Dispelling the Water Myths..

alyssamiller77

Thanks for taking the time to put up this post. I have read much of what you posted and agree that most people need to be a little more flexible on how they count thier water consumption.

But watch out, you are probably going to have to give a yellow card for dissent.

LOL my yellow card is turning a pale tan with the amount of daylight it has seen lately

I'm not necessarily advocating that everyone should log all their drinks as water intake. That's a personal choice. If people want to only count their intake of pure water, that's their prerogative. But what they should not be doing is telling other people that they can't count that glass of tea they brewed or that bottle of water with Crystal Light mixed in it as part of their water intake because that is simply not true. Hell if that were true, I'd be dead by now because I don't drink any pure straight water. I mix either protein powder or drink mixes (Mio, Crystal Light, etc) into all the water I drink.

creasonr

I have been on a diet in the past where Diet Soft Drinks of the Cola kind were prohibited. The folks at the diet center told me that the caramel coloring in the diet cola drinks caused you to not lose weight. I quit drinking diet cola drinks. Lost a lot of weight but the diet was really restrictive in other ways also ie. low fat, low calorie, low carb. Gained it back when I went off their program. Has anyone researched caramel coloring?

tladame

Hey Mackeric,

Read it again. Diet soda does NOT make one gain weight. Eating additional calories does.

If someone thinks they can eat more because they drank diet soda, then that's their own fault. Not the fault of the soda.

You are equating cause and effect here. Related, but not the same.

That's how I understood it as well. Diet sodas don't make one gain weight; a person's attitude of, "Hey, since I'm drinking a diet soda, I can eat four Krispy Kremes!" is what causes them to gain weight.

I pretty much drink water all the time anyway since I don't drink soda (regular or diet), but it's interesting info.

MIMITIME

Ha Ha - So true about what you concluded on the "Diet Drinks make you gain weight". I grew up drinking a diet coke and eating a candy bar because after all, you get your average down. So for me it is true. I did eat more when having a diet coke.

MissMaryMac33

Thanks for taking the time to put up this post. I have read much of what you posted and agree that most people need to be a little more flexible on how they count thier water consumption.

But watch out, you are probably going to have to give a yellow card for dissent.

LOL my yellow card is turning a pale tan with the amount of daylight it has seen lately

I'm not necessarily advocating that everyone should log all their drinks as water intake. That's a personal choice. If people want to only count their intake of pure water, that's their prerogative. But what they should not be doing is telling other people that they can't count that glass of tea they brewed or that bottle of water with Crystal Light mixed in it as part of their water intake because that is simply not true. Hell if that were true, I'd be dead by now because I don't drink any pure straight water. I mix either protein powder or drink mixes (Mio, Crystal Light, etc) into all the water I drink.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who never drinks just plain water! Been doing this for years and I'm still here!
I drink way more than the required because I drink things I love ---

kyle4jem

Ha Ha - So true about what you concluded on the "Diet Drinks make you gain weight". I grew up drinking a diet coke and eating a candy bar because after all, you get your average down. So for me it is true. I did eat more when having a diet coke.

I think this is the case for a lot of folks. I've been drinking diet coke and the like since they came on the market and was dinking them long before I ever got FAT. But I did tend to have a diet coke and a mars bar, a diet coke and a cheese toastie, and what had the calories? Certainly N O T the diet coke.

I still drink diet coke and Dr Pepper zero, but not as much as before because I feel the fizz really bloats me out ... prefer it de-fizzed now :drinker:

Thanks to Intechpc for an excellent and balanced post :glasses:

Riverofbeauty

Thanks so much for this! Very interesting. I could never understand how a cup of hot water with a green tea bag in it could suddenly make it not count towards my daily water count!

itontae

Not only will diet drinks make you fat but toupees and wigs make you bald. A friend of my friend of my brother noticed that every person with a toupee or wig had problems growing hair but the fake hair companies don't want you to know this! Plus fake hair gives you lupus. And MS. And some other stuff too because our heads evolved to have REAL HAIR, not FAKE hair. Our heads don't know what to do with fake hair so it makes our scalp TOXIC.

genius.

itontae

great post. I'm astonished at how many people still believe you have to cram down 8 big glasses of water a day whether you're thirsty or not.

so obviously nonsense intuitively

deanadimples

Good post.

When people talk on MFP about upping their water intake, this is my favorite comment: "Careful..too much water is bad!!!"

While, yes, water in massive intake IS bad, your body will also have symptoms and death is usually a result of cases where people are chugging mass quantities in short periods of time. You don't just keel over from an overage of 12 glasses of water. The kidneys can handle 15 liters a day. The average person is not going to die from upping water intake.

davionbandit

True enough.

Another mistake people often make when counting their water is the 8 - 8oz glasses. Most people don't realize how little 8 ounces is. Me, 1 bottle of Diet Green Tea (16.9oz) = 2 glasses of water. And my husband hates plain water, says it tastes bad. I told him, 4 bottles a day, put whatever flavor you want in it!

