Crystal Light? Water Tracking?

erpar4
erpar4 Posts: 25 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just wondering if anyone counts crystal light as water? I only track pure water but I drink crystal light frequently. A registered dietitian told me that "fluid is fluid and it will hydrate you". I'm not sure if this is true, but I feel like my kidneys would still have to filter out the crystal light from the water, sooooo it seems to be more like juice to me, even though there are no calories. I have no idea what I'm talking about though haha

What do you guys think? Is adding crystal light or MIO or Dasani drops to your water still count as water????
«1

Replies

  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
    I follow the rule, if I add water to it... then it's water.
    EG. I make a coffee from a nespresso machine, it's a shot of espresso. I add 250ml of water and milk. Therefore i log 1 cup of water.

    If you're adding drops of something to water, then it's still water.
  • skymel14
    skymel14 Posts: 31 Member
    I track water, Crystal Light and MIO. For me coffee would NOT constitute water.
  • erpar4
    erpar4 Posts: 25 Member
    Thanks for the help guys! I think I'll be tracking my crystal light now :)
  • hmhteacher
    hmhteacher Posts: 47 Member
    I vote yes! I would get very little water a day if I only counted plain water. I'm a huge MiO fan!
  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
    For me coffee would NOT constitute water.

    What if I drank the espresso first, waited 10s then drank the water. You'd track the water then?
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I have yet to have anyone actually explain to me what water turns into once you add flavor - mine is still a wet liquid - so therefore I count it.
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
    Your body doesn't care, all water-based drinks count as water.

    http://www.jacn.org/content/19/5/591.full
  • peacefulsong
    peacefulsong Posts: 223 Member
    I've never really understood why some people don't count things like coffee or juice as water. That's sort of like saying yeah I ate a donut but it wasn't pure sugar so I ignore how much sugar was in it.
  • MissingMyOldSelf
    MissingMyOldSelf Posts: 689 Member
    Honestly, I know it's not "correct", but I track all liquid, including coffee, tea, crystal lite, diet pop, etc. There's days that I will only have 4-5 glasses of liquid, and days where I can have 20. It all depends on my body. I can't force myself to drink, even though I know I should.

    As long as you're hydrated, that's what matters, IMHO.
  • PriceK01
    PriceK01 Posts: 834 Member
    I track water as water, tea as tea, coffee as coffee. I don't drink Crystal Light, but if I did, I would track it as Crystal Light. What's the point of tracking if you aren't going to do it accurately??
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    I have yet to have anyone actually explain to me what water turns into once you add flavor - mine is still a wet liquid - so therefore I count it.
    tumblr_mbnr4h7Duw1rqfhi2o1_500.gif
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    I wouldn't count the powdered crystal light so much but I think it's safe to count the water you add to it. If you buy it pre-mixed then you're in a quandary of how to account for what portion is liquid and what portion is solid, and you DO NOT want to get this wrong.
  • gracekelli
    gracekelli Posts: 26 Member
    I count Crystal Light as water.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    If only pure water counted as water, my kidneys would have shut down decades ago.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    anything with water molecules in it counts as water. no matter what else is mixed with it, if it has H2O, it counts.

    any answer that is at odds with the above SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE answer is invalid and the person who posted that answer should immediately be put on ignore.

    your body doesn't care how it gets those water molecules, just so long as it gets them. whether it's tap water, coffee, yogurt, celery, etc. it doesn't matter. the only thing that matters is whether or not you bother to log your water intake, and how accurately you can estimate the water content in your foods and all of your beverages.

    /end thread

    /seriously, this thread is ended.

    /move along, there is nothing more to see here.
  • parys1
    parys1 Posts: 2,072 Member
    :laugh:
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    I don't track water at all. I'm a badass like that. *struts*
  • JenSD6
    JenSD6 Posts: 454 Member
    I track water as water, tea as tea, coffee as coffee. I don't drink Crystal Light, but if I did, I would track it as Crystal Light. What's the point of tracking if you aren't going to do it accurately??

    And what did you use to make your tea, coffee, and Crystal Light? What is the main and key ingredient that is the vast majority of the contents of your cup?

    Be as particular and detailed as you feel like being, but at the core it's all water.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    What counts as water?



    BINGO!!!



    Okay, new game starts...

    ...now.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    I track water as water, tea as tea, coffee as coffee. I don't drink Crystal Light, but if I did, I would track it as Crystal Light. What's the point of tracking water at all??

