Does coffee count for water?

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Replies

  • flimflamfloz
    flimflamfloz Posts: 1,980 Member
    Plus, there's really no need to "count" water in the first place.
    oh geesh. some count it to make sure they drink it. whether a cup of coffee counts or not? just drink 8 cups of regular water a day. it really aint all that much or hard to do unless you obsess about it.
    why overthink everything? our bodies are mostly water so drinking good clean water makes sense? doesnt it?
    I don't like the taste of water unless I'm thirsty. So tell me why, when there is absolutely no medical reason should I have to force 8 glasses of water down my throat?
    It's OK if you do 7.45 or 8.03 glasses of water too... Is that what you're asking?
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    I asked my Dr last week about Tea and Coffee counting for water. She said that if it is Decaf you can count it towards your water count. I drink lots of decaf herbal tea (my office is freezing!) so I was glad to hear. Also said, caffeine has a diuretic effect. I count it!

    Water is a diuretic
  • cruisintolose
    cruisintolose Posts: 25 Member
    I have always been curious about this as well. So basically everyone seems to be 50/50. Only one person has come back with actual articles regarding this. Guess I will go with their opinion or maybe I will just continue to be curious about this topic. LOL
  • ElPumaMex
    ElPumaMex Posts: 367 Member
    Drinking 8 cups of water is just a generic guideline, to tell you that you need to make sure you drink enough water, in any form.

    Drinking water with caffeine or any other ingredient is ok, as well as part of your food,
    You don't need to be concerned on what else you eat.

    Just make sure you drink/eat enough water.

    And how do you know that?
    Very simple:
    Look at the color of your urine; if it is yellow, drink more water. If it is cristal clear, you have gone beyond what you needed (but is ok !!)


    Unless you're taking vitamin B suppliments...then your pee is radio active yellow, hydrated or not ! LOL

    I did not know that ! Thanks for letting me know.

    From Wikipedia, to confirm what you said:

    Riboflavin is best known visually as the vitamin which imparts the orange color to solid B-vitamin preparations, the yellow color to vitamin supplement solutions, and the unusual fluorescent-yellow color to the urine of persons who supplement with high-dose B-complex preparations (no other vitamin imparts any color to urine).
  • QueenJayJay
    QueenJayJay Posts: 1,079 Member

    Plus, there's really no need to "count" water in the first place.

    oh geesh. some count it to make sure they drink it. whether a cup of coffee counts or not? just drink 8 cups of regular water a day. it really aint all that much or hard to do unless you obsess about it.

    why overthink everything? our bodies are mostly water so drinking good clean water makes sense? doesnt it?

    Okay irishgirl63 same question to you.
    I don't like the taste of water unless I'm thirsty. So tell me why, when there is absolutely no medical reason, should I have to force 8 glasses of water down my throat?

    http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp
  • QueenJayJay
    QueenJayJay Posts: 1,079 Member
    I have always been curious about this as well. So basically everyone seems to be 50/50. Only one person has come back with actual articles regarding this. Guess I will go with their opinion or maybe I will just continue to be curious about this topic. LOL

    It's not opinion.

    Coffee is not water.

    Flour is not bread.

    Chicken is not beef.

    ...it's not rocket science.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Coffee is not water.

    Water is water.



    LOL, best response EVER!!

    Straight to the point,

    How do you make coffee? A lot of water and a little bit of coffee grinds.

    So...it's not water. Thank you for proving my point.

    So what changes that the body can't use it for hydration?
    Our bodies get water from foods that we eat, that also has sugars and other vitamins and minerals. Is another poster right that once you add a little lemon juice to the water, it is no longer water? What about those Crystal Light things? Can they be counted?
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    Plus, there's really no need to "count" water in the first place.
    oh geesh. some count it to make sure they drink it. whether a cup of coffee counts or not? just drink 8 cups of regular water a day. it really aint all that much or hard to do unless you obsess about it.
    why overthink everything? our bodies are mostly water so drinking good clean water makes sense? doesnt it?
    I don't like the taste of water unless I'm thirsty. So tell me why, when there is absolutely no medical reason should I have to force 8 glasses of water down my throat?
    It's OK if you do 7.45 or 8.03 glasses of water too... Is that what you're asking?

    No.
    The whole 8 glasses of water is a myth and yet the quote is saying I should basically drink it.
    My question is why, when there is no valid reason to do so.
  • irishgirl63
    irishgirl63 Posts: 53
    Try the MIO flavors to put in your water....you may like it...I do.
  • ryno0618
    ryno0618 Posts: 361
    lots of opinions, eh?

    i simply count water as water. Just seems the way to go for me.

    I pretty much only drink water, so no worries in getting my 8 cups in daily.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member

    Plus, there's really no need to "count" water in the first place.

    oh geesh. some count it to make sure they drink it. whether a cup of coffee counts or not? just drink 8 cups of regular water a day. it really aint all that much or hard to do unless you obsess about it.

    why overthink everything? our bodies are mostly water so drinking good clean water makes sense? doesnt it?

    Okay irishgirl63 same question to you.
    I don't like the taste of water unless I'm thirsty. So tell me why, when there is absolutely no medical reason, should I have to force 8 glasses of water down my throat?

