What counts as water?

wa·ter   [waw-ter, wot-er] Show IPA
noun

1. a transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, H 2 O, freezing at 32°F or 0°C and boiling at 212°F or 100°C, that in a more or less impure state constitutes rain, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.: it contains 11.188 percent hydrogen and 88.812 percent oxygen, by weight.

2. a special form or variety of this liquid, as rain.

3. Often, waters. this liquid in an impure state as obtained from a mineral spring: Last year we went to Marienbad for the waters.

4. the liquid content of a river, inlet, etc., with reference to its relative height, especially as dependent on tide: a difference of 20 feet between high and low water.

5. the surface of a stream, river, lake, ocean, etc.: above, below, or on the water.

Defined by dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/water

I'm personally going for no. 5.:laugh:

wa·ter   [waw-ter, wot-er] Show IPA
noun

1. a transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, H 2 O, freezing at 32°F or 0°C and boiling at 212°F or 100°C, that in a more or less impure state constitutes rain, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.: it contains 11.188 percent hydrogen and 88.812 percent oxygen, by weight.

2. a special form or variety of this liquid, as rain.

3. Often, waters. this liquid in an impure state as obtained from a mineral spring: Last year we went to Marienbad for the waters.

4. the liquid content of a river, inlet, etc., with reference to its relative height, especially as dependent on tide: a difference of 20 feet between high and low water.

5. the surface of a stream, river, lake, ocean, etc.: above, below, or on the water.

Defined by dictionary.com

Sorry, you missed my 1st condition: liquid.
Before going into the blender wasn't liquid so it doesn't count.
I'd like to know how can you accurately measure the water from all the solids you eat daily. Just for the purpose of reaching the water daily goal.
The procedure must be really tedious but funny.

......and this is where we end up every time this subject is brought up so I will go back to my former sarcastic reply , if it's not dehydrated then count it as water . Most fruits and vegetables are mostly water ( tomatoes are 94percent ) , many of which are more than 80percent . Meat , for the most part is greater than 50percent water .all this water in these foods count toward your daily needs for hydration so just save yourself time and energy , throw out all your cups and get your hydration from your food on a fork , it's all good !

All tell those Chiropractors to get a real job !

Or if you need to put it in a cup and pull it through a straw to feel like you are getting a liquid , a blender does wonders and you can still put it in a cup !

I'd like to know why you think it's that important to drink 8 cups of water a day? I get that if you're feeling thirsty and dehydrated you drink...but really, give me the benefits of doing this and try to use a reputable source...I'll be here waiting.

Sorry, you missed my 1st condition: liquid.
Before going to the blender wasn't liquid so it doesn't count.
I'd like to know how can you accurately measure the water from all the solids you eat daily. Just for the purpose of reaching the water daily goal.
The procedure must be really tedious but funny.

......and this is where we end up every time this subject is brought up so I will go back to my former sarcastic reply , if it's not dehydrated then count it as water . Most fruits and vegetables are mostly water ( tomatoes are 94percent ) , many of which are more than 80percent . Meat , for the most part is greater than 50percent water .all this water in these foods count toward your daily
needs for hydration so just save yourself time and energy , throw out all your cups and get your hydration from your food on a fork , it's all good !

All tell those Chiropractors to get a real job !

Or if you need to put it in a cup and pull it through a straw to feel like you are getting a liquid , a blender does wonders and you can
still put it in a cup !

The blender just releases the water from whatever it is disguised as ( clever water can disguise itself as almost anything ) and don't let that solid thing fool you , it even goes incognito as ice sometimes .

I only count water as water.

me too!

everything
YES EVERYTHING
except alcohol
cafeine does not dehydrates it's a myth

Caffeine is a diuretic. It will cause you to urinate more often as it does pull water from your body and form urine. This is a known fact about biochemistry. Alcohol is also a diuretic. Same effect. I wouldn't suggest counting tea towards since teas usually contain caffeine. Also, carbonated drinks should not be considered water since it contains carbonated water not plain water.

As for me, I only count water towards my daily totals.

Apparently you've ignored the information in this thread, I don't know why it surprises me...clearly many of the posters haven't read the factual information and like to use anecdotes or 'what they think'.

