Does black caffeinated coffee count as daily water

MaximalLife

There are two different issues here:
1) How to log it. Since it will have some calories in it, log it as what it is. Only log water as water. Otherwise you are missing calories.

2) Does it hydrate your body? - yes it does, from that perspective it counts as water. Caffeine does not dehydrate you, it merely does not hydrate you as much as plain water would. But it does not actually result in a net loss of water from your body when you include the water in the drink that you ingest. Only alcohol actually dehydrates your body. Since there is no actual science behind the 8 cups of water per day, the question is whether you need to drink more. The best advice I was given by a doctor, and read, is that if you are thirsty, or you are not fully hydrated (urine is yellow, not clear) then drink. If you are not thirsty and you are hydrated, don't drink.

If you aren't sure, try an experiment. Spend a few hours drinking nothing but a lot tea or coffee. You will go to the bathroom a lot and your urine will be clear. You will be hydrated.

You're right. But your point will likely get lost.

Most of this debate is lazy language. Coffee isn't water. Just like Elephants are not watermelons. They are different things. Both CONTAIN juice, just like coffee and water both CONTAIN water and will hydrate you. So much of this argument is semantics. People who count drinks besides pure water as their "water intake" are interpreting that as their hydration for the day. If you eliminated all the 'coffee is coffee and water is water' posts, this thread would shrink by 3-4 pages. Then at least you could have the debate about the hydrating/diuretic effects of coffee.

Why people think someone is arguing whether a can of soda or a cup of coffee is actually JUST water is beyond me. But that point gets made every time this debate comes up. We got it. Water is water. Coffee is coffee. The water content of coffee does hydrate your body. The water content of water is also a diuretic. The water content of food also hydrates your body. You do not physically need pure water to hydrate your body. You may count only pure water when you click that arrow on MFP. You don't win a prize by only counting pure water.

So now we don't see the value of logging in a liquid as water while we count beverage calories too?
This get more comical by the second.
I am starting to see a whole new reason people experience these strange, mysterious plateaus.
Wow...:embarassed:

Bwalton79

for it to count towards water it cannot have caffeine

Longbowgilly

I've posted this dozens and dozens of times on MFP and I'm posting it again here for you all. Read, learn, and be amazed.

Why the 8 glasses of water a day is a MYTH:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eight-glasses-water-per-day

Of course EVERYTHING on the web is totally true :huh:

Drink water, tea, coffee whatever, it's YOUR body, who am I to tell YOU what to drink!

nkziv

no--Caffeine is a diuretic. It dehydrates you.

Widgette

IMO, anything with water in it helps hydrate the body. It may also have other effects, some of which MAY be diuretic. The big thing for me is when I combine my water with other chemicals (eg., when I drink diet soda or coffee) I don't feel as "clean," and my skin doesn't stay as clear. I don't think this is because it's "not water" but because the additional stuff is unnecessary and makes the body work a bit harder and deal with a bit more junk in the kidneys.

If you're looking to up your water intake, the healthiest way to do that is plain water. If you're looking to not die of dehydration, drink any damn thing you can (except seawater, not good).

grinch031

What about beer? It is mostly water.

Widgette

beer is water with a lot of unnecessary (and delightful) things in it some of which are diuretic at least in my experience!

thirtyandthriving

IMO: if it's not water it doesn't count

CanDurkin

I almost don't want to get into what is obviously a no-winning-side debate, but hell I'll put in my two cents and leave it at that. I grew up in a house hold that was very health conscious for the most part. Lots of water, 100% fruit juice, we didn't keep white sugar in the house, only whole wheat bread, no fun sugar filled cereals ect. Pretty boring for a kid. My Mom was into "alternative" medicine so we didn't go to the doctor or hospital unless something was broken or wouldn't stop bleeding for the most part. LOL. But, we didn't get sick very often either. I would be very interested to see how often those of you who are logging non-water as water get sick and how long you stay sick. How often do you have headaches (side effect of dehydration)? Do you sleep well? Do you wake up feeling "well?" I don't think that coffee and sodas are the Devil. I love tea! But I do think that sodas are empty calories, that should probably be avoided if you're trying to loose weight and get healthy. And, I assume that is what you're trying to do if you're participating on MFP?