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

    You're missing the point.
    I'm asking why when there's no reason to drink 8 glasses I should still (and I'll quote it here again since you missed it) just drink 8 cups of regular water a day.
    I'm asking the poster of the quote. You're just proving my point.
  • QueenJayJay
    QueenJayJay Posts: 1,079 Member
    Coffee is not water.

    Water is water.



    LOL, best response EVER!!

    Straight to the point,

    How do you make coffee? A lot of water and a little bit of coffee grinds.

    So...it's not water. Thank you for proving my point.

    So what changes that the body can't use it for hydration?

    Coffee has caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic.
  • Roshams
    Roshams Posts: 77
    Scared the crap outta me when I started taking my vitamins, I thought I was radio active, and maybe had super powers now....turns out it was just the vitamin B....I was sadly disapointed ;)
  • QueenJayJay
    QueenJayJay Posts: 1,079 Member

    Plus, there's really no need to "count" water in the first place.

    oh geesh. some count it to make sure they drink it. whether a cup of coffee counts or not? just drink 8 cups of regular water a day. it really aint all that much or hard to do unless you obsess about it.

    why overthink everything? our bodies are mostly water so drinking good clean water makes sense? doesnt it?

    Okay irishgirl63 same question to you.
    I don't like the taste of water unless I'm thirsty. So tell me why, when there is absolutely no medical reason, should I have to force 8 glasses of water down my throat?

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

    You're missing the point.
    I'm asking why when there's no reason to drink 8 glasses I should still (and I'll quote it here again since you missed it) just drink 8 cups of regular water a day.

    You're missing the point.
    I'm saying you don't have to. (Do the italics help you understand?)
  • Roshams
    Roshams Posts: 77
    Drinking 8 cups of water is just a generic guideline, to tell you that you need to make sure you drink enough water, in any form.

    Drinking water with caffeine or any other ingredient is ok, as well as part of your food,
    You don't need to be concerned on what else you eat.

    Just make sure you drink/eat enough water.

    And how do you know that?
    Very simple:
    Look at the color of your urine; if it is yellow, drink more water. If it is cristal clear, you have gone beyond what you needed (but is ok !!)


    Unless you're taking vitamin B suppliments...then your pee is radio active yellow, hydrated or not ! LOL

    I did not know that ! Thanks for letting me know.

    From Wikipedia, to confirm what you said:

    Riboflavin is best known visually as the vitamin which imparts the orange color to solid B-vitamin preparations, the yellow color to vitamin supplement solutions, and the unusual fluorescent-yellow color to the urine of persons who supplement with high-dose B-complex preparations (no other vitamin imparts any color to urine).

    Scared the crap outta me when I started taking my vitamins, I thought I was radio active, and maybe had super powers now....turns out it was just the vitamin B....I was sadly disapointed ;)
  • Roshams
    Roshams Posts: 77
    WOW, people really can get fired up over anything, can't they??

    Everyone thinks they can GOOGLE better then the next guy. LMFAO
  • KnottyJen
    KnottyJen Posts: 1,070 Member
    WOW, people really can get fired up over anything, can't they??

    Everyone thinks they can GOOGLE better then the next guy. LMFAO

    Bwahahaha!!! This is the best, most accurate answer in this entire thread...
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Coffee is not water.

    Water is water.



    LOL, best response EVER!!

    Straight to the point,

    How do you make coffee? A lot of water and a little bit of coffee grinds.

    So...it's not water. Thank you for proving my point.

    So what changes that the body can't use it for hydration?

    Coffee has caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic.

    Already posted this but here it is again
    "Researchers used to believe that caffeinated drinks had a diuretic effect. This means that you would urinate more after drinking them, which could increase your risk of becoming dehydrated. Recent research shows that this is not true and that caffeine has a diuretic effect only if you consume large amounts of it — more than 500 to 600 milligrams (the equivalent of 5 to 7 cups of coffee) a day"
    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN01661

    And again, plain old water is a diuretic as well.

    I am off to the gym now.
  • Suziq2you
    Suziq2you Posts: 396 Member
    Coffee is not water.

    Water is water.



    LOL, best response EVER!!

    Straight to the point,

    How do you make coffee? A lot of water and a little bit of coffee grinds.

    So...it's not water. Thank you for proving my point.

    So what changes that the body can't use it for hydration?

    Coffee has caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic.

    Water is a diuretic.
  • Spring18
    Spring18 Posts: 1
    That's a myth.
  • WilliamsPeggy
    WilliamsPeggy Posts: 440 Member
    I don't count coffee as water, though I sure drink it like it's life sustaining.
  • ShandiH
    ShandiH Posts: 232 Member
    Thanks for all the posts, opinions and some just count to 10 and calm down. It's not like I don't get *plenty* of water in a day. I personally prefer water to most drinks. I was just curious to what extent you can classify some drinks, like coffee, as your daily 8 cups of water . . . curiosity kills the cat, eh?
  • Roshams
    Roshams Posts: 77
    WOW, people really can get fired up over anything, can't they??

