Water vs Hydration?!

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  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
    The artcle you linked is old. I've read a more recent review that said 96 oz of water intake is appropriate. However those that think there is something magical about pure water is ridiculous. Water from fruits, veggies, and caffeinated beverages does count. I don't have the reference at home with me, but I think I'm going to lab today, and I have it there, so I'll post a link or abstract.
  • RMinVA
    RMinVA Posts: 1,085 Member
    The artcle you linked is old. I've read a more recent review that said 96 oz of water intake is appropriate. However those that think there is something magical about pure water is ridiculous. Water from fruits, veggies, and caffeinated beverages does count. I don't have the reference at home with me, but I think I'm going to lab today, and I have it there, so I'll post a link or abstract.

    While it counts, IMO nothing does the trick like water. Especially if you exercise and sweat a lot. My eyes were opened when I found out I was slightly dehydrated on a trip to the doctor's office. At the time I was training for my first half marathon, in the winter (cold dry air/windy), and relying on brewed/unsweetened tea for my "hydration" because I had heard that it "counts" as water. At the time I was probably drinking about 3-4 glasses of water per day, and at least as much tea, if not more. I did a little homework and discovered that based on the amount of exercise I was doing, I needed to drink a lot more plain old water. I ditched the tea, and upped my intake to at least 96 oz a day, and no problems since then.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    If you're training hard then ofc you need more! You could have just drunk more tea! Same thing! It's just getting more fluid into your body, through whatever means, tea, coffee, water, fruit, veg, etc.
  • RMinVA
    RMinVA Posts: 1,085 Member
    If you're training hard then ofc you need more! You could have just drunk more tea! Same thing! It's just getting more fluid into your body, through whatever means, tea, coffee, water, fruit, veg, etc.

    Guess I wasn't very clear on my first post...I was probably already getting about the same amount of "fluid" from tea AND water, but when I changed to all water, no more problems.

    Besides, getting more "fluid" into your body with food can be difficult if you are trying to lose weight. More calories are often not a good option.
  • LilMissFoodie
    LilMissFoodie Posts: 612 Member
    If you're training hard then ofc you need more! You could have just drunk more tea! Same thing! It's just getting more fluid into your body, through whatever means, tea, coffee, water, fruit, veg, etc.

    I would agree with this.

    Hydration is actually a lot more to do with fluid and sodium balance than water alone. Drinking excessive water and restricting your sodium is one of the fastest ways to become dehydrated. A biochemist specialist consultant once gave a presentation that I attended where he spoke about dehydration in the elderly and said that them drinking predominantly tea and coffee wasn't the problem, it was that they didn't take salt in their tea ;) (and also generally eat less than younger people therefore less dietary sodium if that wasn't implied)

    On a side note, showing up as slightly dehydrated in a blood test doesn't really mean anything (especially if it is a fasted test) - if you did the test 50 times in a day you would get 50 different results.

    Edited to add that I am not saying go nuts on sodium just saying that too much water can definitely be a bad thing!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    If you're training hard then ofc you need more! You could have just drunk more tea! Same thing! It's just getting more fluid into your body, through whatever means, tea, coffee, water, fruit, veg, etc.

    Guess I wasn't very clear on my first post...I was probably already getting about the same amount of "fluid" from tea AND water, but when I changed to all water, no more problems.

    Besides, getting more "fluid" into your body with food can be difficult if you are trying to lose weight. More calories are often not a good option.
    To be fair, you said 3 or 4 cups a day of each, which at 4 cups would be 64 oz. Then you said you upped your intake to 96 oz. Pretty obvious that the 32 extra ounces of fluid led to your hydration levels increasing, and not changing from tea to water.
  • bellawares
    bellawares Posts: 558 Member
    If you are interested in the subject a great book to read is the Water Secret by Howard Murad, M. D. It's a fascinating read!

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