I wasn't using anecdotal evidence. I do have a degree in biology. This particular signal cascade was covered in biochemistry. Caffeine and alcohol are diuretics. However, will you become dehydrated because you counted two cups of coffee as part of your water intake? No. Are you going to suffer long-term health issues because you count the diet coke as part of your water intake? No. However, the caffeine and alcohol will cause an increase in urine production which does take more water out of your system than if you didn't have the caffeine or alcohol.

To answer the original poster's questions, honestly, in the big picture... it doesn't matter if you count the tea or Crystal Light in you daily water. It's not going to make that big of a difference. Personally, I only count water.

But the water it takes out is far, far outweighed by the water in the tea/coffee, thats the point.

Basically all liquids (besides alcohol) count. So, water, tea, juice, milk, etc, etc, etc

Seriously? I don't know where you got that from, but pretty sure juice and milk definitely don't count as water...

Tea and coffee, maybe. Adding Crystal Light is fine, if you want all that unnatural stuff in your body, and it would still count as water, but for the most part, I think water is the only thing that counts as water.

Tea is water with leaves soaked in it. How is that "unnatural?"

Milk, juice, coffee and tea are all just water with a TINY amount of "something else" in them. The water itself is unadulterated as these are not even solutions, just colloidal suspensions--particles floating in the water. It is unscientific nonsense to suggest that mixing the "stuff" in the water BEFORE you drink it is any different than mixing it up in your belly AFTER you drink it. If mixing something in meant it wasn't still water, the only water that would count would be water you drank when you stomach was COMPLETELY empty. If yo've eaten, the food will mix with the water and it won't count anymore.

Love this.

Enough said

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

Bump.

Bump.

Why? There's tons of threads on this, and new ones every week...

Because I'm new, I haven't seen any recently, and this is the one that popped up when I searched for the topic. But at least I searched and found one instead of creating another.

I count tea and water in my own measurements, even though there is some water in coffee, juice, etc. I just get worried that the actual water is a little hard to measure in other liquids, especially pulpy orange juice. I'm not sure if it makes a huge difference, but it's just how I measure. I also like drinking tea, because it is great for the metabolism without having to add milk to it to taste great. I try to drink as much plain water as possible.
Oh, and also if I used a specific amount of water for the soup I make, I count that, too.

Thanks for that article. It is very interesting.

Hey guys! Quick question, couldn't find anything related easily when I searched. My coworker and I were discussing how much water we drink the other day and I was telling her it was hard for me to just drink regular water, so I use Crystal light and tea. She responded that these things don't count as going toward your 8 glasses daily and only strictly water does! What do you guys think??

water is water - anything else added to it is no longer water.

Nutr Rev. 2010 Aug;68(8):439-58.
Water, hydration, and health.
Popkin BM, D'Anci KE, Rosenberg IH.
Source
Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516, USA. popkin@unc.edu
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2010.00304.x/full

"There is really no existing information to support an assumption that consumption of water alone or beverages containing water affects hydration differentially.3,105 Some epidemiological data suggest water might have different metabolic effects when consumed alone rather than as a component of caffeinated or flavored or sweetened beverages; however, these data are at best suggestive of an issue deserving further exploration.106,107 As shown below, the research of Ershow et al. indicates that beverages not consisting solely of water do contain less than 100% water."

Even food counts as water:
Data from the USDA national nutrient database for standard reference, release 21, as provided in Altman.126

Percentage Food item
100% Water
90–99% Fat-free milk, cantaloupe, strawberries, watermelon, lettuce, cabbage, celery, spinach, pickles, squash (cooked)
80–89% Fruit juice, yogurt, apples, grapes, oranges, carrots, broccoli (cooked), pears, pineapple
70–79% Bananas, avocados, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, potato (baked), corn (cooked), shrimp
60–69% Pasta, legumes, salmon, ice cream, chicken breast
50–59% Ground beef, hot dogs, feta cheese, tenderloin steak (cooked)
40–49% Pizza
30–39% Cheddar cheese, bagels, bread
20–29% Pepperoni sausage, cake, biscuits
10–19% Butter, margarine, raisins
1–9% Walnuts, peanuts (dry roasted), chocolate chip cookies, crackers, cereals, pretzels, taco shells, peanut butter
0% Oils, sugars

I think my favorite forum post ever was (I apologize for not remembering the witty writer) "Did you ever hear about that guy that died from dehydration because he drank only coffee and diet coke? No... because it didn't happen"