    There. I fixed it for you.
  • chubaway
    chubaway Posts: 1,645 Member
    Some drinks are diuretics. I wonder if some people don't count some drinks, like coffee, for that reason.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    Some drinks are diuretics. I wonder if some people don't count some drinks, like coffee, for that reason.

    in normal quantities, the effects of caffeine (the most common "diuretic" in normal drinks) are essentially negligible. the water still goes through you and is used by your body in the process. even in large quantities, it's not really any different that working up a sweat on a hot day. you simply drink more to compensate. fortunately, your body has a mechanism for alerting you to this need. it's called thirst.

    "coffee isn't water because it's a diuretic" is one of the most tedious assertions on this whole website, and there are lots of tedious assertions here!

    http://www.coffee-break.org/coffee-and-health/fluid-balance
  • Cadori
    Cadori Posts: 4,810 Member
    anything with water molecules in it counts as water. no matter what else is mixed with it, if it has H2O, it counts.

    any answer that is at odds with the above SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE answer is invalid and the person who posted that answer should immediately be put on ignore.

    your body doesn't care how it gets those water molecules, just so long as it gets them. whether it's tap water, coffee, yogurt, celery, etc. it doesn't matter. the only thing that matters is whether or not you bother to log your water intake, and how accurately you can estimate the water content in your foods and all of your beverages.

    /end thread

    /seriously, this thread is ended.

    /move along, there is nothing more to see here.

    tumblr_lgkb4ylsED1qdsu67o1_500.jpg
  • maragretnau
    maragretnau Posts: 1
    What I have been told is that if there is no calories or caffeine, then you can count it as water. So Crystal light and Mio are counted as water.
  • PamShebamm
    PamShebamm Posts: 54
    I count Crystal Light as Crystal Light. The water I add to it, I count as water.
  • gramacanada
    gramacanada Posts: 557 Member
    I've never really understood why some people don't count things like coffee or juice as water. That's sort of like saying yeah I ate a donut but it wasn't pure sugar so I ignore how much sugar was in it.

    This! ^^^^ *ends thread*
  • kmalex
    kmalex Posts: 39 Member
    Here is what my nutritionist said a few years ago: The point of drinking water is to be MORE hydrated. The point of logging your water is to know how well you are doing at staying hydrated.

    He told me to count anything water based that DOES NOT include a dehydrating agent (like caffeine) as water. And to count everything that does have a dehydrating agent as half the amount. While the water that you add to tea is still water that you drank, you do not get the same benefit from it as you would if you had not also drank a dehydrating agent.

    So, per his instructions, Crystal Light would be counted as water (no dehydrator). Coffee/Tea I would count as half what I drink because they also dehydrate me some making it hard to know how much of the water actually re-hydrated my system.

    Hope that helps!
  • scrapjen
    scrapjen Posts: 387 Member
    I've tracked my exercise for years, and just started on the food tracking, but I guess I've never felt the need to track my water. Are people just tracking it to make sure they get enough/the recommended? I think I drink quite a bit (I guess maybe I SHOULD track to be sure). I drink when I'm thirsty, and sometimes to try and ward off hunger. I feel plenty hydrated, even though I've never tracked.

    ... I do go the Crystal Light route for much of my liquid intake (a generic version, and I actually do water it down quite a bit).
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    Here is what my nutritionist said a few years ago: The point of drinking water is to be MORE hydrated. The point of logging your water is to know how well you are doing at staying hydrated.

    He told me to count anything water based that DOES NOT include a dehydrating agent (like caffeine) as water. And to count everything that does have a dehydrating agent as half the amount. While the water that you add to tea is still water that you drank, you do not get the same benefit from it as you would if you had not also drank a dehydrating agent.

    So, per his instructions, Crystal Light would be counted as water (no dehydrator). Coffee/Tea I would count as half what I drink because they also dehydrate me some making it hard to know how much of the water actually re-hydrated my system.

    Hope that helps!

    to become a nutritionist, all you have to do is a pay a fee to the state. no credentials required.

    do you honestly believe that a 12 ounce coffee only counts as 6 ounces of water? coffee is nothing but filtered water. the diuretic effect is practically irrelevant. and all 12 of those ounces still go through your system and are used to carry waste products out of you. if you want to subtract 1 ounce per cup of coffee, which is still more than the actual diuretic effect, that would be fine. but to subtract 50%? that's crazy. by that flawed logic, if all did was drink coffee all day, you'd have to drink a FULL GALLON OF COFFEE to meet your 64oz of water guideline, which isn't even a scientifically derived guideline in the first place.

    i'm all in favor of drinking lots of fluids. in fact, i drink mostly water these days. in a month, 99% of my beverage intake is plain old tap water, but sometimes people get just a bit too tightly wound trying to meet this arbitrary 64oz goal.
  • DahliaBanker
    DahliaBanker Posts: 234 Member
    I track my crystal light or tea but I also include it in my cups of water.

Categories