questions about cups of tea

thejenster90

hi. I am new here and have a few questions re the cups of tea I drink regularly. firstly, can I include these as a cup of water? and secondly, how do I count the dash of milk I use in the tea? or do I not count it?
thanks in advance for answers,
Jen

HMonsterX

You need the equivalent of 8 cups of water a day on average, from any source. These sources can be pure water/tea/coffee/juice/soda/milk/fruit/veg etc. It does NOT have to be pure neat water!

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/


As for coffee being a diuretic, so many people just spout that word as a reason, without actually understanding what "diuretic" means.

di·u·ret·ic (d-rtk)
adj.
Tending to increase the discharge of urine.
n.
A substance or drug that tends to increase the discharge of urine.

Neat water is also a diuretic. The diuretic effect of caffeine is far, far outweighed by the actual water in the tea/coffee. Also, regular consumers of caffeinated beverages will build up a tolerance to said effect, eventually reaching the point where caffeinated drinks provide practically the same amount of hydration as a cup of neat water will.


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

http://worldofcaffeine.com/2011/06/14/caffeine-does-not-dehydrate/

http://advance.uconn.edu/2002/020722/02072207.htm

http://nomoredirtylooks.com/2011/04/surprise-caffeinated-tea-does-not-dehydrate-you/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/nutrition/04real.html

http://www.sharecare.com/question/does-caffeine-dehydrate-not

http://www.artofdrink.com/2009/12/caffeine-in-coffee-does-not-increase-dehydration-during-hangovers.php

http://www.caring4cancer.com/go/cancer/nutrition/questions/do-caffeinated-beverages-cause-dehydration.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5552790&page=1#.TrQWc0O5_oo

ElizabethRoad

What he said.

As for the milk, I count it as one tablespoon. If it's less than that it's probably not worth logging.

Gosser

You can select tea/coffee with milk from the foods list. It has calories attributed to it to allow for the milk.

ElizabethRoad

You can select tea/coffee with milk from the foods list. It has calories attributed to it to allow for the milk.

And it has no idea how much you used, so kinda useless.

Smokey19

you count the milk...let's say 1 tsp. Also, I heard that if it's decaf tea you can count it. Cafinated beverages are dehydrating.

thejenster90

thanks everyone, really useful stuff. the amount of milk I use is litterally a couple of drops just to take the bitterness away, so I don't think I'll include it.
thanks again,
Jen