Would You Count Tea in Your Water Intake?

brittanyabanks
brittanyabanks Posts: 66 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just wondering cause I drink a lot of tea through out the day and tea bags don't have calories and I don't usually have a lot of sugar or anything. For a 16 oz cup of tea I would have 2 tea bags, 1-2 two gram packets of sugar, 3 teaspoons of lemon and a half a teaspoon of honey and I don't stir the contents together. I just let them dissolve or settle at the bottom.

Thanks for your opinions!

Replies

  • Ferrous_Female_Dog
    Ferrous_Female_Dog Posts: 221 Member
    Yes.
  • jshay295
    jshay295 Posts: 110 Member
    I've been considering it , but personally for the time being I don't simply because one of my goals was to get accustomed to drinking pure water all the time, instead of coke, juice, etc. and to drink more of it. I'll track a teabag and milk, so I know I have tea, but I don't count the water in it, just because I don't know...I don't count the water in pop or juice either, I'm not sure! That's just what works for me. I used to drink a few cups of tea a day and if I counted it as drinking my water I know I'd use it as an excuse to drink more lol.
  • mekkzy888
    mekkzy888 Posts: 100 Member
    I do because I drink at least 6 mugs of the stuff a day with sweetener and skimmed milk as well as bottles of sugar-free squash so normally I just assume I'm quite well hydrated!
  • RatherBeInTheShire
    RatherBeInTheShire Posts: 561 Member
    I do, but I don't add anything to my tea. I just drink it plain.
  • jayjay12345654321
    jayjay12345654321 Posts: 653 Member
    It depends. What kind of tea is it? Herbal teas are caffeine free. Green tea, black tea, Earl Grey, Lipton, those all have caffeine.

    Caffeine is a diuretic, which means your body uses water to flush it out. A glass of tea, a whole pitcher of tea or coffee even, will not dehydrate you, but depending on the caffeine levels (multiple tea bags, extra scoops of coffee grounds in the filter basket), you're losing part of the water you just ingested to flush out the caffeine. NOT ALL, sure as I'm sitting here, some extremist will come along and read this wrong and go off on a tangent. Just some.

    So, if you're going to use caffeinated beverages as your main source of water, enjoy a few extra glasses (assuming the caffeine won't disrupt your sleep) or add a few glasses of water to make up for what you lose in the flush.
  • brittanyabanks
    brittanyabanks Posts: 66 Member
    It's usually decaf green tea or black tea.
  • perseverance14
    perseverance14 Posts: 1,364 Member
    I don't count coffee or tea but I would think you could count herbal teas if you want.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    Just wondering cause I drink a lot of tea through out the day and tea bags don't have calories and I don't usually have a lot of sugar or anything. For a 16 oz cup of tea I would have 2 tea bags, 1-2 two gram packets of sugar, 3 teaspoons of lemon and a half a teaspoon of honey and I don't stir the contents together. I just let them dissolve or settle at the bottom.

    Thanks for your opinions!

    I drink tea in the PM and evening. I use one tea bag for one mug, no sugar, no milk/cream and no natural or artificial sweetener. I count it as part of my water intake. If I would add anything that has calories, even just a few, I would log it and count it in my daily calorie allowance, but not in my water. This might not be scientific, but it works for me.
  • Bellusion
    Bellusion Posts: 23
    I don't, simply because I need to make sure I drink extra water (because I'm breastfeeding).. but my doctor told me you can count both tea and coffee.
  • hilts1969
    hilts1969 Posts: 465 Member
    Just wondering cause I drink a lot of tea through out the day and tea bags don't have calories and I don't usually have a lot of sugar or anything. For a 16 oz cup of tea I would have 2 tea bags, 1-2 two gram packets of sugar, 3 teaspoons of lemon and a half a teaspoon of honey and I don't stir the contents together. I just let them dissolve or settle at the bottom.

    Thanks for your opinions!

    Unless you make tea without water then the answer is yes, water is water
  • lseed87
    lseed87 Posts: 1,105 Member
    I don't. Usually contains 0 calories. I don't put anything in it. Well if it is chia tea i would add milk but i usually just have green teas.

