Coffee & Tea

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millskez
millskez Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does coffee and tea count as water? they both are mainly water, so if I have 3 cups of tea, should I log that as three cups of water as well?
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Replies

  • AwesomeSquirrel
    AwesomeSquirrel Posts: 632 Member
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    personally i only log water as water, everything else goes in the diary under the appropriate meal. personal preference.
  • m4ttcheek
    m4ttcheek Posts: 229 Member
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    Depends how tolerant to caffeine you are. Caffeine is a diuretic so makes you pee more.
  • SenseiCole
    SenseiCole Posts: 429 Member
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    personally, sorry no it doesn't

    "If you did have a million-dollar racehorse, would you let him stay up half the night drinking coffee and booze, smoking cigarettes and eating junk food?" "Would you treat your 10-dollar dog or your 5-dollar cat that way? What about your billion-dollar body?"



    anyone can add me
  • Alexandra289
    Alexandra289 Posts: 330 Member
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    I usually count it - I think others will disagree. But I usually end up drinking about 3+ litres of liquid a day so maybe a litre of that comes from coffee and herbal tea so still drinking a good amount of water.
  • cindyhoney2
    cindyhoney2 Posts: 603 Member
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    I don't count h2o unless it is actually h2o, no added sweeteners or caffeine. I add fruit to my water the night before to add flavor w/o the bad effects, that I log.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
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    You can count them as water if you want.

    Caffeine is dehydrating however the hydrating effects of the water within things like pops, coffee and tea is more than the dehydrating effects of the caffeine. I usually will count half of my coffee and tea towards my water.

    You don't have to get all your hydration from water. You don't always need the 8 glasses everyone seems to suggest. Some days you need less, some days you need more. Your body takes hydration from everything you eat and drink. As long s you aren't consuming a lot of sodium you are fine.
  • JoRumbles
    JoRumbles Posts: 262 Member
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    As a pp said the caffine doesn't cancel out the water, so yes, you can count them. I don't log my water intake at all, but I usually have about 2 big glasses of water a day, about 3 big mugs of caffinated tea, 1 big mug decaf coffee and 1 or 2 big mugs of redbush tea which is caffine free.

    This is plenty for me as ther is also a lot of water in things like fruit.
  • MG_Fit
    MG_Fit Posts: 1,143 Member
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    Absolutely not!

    Drink 8 cups of coffee as opposed to 8 cups of water. They are not the same.
  • TriedEverything
    TriedEverything Posts: 167 Member
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    I must admit, I've wondered about this myself! I have not been counting tea/coffee as water. Unfortunately I like my tea and coffee so much that I can never manage the full 8 glasses of water! :ohwell:

    No intention of giving them up though - and it's not for the caffeine effect ( I can drink coffee at bedtime and still sleep like a baby! :yawn: ).
  • Brandilynnrose
    Brandilynnrose Posts: 121
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    I personally do not count it in my water, but I recently read on the Mayo clinic's website about just this subject. They specifically say "Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," because all fluids count toward the daily total."

    Here is the article if you want more info:

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

    They also had some great info about coffee (or tea or any drinks with caffeine) and dehydration. Basically you have to drink 5-7 cups a day in order for the caffeine to have any kind of dehydration effect. Here's that article:

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

    I enjoy a cup of coffee every morning. I limit myself to one. Followed by at least 2 liters of water throughout the day. And occasionally I have a glass of iced tea as well, but I get at least 2 liters of just water in every single day.
  • MorgueBabe
    MorgueBabe Posts: 1,188 Member
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    I don't.
    Using that logic I could could count
    Ramen Noodle
    Lipton Rice Packs
    Miso Soup Dry Mix Soup
    and a bunch of other crap as water since 'it's mostly water"
  • MG_Fit
    MG_Fit Posts: 1,143 Member
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    I personally do not count it in my water, but I recently read on the Mayo clinic's website about just this subject. They specifically say "Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," because all fluids count toward the daily total."

    Here is the article if you want more info:

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

    They also had some great info about coffee (or tea or any drinks with caffeine) and dehydration. Basically you have to drink 5-7 cups a day in order for the caffeine to have any kind of dehydration effect. Here's that article:

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

    I enjoy a cup of coffee every morning. I limit myself to one. Followed by at least 2 liters of water throughout the day. And occasionally I have a glass of iced tea as well, but I get at least 2 liters of just water in every single day.

    I'm adverse to this thinking because obviously drinking 64 oz of beer a day is not the same as drinking 64 oz of water.
  • Danny_Boy13
    Danny_Boy13 Posts: 2,094 Member
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    I dont drink coffee but I drink a ton of unsweetened / decaf tea. I log as water all day everyday.
  • hsmaldo
    hsmaldo Posts: 115 Member
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    I would only count decaffinated tea/coffee if it's unsweetened and no creamer added. Just as I would count flavored unsweetened seltzer.

    But once you add caffeine, sweetner (artificial or not) or anything other than flavoring, I would not count it towards your daily intake.

    That's just my opinion though!
  • Brandilynnrose
    Brandilynnrose Posts: 121
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    I personally do not count it in my water, but I recently read on the Mayo clinic's website about just this subject. They specifically say "Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," because all fluids count toward the daily total."

    Here is the article if you want more info:

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

    They also had some great info about coffee (or tea or any drinks with caffeine) and dehydration. Basically you have to drink 5-7 cups a day in order for the caffeine to have any kind of dehydration effect. Here's that article:

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

    I enjoy a cup of coffee every morning. I limit myself to one. Followed by at least 2 liters of water throughout the day. And occasionally I have a glass of iced tea as well, but I get at least 2 liters of just water in every single day.

    I'm adverse to this thinking because obviously drinking 64 oz of beer a day is not the same as drinking 64 oz of water.

    I am somewhat adverse to this thinking as well, which is why I drink 2 liters of water on top of my daily coffee and an occasionally tea. I THINK they are referring more to being able to count coffee/tea/juices/flavored waters in your daily water count, but it's a slippery slope and some people probably won't use common sense and will end up counting soda and beer in their daily fluid count.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
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    Absolutely not!

    Drink 8 cups of coffee as opposed to 8 cups of water. They are not the same.

    They hydrate the same ...
  • m4ttcheek
    m4ttcheek Posts: 229 Member
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    Caffeine has pressor and mild diuretic effects when administered to people who are not used to it, but regular users develop a tolerance to this effect, and studies have generally failed to support the common notion that ordinary consumption contributes significantly to dehydration.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine


    Like i said before, it all depends on your tolerance. If you've been drinking 10 cups of coffee a day for 20 years i don't think you'll have an issue.

    At the end of the day though your body will tell you if its thirsty.
  • maarbo
    maarbo Posts: 22
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    According to my doc, yes, they count as water. The diuretic effect is greatly exagerated.
  • TheKeithEllis
    TheKeithEllis Posts: 155 Member
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    Water has no calorie content, coffee does albeit negligible. I guess you could count tea as water since there is no calorie content to most teas (as far as I know), however, I personally prefer to log tea, coffee, herbal teas etc separately to give better clarity in my day. I also don't log water which probably drives the need to log separately also! :O)
  • jbbrannon
    jbbrannon Posts: 167 Member
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    I just count "straight" water.

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