, ANY beverage contributes to hydration, whether it is water, soda, coffee, milk, etc. Furthermore, we get approximately 20% of our water intake from foods.

Great resources! I posted the opposite from a 2010 book.

Just goes to show science is fallible :laugh:

Wonder which study has the key? I guess it depends on the individual

hewhoiscd

The question seems to come from the mindset of wanting to be able to drink less water...which, IMO, is the wrong way of thinking about it.

It's not like you shouldn't drink more than 64oz and have to make sure that your coffee doesn't put you over the limit...

Just drink at least 64oz (more if you can) of pure water through out the day, and be done with it. There are all sorts of benefits to drinking pure water, it really makes no sense to try and avoid it

TheBraveryLover

No it doesn't. If it did, that'd mean I can drink 8 glasses of juice and tea everyday and that'd keep my urine light yellow, but it never did when I used to rarely drink water.

kayemme

Is there a rule of thumb for telling which beverages count?

i think the rule of thumb is whether or not the beverage is water. really, if it's not just water, then it doesn't really count.

kayemme

The section goes on to say that 64oz of water is a suggestion for normal body loss through sweat, urine, etc. If you are sweating or using the bathroom more than usual (i.e. exercise, sickness) you should drink more than the usual 8 glasses of water.

the "rule" as i understand it is "half your body weight in ounces" that's why 8 glasses is recommended because the average healthy weight is about 140 (that's averaging the healthy weight for males and females not that 140 is an average weight for anyone in particular)