Water intake, Does Tea count and Coffee???

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  • IntoTheSky
    IntoTheSky Posts: 390 Member
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    But, water is water. No matter what you add it to. If you add a tea bag, it does not make the water molecules split and morph to something else. Boiling water is still water. Steam is still water - just in gas form. Ice - still water...... just as a solid. It is no less "water" than it was before. If you drink Chocolate milk, do you CALL it chocolate milk, or insist that the milk and all its benefits are gone because you added chocolate powder or syrup? Sure, it isnt AS good for you, due to the added sugar, but it is still milk. How about coffee? If you add sugar and creamer to it, is it no longer coffee? No. It is still coffee, just higher calorie coffee. Same principle.
  • FairyTerri
    FairyTerri Posts: 22
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    I drink green tea, no sweetner and I count it as water! I don't count coffee as i use creamer.
  • JenniBaby85
    JenniBaby85 Posts: 855 Member
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    I only count water as water. I still drink coffee and tea, but count them as coffee and tea. I'm thirsty :tongue: :drinker:
  • melodymist
    melodymist Posts: 43 Member
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    I think tea counts as water. But in my world coffee does aswell :p
  • Oneday150
    Oneday150 Posts: 240 Member
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    I like to drink alot of water ( about 10 cups a day) but with the colder weather its getting harder to drink so much water. When you drink tea does it count as water intake???
    I know where you're coming from there. I've just drank a bottle of water and I'm bloody freezing now, I always am when I drink water which is so annoying. But I've got to say, I won't class water as anything else, water is water.

    Thank you :love: :love: :love: :love:
  • dargriff60
    dargriff60 Posts: 8 Member
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    The doctors say water is water. Keep in mind that caffeine can cause you to loose water faster. To you should know that coffee and tea are water, but it will go through you faster.
  • marcia724
    marcia724 Posts: 180 Member
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    If it has caffeine you can't count it as water. if it is caffeine and/or sugar free then I count it as water. This is how we would do it in Weight Watchers anyway.
  • mellabyte
    mellabyte Posts: 193 Member
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    Personally. I only count water as water. Just a preference. Coffee has negligible calories for me because I drink it black 95% of the time and tea typically has 0 cals for me because I prefer to drink unsweetened - but I still log them individually. If I drank vitamin water zero or something, I still log that too and don't count it as water. If I were to add a tea bag to water, I log that as water and I log the tea bag too.

    Maybe it's a psychological thing because the section reads "Water" not "Drinks". :P
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    If it has caffeine you can't count it as water. if it is caffeine and/or sugar free then I count it as water. This is how we would do it in Weight Watchers anyway.

    WHAT??? LMAO

    It is NOT how WW counts "water." WW counts everything that isn't alcohol as water, including tea and coffee.
  • pixietoes
    pixietoes Posts: 1,591 Member
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    I like crystal light flavoring, but hate that according to folks here I can't count it as water.

    Now, I just eat the flavoring out of the packet, and count the glass of water I drink right after.

    Problem solved.:laugh:

    LOL!
  • Brunner26_2
    Brunner26_2 Posts: 1,152
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    Lol, wrong again. Yes, I'm in college chemistry. It is actually a chemical reaction because it relies on the chemical properties of water and of the substances in the tea leaf. These substances-tannins, caffeine, and many others-dissolve in the hot water. The heat accelerates the reaction, but it is not a physical change. (Try steeping a tea bag in cold water-eventually you will get tea, although it will taste a bit different, probably because heat affects the dissolution of the various substances at different rates.) It's a chemical reaction therefore it does change the molecular properties of the water. Don't you just love how people try to sound smart, when they have no clue what they are talking about?
    Just adding a tea bag to water, will of course not change the molecular structure of water, boiling the water while making tea will. The six catechin-derived polyphenols in tea leaves (C, EC, ECG, GC, EGC, and EGCG) are oxidized by the enzyme PPO (The firing of the leaves heats the enzymes to their peak activity rate). The catechins first form intermediate compounds called orthoquinones that are very unstable and reactive.The orthoquinones then combine in pairs in a series of condensation reactions. They can function as either hydrogen acceptors or hydrogen donors. The combinations can happen through C-O or C-C bonds. The compounds formed are called theaflavins (TF), which are larger molecules and are unique in chemistry. The catechins react in pairs to form six theaflavins. Some theaflavins are brighter and brisker than others showing that the quality of the tea depends not just on the polyphenol count, but the compostion of the catechins and the availability of PPO. The TFs are unstable and further oxidize through the action of PO. They then form thearubigins (TR). TRs are much larger and more complex. Their chemical structure is yet unknown . The compounds though, have a high complexation affinity with metals like Al and Mn, and alkaloids like caffeine. Thearubigins are largely responsible for the flavor, aroma, and color of the liqueur; some make it brighter and brisker, others dull.

    Notice such words as "oxidation," "hydrogen acceptors," and "hydrogen donors." All indicate a chemical reaction between the tea and water. To simplify this, if it was a "physical" reaction, you could draw the tea out of the water by reverse osmosis like you could get the salt, sugar, or even lemon juice out of water.

    You should show these posts to your prof and post his reaction for us to see.
  • firefly171717
    firefly171717 Posts: 226 Member
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    You're shortchanging your body if you count tea and other garbage as water. WATER counts as water. Nothing else.

