tea instead of water?

misstorree
misstorree Posts: 20
edited September 30 in Food and Nutrition
just a quick question. I know you're supposed to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. but if I were to drink 8 glasses of natural herbal green tea, would that count for my water? i mean it's made with water, and its just adding natural anti-oxidants, so i think it counts but I thought Id make sure before I start drinking tea all day long :)

Replies

  • Bump!
  • abbysmommy7
    abbysmommy7 Posts: 211 Member
    bump this is my "water" intake too.
  • edorice
    edorice Posts: 4,519 Member
    Well, i drink green tea in the morning and I count it towards my water allowance. But drinking eight glasses of it would jack up, I mean TOTALLY JACK UP my sleep at night. I wouldn't recommend going overboard with it.
  • ibbray04
    ibbray04 Posts: 227 Member
    I believe as long as you don't add sugar to it, you'll be fine.
  • LexyDawn
    LexyDawn Posts: 113
    Green tea has caffeine and anything with caffeine shouldn't be counted as water... you could count non-caffeinated teas as water though... ie. Peppermint, lemon, berry teas etc.
  • yes yes and yes.
    drink green tea. it is goooooodddd for you, better than plain water as it has benefits for the body.

    (i mean water is great and all, but kind of gross all alone)

    i drink tons of tea, coffee, electrolytes.
    nothing plain.
    and i am totally hydrated. and i work out two hours a day!!!

    (just dont go overboard on alcohol, if any at all, it will dehydrate you faster than you can say yellow pee)

    yeah, caffeine at night, no good either. but i think there are green teas out there w/o caffeine. sleepytime is greentea, and well, the obvious...
  • There are arguments that drinking tea is not quite like drinking water because the caffeine acts as a diuretic (makes you pee more).
    The last article that I read said that the diuretic effect of green tea is pretty mild and that it's antioxidants are very beneficial.

    I'd say that you could substitute green tea (unsweetened, of course) for most of your water intake.

    Personally, I've got used to drinking large quantities of water ( 12 to 16 glasses a day) gradually over time. I usually drink 2 or 3 mugs of hot green tea a day too.
  • KendraElmendorf
    KendraElmendorf Posts: 837 Member
    No I don't think so. Water is water!!! If I drink tea I log it as tea, if I drink water I log it as water...
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
    Green tea has caffeine and anything with caffeine shouldn't be counted as water... you could count non-caffeinated teas as water though... ie. Peppermint, lemon, berry teas etc.

    TRUE!
  • runningathena
    runningathena Posts: 218 Member
    If it's caffeinated, you may want to consider drinking it in the morning only.

    However, water is "nature's fruit juice"! Adding lemon slices to water makes it much more palatable (IMHO) than drinking it plain. That's how I got myself from tea to water only - orange slices work, or cucumber slices, lime juice, strawberries, you name it! Just not those sugary powders like Crystal Light and such - they may be "sweetened with Splenda", and zero calories, but that stuff (sucralose) is still a chemical. Same with aspartame....
  • susyseq
    susyseq Posts: 94
    Good question, I drink green tea all the time too, but I add it on the food log and its 0 calories, so guess you could
  • hm I'm not sure if it's caffeinated...I thought it wasn't but I could be wrong. thanks for the replies!
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