@deanadimples - Yep, it takes A LOT of water to OD

It works.

nixickle

I think there is a little confusion here....it is true that we get water from all foods and liquids, regardless of what type of drink it is, and yes everyone probably does get enough fluids into their body on an average day. However, health professionals recommend water as the preferred choice to help flush out other toxins from the body, it is not all about hydration. Some drinks are so full of toxins that choosing only to drink them can damage our bodies in other ways. Diet sodas and teas and coffees can play havoc with our teeth and livers if too much is consumed. The idea is to have everything in moderation. I love my coffee, but I limit myself to 2 cups maximum a day, I also drink 2-3 litres of pure water per day and green tea on a night-time. I know I am an anomily here as water is my preferred drink; I find squash too sweet, diet sodas too gassy and too much coffee gives me the shakes! Plus I am probably drinking slightly too much water as too much can also be bad! It starts to flush out all the good nutrients too.

So returning back to these water 'myths' I would just like to clarify that really all the research says is that yes we do require a lot of fluid in our bodies (they are afterall made up of 50-70% water) and yes we can get this water from foods and other drinks, BUT water is the preferred choice to drink for many reasons other than hydration.

Lyadeia

I think there is a little confusion here....it is true that we get water from all foods and liquids, regardless of what type of drink it is, and yes everyone probably does get enough fluids into their body on an average day. However, health professionals recommend water as the preferred choice to help flush out other toxins from the body, it is not all about hydration. Some drinks are so full of toxins that choosing only to drink them can damage our bodies in other ways. Diet sodas and teas and coffees can play havoc with our teeth and livers if too much is consumed. The idea is to have everything in moderation. I love my coffee, but I limit myself to 2 cups maximum a day, I also drink 2-3 litres of pure water per day and green tea on a night-time. I know I am an anomily here as water is my preferred drink; I find squash too sweet, diet sodas too gassy and too much coffee gives me the shakes! Plus I am probably drinking slightly too much water as too much can also be bad! It starts to flush out all the good nutrients too.

So returning back to these water 'myths' I would just like to clarify that really all the research says is that yes we do require a lot of fluid in our bodies (they are afterall made up of 50-70% water) and yes we can get this water from foods and other drinks, BUT water is the preferred choice to drink for many reasons other than hydration.

+1

I just wanted to add that I don't drink diet anything...not because of some fear that it will make me fat, but because I prefer to limit the amount of weird chemicals that enter my body. I don't really care if they make me fat or skinny, I would prefer all my internal organs to be healthy and working properly without the need to "flush out the toxins" because I had too much artificial this or that and chemicals I can't pronounce go through my system just so I could taste something liquid that was more appealing that pure water at the time.

skinnnyxoxo

When the scale doesn't move, you know who to blame.
Don't take it personally.

alyssamiller77

I think there is a little confusion here....it is true that we get water from all foods and liquids, regardless of what type of drink it is, and yes everyone probably does get enough fluids into their body on an average day. However, health professionals recommend water as the preferred choice to help flush out other toxins from the body, it is not all about hydration. Some drinks are so full of toxins that choosing only to drink them can damage our bodies in other ways. Diet sodas and teas and coffees can play havoc with our teeth and livers if too much is consumed. The idea is to have everything in moderation. I love my coffee, but I limit myself to 2 cups maximum a day, I also drink 2-3 litres of pure water per day and green tea on a night-time. I know I am an anomily here as water is my preferred drink; I find squash too sweet, diet sodas too gassy and too much coffee gives me the shakes! Plus I am probably drinking slightly too much water as too much can also be bad! It starts to flush out all the good nutrients too.

So returning back to these water 'myths' I would just like to clarify that really all the research says is that yes we do require a lot of fluid in our bodies (they are afterall made up of 50-70% water) and yes we can get this water from foods and other drinks, BUT water is the preferred choice to drink for many reasons other than hydration.

+1

I just wanted to add that I don't drink diet anything...not because of some fear that it will make me fat, but because I prefer to limit the amount of weird chemicals that enter my body. I don't really care if they make me fat or skinny, I would prefer all my internal organs to be healthy and working properly without the need to "flush out the toxins" because I had too much artificial this or that and chemicals I can't pronounce go through my system just so I could taste something liquid that was more appealing that pure water at the time.

Absolutely, I don't argue either of these points about the health benefits of straight water or not wanting other chemicals in your body that are included in soda, drink mixes, etc. That's certainly your prerogative if you want to "drink clean" and not have those things. The point of my post is however unchanged, and that is while you've made that choice it doesn't mean that someone else who has chosen they don't mind having those other chemicals in their body suddenly can't count those other drinks as part of their water intake. So when someone asks, can I count this bottle of green tea I just drank in my water intake, the answer (as backed by common sense, logic and science) is simply "Yes you can". Now if they asked if drinking green tea was the same as drinking straight water on the other hand, again science logic and common sense would dictate the answer is "No, it's not the same".

The reason doctors prefer straight water to "flush you out" (which is a misconception and not actually what they say) is because your body doesn't have to do the work of digesting or filtering those other chemicals. Your kidneys are responsible for filtering out waste, and that process requires water. Drinking more water doesn't somehow magically push more waste out of your body, it allows your kidneys to work more efficiently. As long as your hydrated anyway, taking in additional water isn't going to change how waste is transported to your kidneys. In the end, it truly is all about hydration.