Does Tea Count

sweetrevenge

So as I was pouring the water over my tea bags just now I started wondering if my tea should count towards my water intake, what do you guys think? Do you count your fresh hot tea as water or not?

jackpotclown

I do, not that I think it should matter or not

MacMadame

All liquids count. Even the broth in soups.

Chenoachem

Depends if it has caffeine or not. If not, then yes. If it does, then the caffeine will start to dehydrate you, so no.

LongMom

I drink cafinated tea so I don't count it.

brandy130lbs

We recently had a friend in her early 30's head to the emergency room because she wasn't feeling well. Turned out she had a mild stroke due to dehydration. She said all she had been drinking was iced tea. So I am not sure whether to count it or not, but do make sure you are also drinking plenty of water.

miqisha

I count my tea intake.....I also dont use sugar in my tea.....just the tea bag and water......usually 16 oz per cup.....so I do count it...but I put mine like this

Drank 96 oz of water.......Drank 16 oz of tea.....

Dont know why....I just do

I keep the tally seperate

lilchino4af

I've heard it said and have read it many places that you should drink at least 64 ounces of water ON TOP OF everything else you eat/drink that may have water. This is because, for example someone mentioned broth, some items contain sodium so you need water to help process the sodium through your system and assist your liver/kidneys. I do not count caffinated beverages like tea because they are considered diuretics and can cause dehydration. If it's decaf tea, then yes I'll count it, but still make sure I get at least 64 ounces of just pure water.

msarro

Think of it like this - if you drink 8oz of water and then munched on some tea leaves, you'd count the water, right?

So how does soaking the tea leaves in the water change things at all?

While I agree that caffeine could possibly affect things, these effects are negligible at best and haven't been demonstrated with any reliability in a clinical setting.

According to the institute of medicine (source: http://www.medicinenet.com/caffeine/page3.htm): "unless additional evidence becomes available indicating cumulative total water deficits in individuals with habitual intakes of significant amounts of caffeine, caffeinated beverages appear to contribute to the daily total water intake similar to that contributed by noncaffeinated beverages."

This means that while yes, a caffeinated beverage may make you have to pee, its does it in the same way that chugging water will do, not any worse.

Hope that helps! I'm gonna drink my coffee now :drinker:

AbiLuV

Yes, I count it.

Avandel

Any herbal tea, or black decaf tea, as long as you DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO IT, is counted as water.

AbiLuV

Depends if it has caffeine or not. If not, then yes. If it does, then the caffeine will start to dehydrate you, so no.

This is true, but only after a certain point. 1-2 cups of caffeine coffee or tea is not a problem, Anything more than that starts to be not so good.

PixieGoddess

According to my nutrition professor, anything with calories, carbonation, or caffeine does not count as water.

sweetrevenge

Thanks guys this really helped. I drank the tea for the caffeine because I'm at work sleepy. I rarely drink tea so I never thought about it before. I think I will just go ahead and leave it OUT of my water count considering that it was one bag of non caffeinated tea, two bags of caffeinated tea and 3 packets of sugar in the raw all in one cup.

Thanks for your help : )

MacMadame

Depends if it has caffeine or not. If not, then yes. If it does, then the caffeine will start to dehydrate you, so no.

That's old information that has been discredited. Experts used to believe that but then they did studies and found out caffeine doesn't dehydrate you at all.

The reason that they thought that is that people would pee within 2 hours of ingesting caffeine. But it turns out they don't pee more for the day compared to not ingesting cafffeine. It's more that caffeine is an "on" switch for your bladder. It gets you to empty whatever is in there, but it doesn't put extra in there.

July24Lioness

Water is water...................if you add anything else to it, then it is no longer just water, so it shouldn't be counted as your daily water intake.

lilmissy2

It really depends what you are trying to achieve and that is why the messages are mixed.

If you are simply trying to stay hydrated then all liquids count.

If you are trying to help your kidneys function more efficiently in removing toxins from your body then water (that isn't chemically bound to anything) is going to be the best choice but being better hydrated is still going to help.

It's really an individual thing on what you decide to do.

Mariposa7

what if you add sugar or honey? what do you log that as?

ANewLucia

Mariposa7
Joined Apr 2010
Posts: 10
Wed 06/02/10 11:36 AMwhat if you add sugar or honey? what do you log that as?

Butterfly, I only use Stevia or honey and i just log that seperate.

ANewLucia

Ok, dumb question, but I see how people do the quotes but have no idea how to do that....help?!

