Does Tea Count

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sweetrevenge
sweetrevenge Posts: 188
in Food and Nutrition
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?
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Replies

  • jackpotclown
    jackpotclown Posts: 3,291 Member
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    I do, not that I think it should matter or not
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    All liquids count. Even the broth in soups.
  • Chenoachem
    Chenoachem Posts: 1,758 Member
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    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
    LongMom Posts: 408 Member
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    I drink cafinated tea so I don't count it.
  • brandy130lbs
    brandy130lbs Posts: 10 Member
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    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
    miqisha Posts: 1,534 Member
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    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
    lilchino4af Posts: 1,292 Member
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    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
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
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    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
    AbiLuV Posts: 47
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    Yes, I count it.
  • Avandel
    Avandel Posts: 283 Member
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    Any herbal tea, or black decaf tea, as long as you DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO IT, is counted as water.


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  • AbiLuV
    AbiLuV Posts: 47
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    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
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
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    According to my nutrition professor, anything with calories, carbonation, or caffeine does not count as water.
  • sweetrevenge
    sweetrevenge Posts: 188
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    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
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    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
    July24Lioness Posts: 2,399 Member
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    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
    lilmissy2 Posts: 595 Member
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    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
    Mariposa7 Posts: 74 Member
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    what if you add sugar or honey? what do you log that as?
  • ANewLucia
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
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    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
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
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    Ok, dumb question, but I see how people do the quotes but have no idea how to do that....help?!
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
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    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.

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