Coffee & tea as a water count

The 8 glasses a day thing is a myth. There's no science behind it at all. Drink when you're thirsty.

Yes, coffee and tea count.

I only count my tea if I don't add any sweeteners to it. It's really personal preference. I do however stand by at least 8 cups of water a day. A lot of people can't even tell when they are thirsty and mistake it for hunger. I know when I get thirsty I start to want to eat fruit. It took me a while to realize that if I drank some water, suddenly I had no desire for that fruit. It's kind of cool how your body does that. Anyway, if you do 8 cups of water a day, you can retrain your body to recognize thirst as... well thirst.

Good luck!


Edit: I should note my tea is non-caffeinated green tea oolong variety

No, they do not count. Both are caffeinated, which will help to dehydrate you. Water is important and essential.

Not entirely true.

Green tea, for example (the real stuff, not the bottled crap), is not enough of a diuretic to negatively affect your water intake. I count green tea and my OceanSpray On-the-Go mix-in drink powders and such. Coffee, usually not.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle, while tea and coffee are not ideal sources of water they certainly count for a portion of your water intake. The balance still lies on the water side and it does not negate the water.

The 8 glasses a day thing is a myth. There's no science behind it at all. Drink when you're thirsty.

Yes, coffee and tea count.

It's my understanding that if you're already thirsty then you should have taken some fluids earlier.

I also recently heard that caffeine is not dehydrating if you are a regular drinker so believe some of a coffee could be couted towards water intake although I don't bother myself.

only if the tea/coffee is decaf, not caffeinated. it will dehydrate your water if you dont.

i drink half of my body weight in water a day (16 cups), but if i work out, its hot out, i have excess sodium, or drink caffeine, i have to drink extra, so im usually around 20cups a day.

flavor water with fruit (pineapple, orange, lemon, etc).

also food can count towards water, but you wont know how much... things like rice, noodles, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots, watermelon, cantaloupe and tons of other fruits and veggies all have water in them that will add to your water intake... if you eat completely fresh then that will help with water too.

You can't count anything as water if it's not water. Yes teas and coffee are liquids but it's not water and will not hydrate the way water does! I drink my weight in ounces daily if I can which is roughly a gallon of water a day and I have 2 cups of coffee and 1 tea as well. I don't even count the water mixed in my protein as part of my daily intake.

Some serious mis-information in here.

Coffee and tea do not dehydrate you to the point where you're peeing out more than you drink. This would only be true if you're taking straight espresso shots. If you drink a 16oz cup of coffee, you're not going to pee all the water out that comes with it. You can also hydrate yourself with fruits like grapefruit and watermelon as well since they're mostly water. Does it count towards the old wives tale of the MUST HAVE 8 glasses a day? No, but who cares anyway, that's just a myth in the first place.

Even if you don't drink enough water, vasopressin and aldosterone will kick in to make sure your body re-absorbs every last bit it can.

This forum really needs to stop with the dietary myths.

The 8 glasses a day thing is a myth. There's no science behind it at all. Drink when you're thirsty.

Yes, coffee and tea count.

No it is not a myth in fact if you are thirsty then you are already dehydrated. I did see on telly that Doctor Oz said we didn't need to actually drink 8 glasses of water as there is water in some of the foods we have like fruit and vegies but personally I cannot see how they can be counted. It is hard to get that amount of water drunk and I don't succeed myself most days but the best thing I find to do is to have a bottle of water where ever I go and I tend to drink more then

I'm not saying you shouldn't drink water, I'm saying that the "rule" about 8 glasses a day is a myth. It's just an arbitrary number than doesn't take into account your body size, environment, level of activity, or the amount of water contained in the food you eat.

--The "8 glasses a day" thing came from a study done in the '40's which suggested people need about 2 liters per day. What is never repeated is the second half of that sentence which states that "much of this can be gained from the solid food we eat." Remember chicken is 54% water, ground beef is 53%, even white bread is 30% water.

--Caffeine is a diuretic, but only in large quantities. You'd have to drink an enormous amount of tea or coffee for it to have any appreciable affect on fluid levels.

--"If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated" is also a myth. Part of the function of your kidneys and endocrine system is to maintain proper blood density levels. Our thirst mechanism kicks in if blood becomes concentrated by more than about 2%; symptoms of dehydration appear at blood concentrations of about 5%. People (not to mention every other animal species on earth) have survived just fine for millions of years without a camelbak strapped to them.

If you aren't in the habit of drinking water, then maybe it'll be helpful to have a goal amount to drink everyday, at least until you get into the habit. But it's not a "rule". Drinking when you're thirsty works just fine - assuming that you aren't all messed up from drinking sodas and other garbage all the time. It's how your body is supposed to work.

No, they do not count. Both are caffeinated, which will help to dehydrate you. Water is important and essential.

If they're decaffeinated, then yes, they should count as your water consumption.

I always add the water in my tea to my water intake---HOWEVER, there is no "scientific evidence" supporting the golden 8 glass a day rule. Simply listen to your body and drink when you're thirsty.

Tell tale sign to know if you're dehydrated is to check the colour of your urine. If it's dark, you need to drink more water.
Urine Dehydration Charts are posted in the bathrooms overseas in Afghanistan for the troops. I don't think they count how many bottles of water they drink a day.

There alot of differing opinions about it, obviously, but for my part I drink either iced green tea or herbal tea with a tiny bit of honey when I'm at work. I count it as my glasses of water, but I also drink water when I'm at home.