PixieGoddess

Ok, dumb question, but I see how people do the quotes but have no idea how to do that....help?!

Instead of clicking the big green "Reply" button, go to the bottom of the post you want to quote and there is a hyperlink that says "quote." It'll automatically put the post in the correct format.

MacMadame

Water is water...................if you add anything else to it, then it is no longer just water, so it shouldn't be counted as your daily water intake.

By the time it gets to your organs, it's plain water. The other stuff gets separated out as part of digestion. Your kidneys don't know that the water had some flavoring when it hit your stomach.

what if you add sugar or honey? what do you log that as?

You log the fluid as water and the sugar or honey as sugar or honey. At least that's what I would do. I log my FUZE drinks in my food diary and also check off the equivalent "cups" of water in the water section.

AdymondNtheRuff

This was a very good question because i drink 32oz of tea and 16 of coffee daily and i do log it as my water intake... and it that
s wrong oooops!!!!:sad:

selbyhutch

For me... and according to my doctor... water has to be clean H2O.

00trayn

I've been logging my tea in my water count. I add a bit of natural german rock sugar to it for sweetness, but I usually drink 2 cups of 12 oz daily, sometimes more if I made iced tea instead. It's herbal tea so no caffeine. I also drink water on top of it, so in combination I'm always over my 8 cups a day, usually closer to 10-12.

astridfeline

http://www.berkeleywellness.com/html/wl/2010/wlAskExperts0410.html

Ask the Experts
April 2010 Archive2007200820092010


Q: Are caffeinated beverages dehydrating? Do they count towards my eight-a-day glasses of water?

A: Many people think they can’t count coffee, tea, and colas as part of fluid intake, because caffeine promotes urination briefly. But you don’t end up with a net loss of water from drinking moderate amounts of caffeinated beverages. In other words, they don’t dehydrate you.

For instance, in a study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center a decade ago, healthy adults showed the same "hydration status" (as determined from urine analysis and other tests) when they drank caffeinated colas and/or coffee as when they drank only water and/or fruit drinks. And in its 2005 report on water needs, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which advises the government about health issues, including dietary intakes, concluded that "caffeinated beverages appear to contribute to the daily total water intake similar to that contributed by noncaffeinated beverages."

In any case, it’s a myth that you need to drink eight glasses of water a day. There’s no scientific backing for this rule. The IOM report confirmed this, too. People normally get enough fluids by drinking when they’re thirsty—though older people should drink water before they get thirsty, especially in the heat, since thirst is a less reliable indicator as we age. And other beverages besides water (including caffeinated ones), as well as foods (such as fruits and vegetables), help meet fluid needs.

arewethereyet

Here is what my doctor of 25 yrs told me. He expained that the clear water flushes your body. Not only your kidneys but think of your mouth, throat, upper GI, stomach.......he likened it to washing your clothes in Iced Tea.

The clothes would be technically clean, but would have a slight dinge from the tantric acid in the Tea.

He said for hydration purposes oranges, watermelon, celery......anything with fluid counts, but for water itself-it should be clear.

I like my doc's metaphors!!

xonophone

Think of it like this - if you drink 8oz of water and then munched on some tea leaves, you'd count the water, right?

So how does soaking the tea leaves in the water change things at all?

By that logic, one could also say that if I drank 8 oz of water and then munched on some whole oats I would count the water, therefore cooking my oatmeal in water count! :laugh: Personally I only count water as water. Plus, I don't feel as if my thirst has been quenched when I drink tea,coffee, broth, etc. Anything with sugar or salt in it just makes me thirstier. Just my personal $.02.

MacMadame

By that logic, one could also say that if I drank 8 oz of water and then munched on some whole oats I would count the water, therefore cooking my oatmeal in water count! :laugh:

It does actually. At least as far as your body is concerned.

Something to keep in mind is that there is no scientific support for the idea that we have to drink 64 oz of water a day. Our bodies definitely need water and they are designed to extract it from the food and drink that we put into it. How much we actually need varies based on our body size and our activities. The only reason people tracking their water intake don't worry about the water in fruits and oatmeal and other food is that it's too hard to count. Since 8 - 8 oz glasses a day is only an estimate of an individual's needs, it's not worth trying to count every drop of water our bodies intake from every source.

And, with all due respect to the doctor of the poster above, but drinking tea is NOTHING like washing your clothes in tea. Our digestive system extracts the water from the tea at which point it is water. H2O. Chemically indistinguishable from the plain water that we might also drink.