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Question about water intake

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Care30
Care30 Posts: 5
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I'm sure this has been asked several times but... Do you count coffee, unsweetened tea and calorie free drinks toward your water intake or separately? I drink both throughout the day but wasn't sure how it should be counted. Thanks!

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  • mycrazy8splus1
    mycrazy8splus1 Posts: 1,558 Member
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    I count them seperately
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
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    I count just water.
  • michelleraber
    michelleraber Posts: 34
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    You want to count them separately. I found out from my cardiologist back in May that certain tea's and all coffee's dehydrate you. I was told for every cup of coffee that I drank, I needed to drink two extra cups of water. So I just cut coffee out of my diet completely and replaced it with green tea. That is one of the teas that will not dehydrate you and it still has quite a bit of caffeine in it, so it will give you that boost in the morning. I hope this helps. Good luck!
  • sabusby
    sabusby Posts: 78 Member
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    Like the poster above says, some will dehydrate. If the beverage contains enough caffeine for it to dehydrate you, then yes, don't count it.
    However, I read recently in the journal of dietetics that tea, though it contains caffeine, does not contain significant enough amounts to contribute to dehydration.

    This isn't the article but I'm sure if you search, it's probably cited in the study I ACTUALLY read.
    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2008.00691.x/abstract

    There are a lot of interesting studies on water now. I also read recently that, as far as recommended quantity intake, how many doctors are now saying that you can drink to thirst with no major help detriment. Also the 6 to 8 glasses of water per day is an arbitrary measure from the original food pyramid (but we excluded the part immediately following that statement which says most of that we can get from foods) and other experts recommend drinking half of your weight in ounces. Also, in one of my physiology courses, we were told by a professor that your body can only assimilate about 32 ounces of water in an hour and anything beyond that generally dilutes electrolyte balance in your stomach, contributing to dehydration.

    I, however, still wouldn't count it as water.

    Good luck!

    ETA: poor reading comprehension.

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