Diet Soda

prestonmay

so im thinkin that diet soda is diet soda and water is water....so i dont see how diet soda= water...

can it be used as fluid intake is the question--Not what is the nutritional value

prestonmay

that is the obvious answer, not the scientific one. YOU have to have water to create Kool Aid or Any soda. Your body needs FLUID period.. Some formsof it are better then others. I am not saying drink 8 diet cokes and count that as 8 glass of waters. I may drink 8 oz of soda a week with two shots of Brandy. Drinking soda creates other cravings in me. Even though I think its psychosomatic for me.... I do the 2 gallons to HYDRATE my muscles.

npostma

I learned the same thing when I did weight watchers back in 2001. They said you should always have a glass of water for every soda or coffee you drink.

mrsjennifermaffei

It's NOT water therefore I don't count it as water. Don't go just by the fact that it has 0 calories.
My vlasic pickles came out to 0 calories today too, should I be logging that as water? <---rhetoric to make a point :-)

It won't hurt your diet but I don't think it should be counted as water just because it doesn't have any calories.

prestonmay

It's NOT water therefore I don't count it as water. Don't go just by the fact that it has 0 calories.
My vlasic pickles came out to 0 calories today too, should I be logging that as water? <---rhetoric to make a point :-)

It won't hurt your diet but I don't think it should be counted as water just because it doesn't have any calories.

The meats you eat have water in it. Muscles are composed of 70 percent water--- if you could measure it, you could. Its funny how water matters so much , but is not used in the guide to show any value--- Think about it..... But I get it , when in doubt stick to water. Do what works for you

tigersword

It's NOT water therefore I don't count it as water. Don't go just by the fact that it has 0 calories.
My vlasic pickles came out to 0 calories today too, should I be logging that as water? <---rhetoric to make a point :-)

It won't hurt your diet but I don't think it should be counted as water just because it doesn't have any calories.

Semantics. Diet soda is over 90% water. You do know the "drink x amount of water a day" "rule" has absolutely no basis in fact or science, right? That would be why everybody has a different opinion of how much you should drink. The bottom line is everything, except maybe hard liquor, hydrates you, and the entire point is to be properly hydrated. There is such a thing as overhydration, and it's just as deadly as dehydration.

Oh, and you get plenty of water from eating pickles. I believe cucumbers are mostly water.

prestonmay

It's NOT water therefore I don't count it as water. Don't go just by the fact that it has 0 calories.
My vlasic pickles came out to 0 calories today too, should I be logging that as water? <---rhetoric to make a point :-)

It won't hurt your diet but I don't think it should be counted as water just because it doesn't have any calories.

Semantics. Diet soda is over 90% water. You do know the "drink x amount of water a day" "rule" has absolutely no basis in fact or science, right? That would be why everybody has a different opinion of how much you should drink. The bottom line is everything, except maybe hard liquor, hydrates you, and the entire point is to be properly hydrated. There is such a thing as overhydration, and it's just as deadly as dehydration.

Oh, and you get plenty of water from eating pickles. I believe cucumbers are mostly water.

100000000000000000% agreement. The information HWY can have too much information at time, but only a few things are backed by empirical data. Everyone is an expert. I am only an expert in what works for me. Pre Comp -- MY WATER INTAKE MATTERS - if the only form I can get is a COKE then fine.

supermom1114

I was taught that anything with caffeine is a neutral drink. The caffeine causes you to excrete about the same amount of fluid as you took in but doesnt "dehydrate" you as many believe. So no it doesn't count as water but it doesnt take away from your water intake for the day either

strawberryromper

I don't log my water at all, but I wouldn't count diet pop.

mfpgeezy

Im in no way sayin anything about bad diet soda or not to drink it or that it doesnt contain water, im only sayin do let it short change yourself in gettin all the water you need, i personaly drink alot(alot being up to about 64 oz. a day) of diet soda and coffee( usualy 3-4 cups of black) but i also drink about 1-1.5 gallons of water per day...

HMonsterX

The caffeine causes you to excrete about the same amount of fluid as you took in

Not true. If you don't drink a lot of coffee it hydrates almost as much as water. If you drink a lot, it ends up being the same as neat water.

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22178/46361-coffee-makes-dehydrated-say-what

I learned the same thing when I did weight watchers back in 2001. They said you should always have a glass of water for every soda or coffee you drink.

Things have changed in the last 10 years. More studies have been carried out.

stardozer

Diet Soda is NOT water!!

HMonsterX

Diet Soda is NOT water!!

Well spotted!

But, the OP was asking does it COUNT as water, presumable for the daily intake, in which case yes, it does count towards your daily hydration total.

LilMissFoodie

There is such a thing as overhydration, and it's just as deadly as dehydration.

Agreed. Actually, I would say it is more deadly since it can happen a whole lot faster! (tends to be people not eating very much, exercising loads and trying to drink ridiculous amounts of water... which is not uncommon around these parts!)

