Sparkling water? What about soda dehydrates you?

LJSpady
LJSpady Posts: 311 Member
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Ok, so my best friend and I have recently stopped drinking sodas and overly sugary juices. All I drink is water now, and he drinks water and V8 fusion. Well, he recently started also drinking flavored sparkling water, and he LOVES it. I've never been a huge fan of the stuff, and I kinda feel like it's cheating cause to me it's practically soda. He bought me one yesterday and I didn't want to be rude so I tried it, and I too, LOVE it. I guess my taste buds really missed flavored drinks, cause I downed the whole 33 oz bottle pretty quickly. Now my question is: is sparkling water good for you? I looked at the nutritional value and it's 0 calories, didn't say sugar, 5g of sodium and that's it (for 8 oz). Will drinking this stuff have the same dehydrating effects of drinking soda? What about soda makes you dehydrated? I'm definitely gonna keep regular water as my main beverage of choice, but I'd be so happy if flavored sparkling water could make it's way into my diet.

Replies

  • dayzeerock
    dayzeerock Posts: 918 Member
    Try slicing up fruit to put in your water. I like slicing strawberries and cucumbers and just letting them float in my water...it gives a great flavor and no guilt!
  • chrissyv1024
    chrissyv1024 Posts: 97 Member
    I try not to drink soda. If I do, I have one once a week. I don't really think soda dehydrates you, it bad because of all the sugar!

    I don't drink sparkling water, but when I drink a flavored water, I drink Hint flavored water --www.drinkhint.com. It's pretty good. No sugar added and 0 cals, etc.
  • SarahWrittenThin
    SarahWrittenThin Posts: 595 Member
    soda dehydrates you because of the caffiene, sparkling water does not normally have caffiene so it shouldn't dehydrate you.
  • Edestiny7
    Edestiny7 Posts: 730 Member
    It's fine. I only drink water and my fiance only drinks sparkling water. My son does now too. My nutritionist said it is fine.
  • beckey24
    beckey24 Posts: 170 Member
    I don't know how GOOD it is for you, but for me..I consider it a better alternative. This is what my husband is using to help keep him away from pop since he can't stand plain water ( at least not in large doses). As with anything along this journey, moderation is the key. If this little treat keeps you away from the worse for you items(pop) then I say go for it.
  • jkleman79
    jkleman79 Posts: 706 Member
    Yes it is the caffeine...it is a diuretic. So you shouldnt have to worry about the sparkling water since there is no sugar in it and only a small bit of sodium even if you down the whole bottle. Stay away from the soda.. =0) Evil stuff!
  • VOLume5973
    VOLume5973 Posts: 8
    There is two things at work when talking about caffiene/soda/dehydration. Fluid retention and dehydration sometimes gets people confused. Aside from alchoholic drinks, the sodium content is the only thing that would make a particular drink dehydrating. The more sodium in a beverage, the more dehydrating. 5mg of sodium is not a lot though. In fact, it's almost non-existant. Sparkling water is ok to drink, but because of the small amount of sodium it's not the same as drinking water or a drink with 0 sodium. I personally wouldn't count sparkling water twards my H2O intake. Many people think that caffine causes a loss of water in the body, but that is only the case in those people who's bodies are not accustomed to (ie those who don't regularly drink) caffinated drinks or otherwise have a low tolerance for caffine. Bottom line- water is great because it has no sodium or caffine to have an affect at all, but sodas and other drinks (not alchoholic) also give us varying degrees of hydration. Now a drink's calorie count is another matter :).
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