Iced Tea???

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eafrancis10
eafrancis10 Posts: 13
in Introduce Yourself
Hi everyone this is my 3rd day on myfitness pal! This is keeping me motivated to do everything! I love Iced Tea and I brew some in the morning in my classroom. Can I count Iced Tea as a cup of water? Is Iced Tea bad for you? Any ideas? :-) Thanks:drinker:

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  • staceyleigh123
    staceyleigh123 Posts: 1
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    Hi! It's my 3rd pro-active day as well :) I don't think it's the tea that's bad, it's the sugar! If you look at tea from say Chick-fil-a you are looking at 130 calories! That's a waste of good calories. How do you sweeten your tea? Maybe try tea with just lemon. Regular brewed black tea, no sugar, is only 2 calories per cup. Splenda is no calories. Does that help? Keep up the great work :)
  • klybarger
    klybarger Posts: 214
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    I'm a tea addict and asked the same question. But I was told you couldn't count it towards your water total if it was caffeinated (?). I was told the reasoning is that caffeine (in large amounts) can dehydrate you - the opposite of what you're trying to do by drinking water. I figure I'm drinking liquids and it should account for something in the way of water. I'll watch this thread to see responses.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    I drink a lot of tea too. I don't think it hurts or helps you...it just is.
  • TuscanySun
    TuscanySun Posts: 3,608 Member
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    I've been told the same thing about the caffiene. I count green tea toward my water goal and if I drink black tea or coffee, I make sure I drink an extra glass of water for each serving of tea/coffee consumed.

    Does that help??
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    I've done some research on this, and the amount of caffeine in iced tea is not enough to have a diuretic effect. I think I read that, really, you have to drink something like 6-8 cups of coffee to consume enough caffeine for it really to have that kind of effect, and there's less caffeine in tea than there is in coffee. For that reason, I count my iced tea as water, but I also drink it plain with no sugar/sweetener of any kind. If you drink sweetened teas, make sure you count the calories!
  • rachelsmiley32
    rachelsmiley32 Posts: 2
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    I Agree its whether or not its caffeinated. Ive heard a lot of mixed things about tea. some people will say its just as bad as soda for you cause theres a lot of caffeine.. however i asked my doctor because when i was pregnant i could drink six botles of lipton unsweetened tea a day, i love that stuff! and my doctor told me that NOT ALL TEA IS CAFFEINATED. only certain tea leaves have caffeine and some have very small amounts. Therefore if you are just brewing the tea, not adding large amounts of sugar, you are not consuming that much calories. if you dont add anything you arent consuming any!! tea leaves have natural antioxidants that are very good for you therefore making it a better choice than many other drinks. just stay away from the sweeteners!
  • eafrancis10
    eafrancis10 Posts: 13
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    I drink boring old unsweet iced tea...I live in Georgia and I think I am the only Georgian to not drink sweet tea!
  • urzaartifacer
    urzaartifacer Posts: 5
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    Go ahead and count it, the whole 8 glasses thing is myth anyway. Drinking lots of fluids isn't bad for you unless you really over do it though.

    Sources:
    http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp
    http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/283/5/R993
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    I drink boring old unsweet iced tea...I live in Georgia and I think I am the only Georgian to not drink sweet tea!

    You should be okay, then - plain tea has very few calories (Someone else posted 2 cal/cup - that sounds about right). And unless you're drinking lots and lots every day, I can't imagine you're getting enough caffeine from the tea for it to be bad for you. I looked it up, and a standard 8 oz. cup of black tea has about 50 mg of caffeine, and per the Mayo Clinic's website, you'd have to be drinking more than 500-600 mg a day to experience a dehydrating effect.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN01661
  • teenuhbees
    teenuhbees Posts: 13
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    I'm with the one who said "Go ahead and count it, the whole 8 glasses thing is myth anyway. Drinking lots of fluids isn't bad for you unless you really over do it though."

    It's true, you drink until you fill hydrated - overdoing it can cause bloating and not enough, well you will know when you are thirsty. The eight glass thing is just a general goal really. Just listen to your body, and be sure to drink water as well. I read in a magazine that to replace your second glass of coffee or hot tea, just heat up water and squeeze half a lemon in it. It'll have the same effects as the other two. just a suggestion though.

    keep up the good work eafrancis10 :):D
  • TuscanySun
    TuscanySun Posts: 3,608 Member
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    You should be okay, then - plain tea has very few calories (Someone else posted 2 cal/cup - that sounds about right). And unless you're drinking lots and lots every day, I can't imagine you're getting enough caffeine from the tea for it to be bad for you. I looked it up, and a standard 8 oz. cup of black tea has about 50 mg of caffeine, and per the Mayo Clinic's website, you'd have to be drinking more than 500-600 mg a day to experience a dehydrating effect.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN01661

    this is good info to have...thanks for looking it up and posting!

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