Physically, if you are eating properly and it's not ridiculously hot and you aren't doing intense exercise you rarely actually NEED to drink anything at all, you would get enough basic fluid from your food. It is good for your body to have a bit of extra fluid on top of your food though but yeah, any fluid other than alcohol is fluid in terms of staying hydrated.

tyresank

Thanks so much for the infor. I am trying to cut down to 1 per day. So far pretty good only one per day for the last week, and I drink caffeine free diet coke, but my aim is to be off them very soon, I will not buy anymore after the 12 pack I have now. I am up to 10 glasses a day with a coke only every other day for this week. Again thanks for the post, and I never count my 1 coke as part of my water intake.

taritchie

This is helpful info - Thanks Glen!

Teliooo

My aunty nearly died from overhydration. They later found out she had a brain tumour, which was affecting her obsessive need for water.

I was told by my doctor that any fluid can be counted towards your wate intake. Even though my friend tried to tell nme other wise. NO it is not pure water but it still counts. I lost a hell of a lot of weight drinking cordial instead of water. It ahs taken me years to be able to drink water without any. I hate fizzy drinks though.

TubbsMcGee

Lots of foods have water in them.

Do you count a bowl of soup as a glass of water?

What about a couple pieces of watermelon? Do you count that as drinking water?

Hmm...carbonated chemical water with food colouring and artificial flavours...doesn't really sound like anything healthy and pure, like actual WATER is.

I definitely wouldn't count diet soda as water.

When I first clicked this post, I thought this forum would be making fun of someone who tried to argue that diet soda counted as water.

tigersword

Again, SCIENCE. You get 20-30% of your hydration requirements from food. That's why when you are thirsty it's easy to mistake it for being hungry, and why you stop feeling hungry after eating, because your body got the fluid it needed for hydration purposes out of the food you ate.

The "Drink so much water" rule is a MYTH spread by the bottled water industry to get people to buy more bottled water. Go ahead, look it up. Also, read the actual study it's based on, as the only thing the study said was that properly hydrated people are healthier than dehydrated people, and nowhere in the study did it say people needed to drink any more water than they already were.

Soda is 90% water. Juice is 90% water, coffee and tea are 90% water, even beer is 90% water. All of these things hydrate you perfectly fine. Hell, in the middle ages humans pretty much lived on beer, as they didn't have water filtration systems, and needed the alcohol in the beer to kill the harmful bacteria in the water.

There is no scientific or health based reason to limit your drinking to only plain water.

HMonsterX

Exactly.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/13/myth-eight-glasses-water-day

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/wellness-water-8x8-myth.html

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/12/08/the-myth-behind-drinking-8-glasses-of-water-a-day/

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22178/46361-coffee-makes-dehydrated-say-what

strawberryromper

I hate to revive a dead thread, but after stopping drinking caffeinated beverages, I've changed my position entirely. I didn't replace the many ounces of diet pop I was drinking and within a week was getting crippling dehydration headaches because my fluid intake was so much lower than normal. I would absolutely count diet pop as water now.

Tangerine302

A lot of foods contain water such as watermelon, soup, etc. but if it's mixed with something it no longer is water to me. You can use it for hydrating yourself I suppose, but I like to think only water is water.

It's good to clean your insides with water. Just like you wouldn't clean your car with soup!

HMonsterX

You can use it for hydrating yourself I suppose, but I like to think only water is water.

You can think of only water as water, that's up to you.

Your body however doesn't think like that, and will just grab it anyway, in the same way you may not log everything, but your body does

Tangerine302

Yeah it is up to me. ha We all have our own way of thinking.

PB67

You are exactly right!! That is what the artificial sweetners in diet soda's do... they spike insulin levels which make you crave other foods more!! make sure you stay away from them!

Stop making things up.

Effect of the artificial sweetener, sucralose, on gastric emptying and incretin hormone release in healthy subjects

We conclude that sucralose, delivered by intragastric infusion, does not stimulate insulin, GLP-1, or GIP release or slow gastric emptying in healthy humans.

http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/296/4/G735

geogal95

I would not count it as water. I admit I am a diet coke-a-holic I have not found it hinders my loss but I don't really know. It does NOT give me high blood pressure or any of those other things mentioned previously. Just had a doc checkup and every one of my numbers looked great! He was very happy. Still it does dehydrate you so be sure be sure to drink water too.

Raf702

Does it count as a water?

It's calorie free, but it contains sodium like 30-40mg. It's not going to hinder your progress in weight loss. I only drink DIET sodas, teas. etc. But when I drink Diet soda, it makes does get me feel a bit bloated after I finish a bottle or a drink. And I get the carbonation build up and burp a lot. Lol

LilMissFoodie

Lots of foods have water in them.

Do you count a bowl of soup as a glass of water?

What about a couple pieces of watermelon? Do you count that as drinking water?

I don't see the point in 'counting' water for the average healthy person but I do need to count it for my patients that require thickened fluids, a textured diet, tube feeding or a fluid restriction and yes, I would count those things as well as a lot of other fruits, yoghurt, icecream, jelly... the list goes on.

HMonsterX

Still it does dehydrate you so be sure be sure to drink water too.

Why do you say this, when it's been proven that the diuretic effect of caffeine in drinks is far, far outweighed by the actual fluid in said drink?

tigersword

Not only that, but a regular consumer of caffeine builds up a tolerance, in which case the diuretic effect disappears completely.