    If it is something i never had before then i would count it.
  • CapeCodSheila
    CapeCodSheila Posts: 40 Member
    I asked this question once and got some really nasty responses. I hope those negative people are gone by now
    I count my decaffeinated unsweetened tea but I wouldn't count anything with added sugar, honey, etc. In the olden days in Weight Watchers, we were told to have at least half our fluid intake as water, and then we could count any calorie free, non-carbonated, decaffeinated fluid for the other half. I'm finding I love club soda!
  • christopherphillips1983
    christopherphillips1983 Posts: 103 Member
    It depends. What kind of tea is it? Herbal teas are caffeine free. Green tea, black tea, Earl Grey, Lipton, those all have caffeine.

    Caffeine is a diuretic, which means your body uses water to flush it out. A glass of tea, a whole pitcher of tea or coffee even, will not dehydrate you, but depending on the caffeine levels (multiple tea bags, extra scoops of coffee grounds in the filter basket), you're losing part of the water you just ingested to flush out the caffeine. NOT ALL, sure as I'm sitting here, some extremist will come along and read this wrong and go off on a tangent. Just some.

    I'd agree completely with this. I don't add anything to my water counter that isn't actually a cup of plain water, but I also don't drink tea or coffee. I've seen several posts on this forum made by people who count literally any liquid as part of their 8 cups of water, including Coke, milk, beer, whatever. I've had enough classes on nutritional science to know that's a terrible mistake, but I usually don't feel like arguing with them about it.

    If I drank something like an herbal tea, I wouldn't feel bad about including it as part of my water intake for the day.
  • ashleyisgreat
    ashleyisgreat Posts: 586 Member
    The main point is that you are hydrated, and it doesn't actually matter so much how you do that. Here's an article that explains some of the science behind this and how the arbitrary number of 64 ounces came to be a standard guideline. It also links to some actual science, in case you want to read more. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eight-glasses-water-per-day/

    Anyway, the point is that you stay hydrated, but there's no need to worry about the number of ounces or what counts and what doesn't. It's arbitrary nonsense that people have propagated for too long! So, yeah, your tea totally counts. Drink up! :drinker:
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    The main point is that you are hydrated, and it doesn't actually matter so much how you do that. Here's an article that explains some of the science behind this and how the arbitrary number of 64 ounces came to be a standard guideline. It also links to some actual science, in case you want to read more. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eight-glasses-water-per-day/

    Anyway, the point is that you stay hydrated, but there's no need to worry about the number of ounces or what counts and what doesn't. It's arbitrary nonsense that people have propagated for too long! So, yeah, your tea totally counts. Drink up! :drinker:

    ^ boom! ...that.
  • iamafoodaholic
    iamafoodaholic Posts: 46 Member
    I don't. Personal choice, I guess.
  • ztaitaifufu
    ztaitaifufu Posts: 77 Member
    no, tea does not offer the same hydration , unless herbal in which case it isn't really tea at all but an infusion : )
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    no, tea does not offer the same hydration , unless herbal in which case it isn't really tea at all but an infusion : )
    Sorry, but yes it does. The science disagrees with you.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21450118
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Nm
  • KristinaB83
    KristinaB83 Posts: 440 Member
    Yep, water is water even when you throw some leaves in to flavor it.
  • kimosabe1
    kimosabe1 Posts: 2,467 Member
    NO! Tea isn't water!!!
  • jayjay12345654321
    jayjay12345654321 Posts: 653 Member
    NO! Tea isn't water!!!

    Lol! But what if I pour a glass to 4 oz of tea, then add 4 oz of tap water resulting in 8 oz of very diluted tea. Are you going to say there's no water in the glass?

    Or, if I fill a glass with 8 oz. of hot water and drop in a bullion cube, does it no longer contain water? How about a spoon of instant coffee, has the water vanished now? If i ladle 3 cups of water into a pot of beans and veggies to make soup, is that waterless soup?

    This thread is amusing. :tongue:

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