Water question

bcattoes

bottom line...nothing is as good for you as plain water. I doubt anyone could really debate that. so, the issue becomes how much worse are other liquids...flavored waters, coffee, tea, soda (hard to believe anyone is counting soda as any form of water intake)...for you than water and is there enough of a difference that they shouldn't be counted. As someone suggested, see how your body reacts to those other liquids being included in your "water" count....and then take a week where you only drink water and see how you feel and how the scale reacts.

its certainly possible that some folks' bodies are more efficient than others...and they can process any amount of liquid toxin as quickly as plain water. so, do the test on yourself.

I would debate the statement that "nothing is as good for you as plain water". Tea has no calories, just as much water as water, and has antioxidants that been shown to improve health. Even if ignore all the evidence that tea does NOT contain enough caffeine to dehydrate you (even you drank an entire pitcher) you could still drink decaffeinated tea and get all the benefits of water plus the additional benefits of antioxidants.

ATT949

Drinking lots of water helps keep one feeling full and that can help people on a diet accomplish their goals. Other than that, I've yet to read a medical document that provides the background to drinking so much water.

I rarely drink water. Instead, my body gets the water it needs from food (i eat a lot of salad) and beverages including coffee and tea. Recently, I've started drinking Coke Zero again.

One of the reasons why I avoid plain water is this article:

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/283/5/R993.full

The author undertook a lengthy review of literature about drinking eight glasses of water per day and could not find any medical reason for it. And the author has some credibility — he's an MD who's a professor at Dartmouth and he has written a textbook on how the kidneys function.

He doesn't have the marketing dollars of the companies that sell bottled water but that doesn't change the scientific approach that he's used to come to his conclusion that "No scientific studies were found in support of 8 × 8."

As he states "the author invites communications from readers who are aware of pertinent publications" - that is, of publications that might suggest otherwise.

If you want to drink lots of water, calorie-free beverages can be counted as water. My source for that is my GF who runs a clinic for Lindora, a medically supervised weight program that has helped hundreds of thousands of people lose weight in their 40+ year history.

elmsallmissile

The original research that all this diet / fitness industry BS is based on was done in the 50's iirc, this research stated the average liquid an adult required in certain conditions ie ambient temp exertion levels etc, it went on in conclusion to say that ALL food in the diet could be included in this figure, ie even steak is for example (don't quote me) say 70 or 80% water, the afore mentioned diet & fitness bods just latched on to the 2 or 3 litres or whatever figure and called it gospel, and everyone has repeated it over the years until it is acceped as gospel But not by me! drink when you are thirsty! check out Runners World they are now giving this advice to avoid hyponatraemia.

This is not the research, but a quick glance says it makes a little sense.

kiesh82

Aside from a cup of green tea w/ breakfast and the occasional alcohol on weekends I only drink water. Most days I drink at least 60oz and on days I work out I tend to drink 80-100 b/c I'm just more thirsty. I'm pretty laid about it and go by how I feel not any water intake theories. I really don't find it necessary to drink more than 60 oz if I'm not thirsty.