Do all beverages count towards your water intake?

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  • downinaggieland98
    downinaggieland98 Posts: 224 Member
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    The question is whether soda can hydrate you. Scientific studies from Mayo clinic show that caffeine in small doses does not have a signficant diuetic effect and not all sodas contain caffeine anyway. So, the water in the soda can be used for hydration. The phosphoric acid may be a concern for some people but not all soda contain high levels of phophoric acid.

    The issue about acidity is just a parlour trick. The hydrochloric acid in your somach is a stronger acid that diet coke. Your kidneys have a sophiisticated process of keeping the ph level in your blood within normal limits.

    Well no, I was asked a question about my comment saying diet cokes is completely different that water. I don't really care if it's hydrating at the time. The whole thread is about counting all beverages as water. But, hey, to each his own.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I only count water, personally.

    Me too.
  • catwoman131
    catwoman131 Posts: 55
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    Seriously?

    Ok for starters, and this is just the first article that had a summary that I saw ...

    http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/dietsoda.aspx

    "Foremost among these is caffeine. Many of the diet drinks are cola-based or otherwise have caffeine added. It’s part of the mix created by manufacturers to make soft drinks — particularly diet soft drinks — seem more substantial. Yes, it gives you a sugar-like “boost,” or seems to, but that caffeine buzz really isn’t giving your body anything it needs. And the complications of caffeine consumption and addiction are legion, with fatigue, chronic anxiety, insomnia, and worsening symptoms of hormonal imbalance topping the list.

    Additionally, caffeine is a diuretic, so while you may be thinking that a diet soda quenches your thirst and helps keep you hydrated, the opposite is true. Diet soda often contains sodium, which exacerbates thirst, while the caffeine causes you to lose fluid.

    All carbonated sodas also contain calcium-leaching phosphoric acid, and so much acid in your system can tilt your pH balance to an unhealthy level. Healthy detoxification takes place in a slightly alkaline environment. Too much acidity will sabotage the detox process.

    If you think I’m being an alarmist, try this experiment: Fill a glass with soda, diet or regular, and drop a nail into the glass. Watch it over the course of an hour or two. You’ll find that the soda eats away at the nail in a surprisingly short amount of time. Now think of what it can do to living stomach tissue!"

    And thus we find a flaw in google searches. They bring up total crap like the above article. Well, the bit on phosphoric acid might be true. The bit about the nail is hilarious. Our stomach is full of powerful acid. But you know that already, don't you?

    It's best to stick directly to reliable sources. When in doubt, check multiple sources. Throw away any articles that don't cite sources. Heck, CHECK their sources. How often do we see an article that cites something and gets it backwards? Pretty often.

    THANK YOU! It would be nice for people posting articles to ensure that they are actually valid, with something to support them. Phosphoric acid is nothing compared to the concentrated hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Hmm, did we ever wonder why our stomachs never ate away at themselves?

    By the way, caffeine has been shown to have a myriad of health BENEFITS, so let us not discount that please.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
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    So why would you cheat yourself and not want to drink just water?

    Because you are drinking water! You are talking absolute rubbish. Sorry someone had to say it.

    Your body treats a diet soda different than water, not rocket science here.

    How do you figure? Diet soda IS water with some artifical sweeteners & colors thrown in. Those are a tiny, tiny percent of the overall quantity of a 12 oz can of diet Coke. Your body will process those items as it does anything else and you will have a NET INCREASE in fluids (even if there IS some significant diuretic effect of the caffeine).

    These people must think we have a special second stomach just for water, where no other food/substance mixes with it. It's the only way I can wrap my mind around the belief that anything 'in' the water makes it 'not water.'
  • kboggs6763
    kboggs6763 Posts: 35 Member
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    I count Crystal Light (only 5 calories) and unsweet tea. : )
  • ShaunaLaNee
    ShaunaLaNee Posts: 188 Member
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    YES, they do count!!
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
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    If you insist on needlessly counting water, then yes, everything that's mainly water counts as water.
  • PrayerofAmity
    PrayerofAmity Posts: 176 Member
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    Only water...some drinks like tea or coffee or soda actually dehydrate the body (because of sodium and caffeine content). Since they actually dehydrate you, counting them as water would not be a wise idea.
  • kgprice11
    kgprice11 Posts: 750 Member
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    tea is horrible for you unless its green tea or herbal tea
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Only water...some drinks like tea or coffee or soda actually dehydrate the body (because of sodium and caffeine content). Since they actually dehydrate you, counting them as water would not be a wise idea.

    Tea or coffee does not dehydrate you.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    tea is horrible for you unless its green tea or herbal tea

    Um,. .what??? What is your source for this misinformation? :huh:
  • Pooks1n1Schmoops
    Pooks1n1Schmoops Posts: 199 Member
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    Is there a map to the land of sanity?:tongue:
    I only count water. Not coffee, not tea, not wine. Water.

    I agree. Counting other beverages seems like a "cheat" to me. Why would you count a diet coke or the likes as WATER?

    Because diet coke is 95% water.

    Caffeine can be a diuretic, but not in the doses that normal mortals take it in.

    Also, surprise! Food counts as water too. Unless you're eating astronaut ice-cream...

    I don't get the dogma about water here. It literally takes 10 seconds on google to learn the truth about hydration.

    OP- Don't sweat it. You aren't chronically dehydrated because you have iced tea. Being thirsty doesn't mean you're going to turn into dust and blow away. Break free of the crap and the '8 glasses a day mantras' and join the sane side of MFP that isn't drowning itself.
  • Pooks1n1Schmoops
    Pooks1n1Schmoops Posts: 199 Member
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    bahahaha. Ew fly water
    A fly fell into my water this morning, so I guess it's no longer water. Most of you must be half dead of dehydration since you aren't having any "water".
  • GnochhiGnomes
    GnochhiGnomes Posts: 348 Member
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    I only count water. Not coffee, not tea, not wine. Water.

    I agree. Counting other beverages seems like a "cheat" to me. Why would you count a diet coke or the likes as WATER?

    Because its 99% water?
  • GnochhiGnomes
    GnochhiGnomes Posts: 348 Member
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    Only water...some drinks like tea or coffee or soda actually dehydrate the body (because of sodium and caffeine content). Since they actually dehydrate you, counting them as water would not be a wise idea.

    Source that tea/coffee/soda expels more water then you take in?
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
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    Only water...some drinks like tea or coffee or soda actually dehydrate the body (because of sodium and caffeine content). Since they actually dehydrate you, counting them as water would not be a wise idea.

    That's not true.
  • DaFrogRibbit
    DaFrogRibbit Posts: 127 Member
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    Well I do believe in my Nutrition class that they do count, although not 100%. Then again in this lovely world of ours people are going to search for the answers they want to hear. I once heard an alcoholic tell someone that they would die before them because they consumed too much milk and milk causes cancer.

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