    Everyone thinks they can GOOGLE better then the next guy. LMFAO

    Bwahahaha!!! This is the best, most accurate answer in this entire thread...

    Why Thank you, that just made my day ;)
  • Whinchat
    Whinchat Posts: 84 Member
    I wonder if your kidneys can tell whether the water they're filtering comes from a cup of Columbia's finest or something straight out of the tap....or even if it's come from a bowl of salad? :wink:
  • peteb79
    peteb79 Posts: 386
    Why doesn't everyone just do what they want to do?

    Me, I like to drink water, I drink a lot of water at least 1 gallon a day.. it helps keep my mind off snacking.. I don't drink it because I think my body "needs" it.. I drink it because I like doing it and it's not killing me. I recommend people do the same not because they 'need' it.. but because it helps me.. it might help them, if they don't want to do it, then they don't have to.

    As far as the other points of view, If I drink a glass of water, then eat some coffee beans (just an example.. blech) , wouldn't that be the same thing as drinking a cup of coffee, why can't the water be counted?, it all ends up in our stomach anyway... if it has water in it, sure it can be counted.. but that's just my opinion, which we are all entitled too.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member

    Plus, there's really no need to "count" water in the first place.

    oh geesh. some count it to make sure they drink it. whether a cup of coffee counts or not? just drink 8 cups of regular water a day. it really aint all that much or hard to do unless you obsess about it.

    why overthink everything? our bodies are mostly water so drinking good clean water makes sense? doesnt it?

    Okay irishgirl63 same question to you.
    I don't like the taste of water unless I'm thirsty. So tell me why, when there is absolutely no medical reason, should I have to force 8 glasses of water down my throat?

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

    You're missing the point.
    I'm asking why when there's no reason to drink 8 glasses I should still (and I'll quote it here again since you missed it) just drink 8 cups of regular water a day.

    You're missing the point.
    I'm saying you don't have to. (Do the italics help you understand?)

    Okay. I was asking someone who thinks that we do have to drink 8 glasses of water why.
    I stated that it was unnecessary to drink that much water and asked for his reasoning.

    I know it's a myth that is why I said there's no medical reason to do so in my post. You are talking to someone who is well aware it's a myth. I was trying to get an answer from someone who thinks that we should just drink it anyway.

    Comprehend?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Thanks for all the posts, opinions and some just count to 10 and calm down. It's not like I don't get *plenty* of water in a day. I personally prefer water to most drinks. I was just curious to what extent you can classify some drinks, like coffee, as your daily 8 cups of water . . . curiosity kills the cat, eh?

    This is always a hot topic.
    If I am one of the ones you are referring to, I am really not as worked up as you think. It is possible to have opposing opinions without being upset. I don't think anyone here really got to personal about it.

    As for the out-googling comment. It was funny. However, I find I learn a ton when people do that. You get to see a lot of different information on both sides of an arugment. They aren't always legit sources, but even that helps to find out where you can look for good sources and not so good. Lord knowns the internet is full of crap.

    ETA- I really am leaving for the gym - I am such a procrastinator!
  • _VoV
    _VoV Posts: 1,494 Member
    I think it counts, if you want to count it. It sounds like everyone who has responded has their own rules with respect to this.

    I personally don't bother counting glasses of water. There's a lot of water in the food I eat: fresh fruits & veggies, oatmeal, soups, stews, herbal teas, etc. I drink when I'm thirsty. Sometimes I drink when I'm hungry to buy some time between meals. But, meeting some arbitrary number of glasses of actual water--no, I don't do that.

    This whole 8-glasses a day thing came from someone's un-researched opinion and has stuck with the fitness/dieting community.

    Do what makes sense to you within the overall context of your diet.

    Check out this link on the myth of 8 glasses a day: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/12/08/the-myth-behind-drinking-8-glasses-of-water-a-day/
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    Ill get in quick to try to nip this in the bud

    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

    ^^What he said!!!!^^

    The idea that the water in food and beverages doesn't count is absurd. If I took a caffeine tablet then drank a glass of water, the water counts but if the caffeine is mixed in the water it doesn't? "Neat" water isn't pure, by any means. There are acceptable levels of contaminants, and with bottled water often even intentionally added minerals. What little of the coffee bean gets suspended in the water (coffee is a colloidal suspension) is simply a contaminant (and not all "contaminants" are necessarily bad). Ditto this for tea, juice, Crystal Light yadda yadda. Now, artificial (and even super sweet natural) sweeteners CAN contribute to weight gain and should be used in moderation, but the water in Crystal Light still counts as water.
  • ShandiH
    ShandiH Posts: 232 Member
    Thanks for all the posts, opinions and some just count to 10 and calm down. It's not like I don't get *plenty* of water in a day. I personally prefer water to most drinks. I was just curious to what extent you can classify some drinks, like coffee, as your daily 8 cups of water . . . curiosity kills the cat, eh?

    This is always a hot topic.
    If I am one of the ones you are referring to, I am really not as worked up as you think. It is possible to have opposing opinions without being upset. I don't think anyone here really got to personal about it.

    No, you are not one of the ones I was referring to. :smile:

    Guess, I don't understand why it's a hot topic . . .
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