Anyway, if MFP wanted you to log all of your liquid intake I'm sure they would have made it read "Liquid Consumption" and not "Water Consumption," but that's just me. I'm not a super smart scientist that's been doing super important research for years and years so I'm sure my thoughts on the matter are really null and void.

So to answer the original posters question, no I don't think you should count coffee as part of your WATER consumption.

Thank you and I hope all of you have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

HMonsterX

Sorry im late....

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 tea/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

grinch031

I almost don't want to get into what is obviously a no-winning-side debate, but hell I'll put in my two cents and leave it at that. I grew up in a house hold that was very health conscious for the most part. Lots of water, 100% fruit juice, we didn't keep white sugar in the house, only whole wheat bread, no fun sugar filled cereals ect. Pretty boring for a kid. My Mom was into "alternative" medicine so we didn't go to the doctor or hospital unless something was broken or wouldn't stop bleeding for the most part. LOL. But, we didn't get sick very often either. I would be very interested to see how often those of you who are logging non-water as water get sick and how long you stay sick. How often do you have headaches (side effect of dehydration)? Do you sleep well? Do you wake up feeling "well?" I don't think that coffee and sodas are the Devil. I love tea! But I do think that sodas are empty calories, that should probably be avoided if you're trying to loose weight and get healthy. And, I assume that is what you're trying to do if you're participating on MFP?

Anyway, if MFP wanted you to log all of your liquid intake I'm sure they would have made it read "Liquid Consumption" and not "Water Consumption," but that's just me. I'm not a super smart scientist that's been doing super important research for years and years so I'm sure my thoughts on the matter are really null and void.

So to answer the original posters question, no I don't think you should count coffee as part of your WATER consumption.

Thank you and I hope all of you have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

What is the difference between drinking a glass of water while eating gummy bears (this counts) and drinking a soda (this doesn't count) where both the overall water and sugar content is comparable?

kennethmgreen

You may count only pure water when you click that arrow on MFP. You don't win a prize by only counting pure water.

So now we don't see the value of logging in a liquid as water while we count beverage calories too?
This get more comical by the second.
I am starting to see a whole new reason people experience these strange, mysterious plateaus.
Wow...:embarassed:

I meant you may count only pure water when you click that arrow as a CHOICE. You may count milk, coffee, soda, etc. I don't care. MFP doesn't care. I wasn't trying to say you MUST count only pure water when you click the arrow. I was saying that you may - but if you only count pure water when you click, you don't get a pure water sticker or anything.

sunnyday789

I almost don't want to get into what is obviously a no-winning-side debate, but hell I'll put in my two cents and leave it at that. I grew up in a house hold that was very health conscious for the most part. Lots of water, 100% fruit juice, we didn't keep white sugar in the house, only whole wheat bread, no fun sugar filled cereals ect. Pretty boring for a kid. My Mom was into "alternative" medicine so we didn't go to the doctor or hospital unless something was broken or wouldn't stop bleeding for the most part. LOL. But, we didn't get sick very often either. I would be very interested to see how often those of you who are logging non-water as water get sick and how long you stay sick. How often do you have headaches (side effect of dehydration)? Do you sleep well? Do you wake up feeling "well?" I don't think that coffee and sodas are the Devil. I love tea! But I do think that sodas are empty calories, that should probably be avoided if you're trying to loose weight and get healthy. And, I assume that is what you're trying to do if you're participating on MFP?

Anyway, if MFP wanted you to log all of your liquid intake I'm sure they would have made it read "Liquid Consumption" and not "Water Consumption," but that's just me. I'm not a super smart scientist that's been doing super important research for years and years so I'm sure my thoughts on the matter are really null and void.

So to answer the original posters question, no I don't think you should count coffee as part of your WATER consumption.

Thank you and I hope all of you have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

I actually don't log water or fluids unless they have calories but certainly never drink 8 cups of water a day.
Very rarely get sick (and I'm over fifty). Only time I get headaches is when I go too long without coffee but that's easily cured

kennethmgreen

What is the difference between drinking a glass of water while eating gummy bears (this counts) and drinking a soda (this doesn't count) where both the overall water and sugar content is comparable?