    YES! For anything with caffeine (SO TEA, POP, COFFEE, and whatever else) a drink a cup of water to cancel it out, caffeine dehydrates you-so say I drank two cups of water and one coffee-that counts as one cup of water
  • firefly171717
    firefly171717 Posts: 226 Member
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    I like crystal light flavoring, but hate that according to folks here I can't count it as water.

    Now, I just eat the flavoring out of the packet, and count the glass of water I drink right after.

    Problem solved.:laugh:

    LOL!

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    If you want to get really technical, Chemistry wise, water can only equal water. Tea has over 2,000 chemical compounds in it. So, by adding tea to your water, you are changing the chemical make-up of the water thus making it no longer water but tea.

    So, tea is NOT water.

    Note: (added) MFP doesn't ask for "liquids", it asks for "Water".

    But the water in which you brew the tea does not cease to be water when you add tea, on a molecular level. So, while the tea is not water, the water it's in is still water.
    Lol, wrong again. Yes, I'm in college chemistry. It is actually a chemical reaction because it relies on the chemical properties of water and of the substances in the tea leaf. These substances-tannins, caffeine, and many others-dissolve in the hot water. The heat accelerates the reaction, but it is not a physical change. (Try steeping a tea bag in cold water-eventually you will get tea, although it will taste a bit different, probably because heat affects the dissolution of the various substances at different rates.) It's a chemical reaction therefore it does change the molecular properties of the water. Don't you just love how people try to sound smart, when they have no clue what they are talking about?

    I weep for our future.
    No kidding... :huh:
  • Debbe2
    Debbe2 Posts: 2,071 Member
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    I count caffeine free and decaf. Just consider water prime goal.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    Lol, wrong again. Yes, I'm in college chemistry. It is actually a chemical reaction because it relies on the chemical properties of water and of the substances in the tea leaf. These substances-tannins, caffeine, and many others-dissolve in the hot water. The heat accelerates the reaction, but it is not a physical change. (Try steeping a tea bag in cold water-eventually you will get tea, although it will taste a bit different, probably because heat affects the dissolution of the various substances at different rates.) It's a chemical reaction therefore it does change the molecular properties of the water. Don't you just love how people try to sound smart, when they have no clue what they are talking about?
    Just adding a tea bag to water, will of course not change the molecular structure of water, boiling the water while making tea will. The six catechin-derived polyphenols in tea leaves (C, EC, ECG, GC, EGC, and EGCG) are oxidized by the enzyme PPO (The firing of the leaves heats the enzymes to their peak activity rate). The catechins first form intermediate compounds called orthoquinones that are very unstable and reactive.The orthoquinones then combine in pairs in a series of condensation reactions. They can function as either hydrogen acceptors or hydrogen donors. The combinations can happen through C-O or C-C bonds. The compounds formed are called theaflavins (TF), which are larger molecules and are unique in chemistry. The catechins react in pairs to form six theaflavins. Some theaflavins are brighter and brisker than others showing that the quality of the tea depends not just on the polyphenol count, but the compostion of the catechins and the availability of PPO. The TFs are unstable and further oxidize through the action of PO. They then form thearubigins (TR). TRs are much larger and more complex. Their chemical structure is yet unknown . The compounds though, have a high complexation affinity with metals like Al and Mn, and alkaloids like caffeine. Thearubigins are largely responsible for the flavor, aroma, and color of the liqueur; some make it brighter and brisker, others dull.

    Notice such words as "oxidation," "hydrogen acceptors," and "hydrogen donors." All indicate a chemical reaction between the tea and water. To simplify this, if it was a "physical" reaction, you could draw the tea out of the water by reverse osmosis like you could get the salt, sugar, or even lemon juice out of water.

    You should show these posts to your prof and post his reaction for us to see.
    Yes please.
    A little knowledge is a dangerous thing...
  • victoriannsays
    victoriannsays Posts: 568 Member
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    Well, the only problem I would see with logging it as water is if it had caffeine... The caffeine has a diuretic effect & will essentially all the water you drank out in your pee lol... So it kind of negates itself. If its decaf, I don't think it would be an issue.

    Just eat the tea bag and log your glass of hot water.. problem solved..
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,619 Member
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    Think about this logically: Adding tea (or any flavoring) to water does not change the water into anything else.

    Many people choose not to count those things, but their bodies still recognize the water.

    And LMAO at classifying tea as "garbage."
    THIS. If you drank a pot of coffee then in half an hour had to go pee, where the hell do you think that excess water came from?


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  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,065 Member
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    :smile: :smile: :smile: This is ALWAYS a hot topic in our house, my DH says all of the drinks with water and no sugar (coffee, tea) count as water.
    I am not buying it!!!

    He is the science, chemistry major but my skin and body react very differently to plain water than to tea/coffee.

    since we have had so many different answers here, i really believe ppl are trying to convince themselves that they can "avoid" drinking plain water.....only WATER is water....FUN, FUN, topic though! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • Madholm
    Madholm Posts: 167
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    Is caffiene a diuretic? Yes.

    Has it been proven you can live on tea, coffee, soda with no water intake at all? Yes.

    Is arguing over how someone chooses to track their water itake stupid? Yes.

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