Semantics, hysteria, obsessive over-analysis?

Just make sure you don't drink soda and Pop Rocks or you will explode.

RedandBlueMakesTwo

Well when made my coffee this morning. About 2 cups of water poured into my cup and it also had coffee in it. So why would I negate that 2 cups of water? Now if it was hot chocolate I would also say it is water but would have to add in for the sugar/calories of the cocoa. How is it any different than drinking a cup of water and maybe eating a piece of chocolate at the same time?

RedandBlueMakesTwo

Sorry didn't realize a similiar example was used.

Bentley2718

I almost don't want to get into what is obviously a no-winning-side debate, but hell I'll put in my two cents and leave it at that. I grew up in a house hold that was very health conscious for the most part. Lots of water, 100% fruit juice, we didn't keep white sugar in the house, only whole wheat bread, no fun sugar filled cereals ect. Pretty boring for a kid. My Mom was into "alternative" medicine so we didn't go to the doctor or hospital unless something was broken or wouldn't stop bleeding for the most part. LOL. But, we didn't get sick very often either. I would be very interested to see how often those of you who are logging non-water as water get sick and how long you stay sick. How often do you have headaches (side effect of dehydration)? Do you sleep well? Do you wake up feeling "well?" I don't think that coffee and sodas are the Devil. I love tea! But I do think that sodas are empty calories, that should probably be avoided if you're trying to loose weight and get healthy. And, I assume that is what you're trying to do if you're participating on MFP?

Anyway, if MFP wanted you to log all of your liquid intake I'm sure they would have made it read "Liquid Consumption" and not "Water Consumption," but that's just me. I'm not a super smart scientist that's been doing super important research for years and years so I'm sure my thoughts on the matter are really null and void.

So to answer the original posters question, no I don't think you should count coffee as part of your WATER consumption.

Thank you and I hope all of you have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

What is the difference between drinking a glass of water while eating gummy bears (this counts) and drinking a soda (this doesn't count) where both the overall water and sugar content is comparable?

Beautifully put! The answer is absolutely none.

And that 2 cups of watermelon I just ate is going to make me pee almost as much as two cups of water would (the main difference being that the watermelon doesn't actually fill the container perfectly, the water would).

lorierin22

I think some of the people posting these questions are just trying to get it right. They are trying to cross every "T" and dot every "I" on their food diary. It makes sense. Here's the thing...your water log doesn't have anything to do with your calories. If something has calories in it, log it in your food diary. If you would like, add it also to your water log (if you use it to remember how much you've had to drink for the day, good for you!) There is no special note that will pop up at the bottom if you don't log everything you drink or if you do not hit the magic 8 number. It will not change your calorie intake for the day at all. It will not help you lose weight faster. If you are thirsty...drink what you like to keep yourself hydrated. Use water if you want no calories...use something else if water makes you gag (just rememer to add in your calories and you will be fine!) The important thing is to drink SOMETHING throughout the day.

morgansmom02

I think some of the people posting these questions are just trying to get it right. They are trying to cross every "T" and dot every "I" on their food diary. It makes sense. Here's the thing...your water log doesn't have anything to do with your calories. If something has calories in it, log it in your food diary. If you would like, add it also to your water log (if you use it to remember how much you've had to drink for the day, good for you!) There is no special note that will pop up at the bottom if you don't log everything you drink or if you do not hit the magic 8 number. It will not change your calorie intake for the day at all. It will not help you lose weight faster. If you are thirsty...drink what you like to keep yourself hydrated. Use water if you want no calories...use something else if water makes you gag (just rememer to add in your calories and you will be fine!) The important thing is to drink SOMETHING throughout the day.

Perfectly worded. This should make both sides happy! End of conversation!

tsornoza

ok, I will share this one more time...

Coffee... Log it as Coffee
Tea .... Log it as Tea
Soda / Pop .... Log it as Soda / Pop
Apple Juice .... Log it as Apple Juice
Milk..... Log it as Milk
Water.... Hello log THAT as Water

Its really not that difficult to remember that. Why must you try and give yourself "excuses". Water is Water is Water.

well said. no excuses. no matter what other forms of liquid you may have, you should still have your share of WATER.