I hate water

i LOVE water.

You could try ice cold water, seems to work for people who hate drinking plain water.

Honestly, I hated water too. And you will continue hating it if you keep sugaring it up. Try to force yourself to drink it for a couple days, drink no sugary beverages and you will actually learn to love it. I went from NEVER drinking water, only juice or soda for the most part...to SOLELY drinking water. Yes, I only drink water now and it only took maybe a week to not even want the sugary beverages anymore. Soda makes me feel ill now. And I would most definitely avoid the packets that add flavor to your water, they almost ALL contain aspartame. A few don't but look carefully. Read up on aspartame, bad stuff!

Unless you have a reaction to it aspartame is fine. Any why force yourself to drink something you do not like?

Drink whatever you want. Don't like plain water? Diet soda, non-diet soda, Crystal Lite, coffee, tea, juice, milk, sports drinks, beer... All hydrate you just about as effectively as water, the only downside is that some of them have calories you would have to account for. Hydration is all about FLUID, not about water.

WTF??

Thats quite dumb really, water has tons of benefits that all these other drinks don't.

I hate plain water as well unless I just had a major workout and I'm panting like a dog. LOL. I recommend Crystal Light Wild Strawberry but be careful, has a fairly large amount of caffeine in it. But very good. I drink one of those a day and then for the rest of the day, I substitute cranberry juice, milk, strawberry milk (my favorite), Kiwi Strawberry packets, any of those for water. I wouldn't recommend drinking soda or tea because of all the calories. I hope this helps

Tea has calories? Wow. All these 53 years I though it was calorie free. I'll update the MFP database, which also lists it as calorie free. How many calories does it have?

I wonder if they were talking about sweet tea?

There really aren't any substitutions for water. Your body is 60% water, not 60% lemonade.
However, maybe try squeezing some lime or lemon into it. And maybe keep a pitcher of it in the fridge so it can always be nice and cold and refreshing.

Have you read this thread and the references given here? Lemonade is WATER. And the body's water? Isn't pure either. It's full of electrolytes. All liquids count as water. Anything else is pseudoscience.

Uhm. Yeah, and I also studied biology for four years. Is that a pseudoscience, too?

The answer to the question of "what is water?" would fall under the realm of chemistry.

I majored in art history, though, so I'm not qualified to answer the question, period.

Actually I think the question here isn't "what is water? so much as "what counts as water for purposes of hydrating the body?" And your degree subject isn't important so long as you learned in college 1)-logic, and 2)- to evaluate research based on things like credentials and peer review. I had listed peer reviewed research from the Mayo Clinic, a well-respected medical research/teaching hospital, proving that water contained in anything you consume hydrates the body equally well. This poster argued with no citation of source that lemonade =/= water in hydrating the body. I referenced the sources and said that unsubstantiated claims such as hers were pseudoscience. (It's usually called "broscience" here.) Her reply, rather than provide sources for her assertions was an "appeal to authority" by throwing out her college major.

I was a biology major myself for two years before transferring to psychology. I later got an RN. I currently do IT at a company that manufactures metals and chemicals.

I believe the answer to "what counts as water for purposes of hydrating the body" fall into the realm of biophysiology rather than chemistry.

I was kidding. I agree with you.

Edited to add: I see in one of your posts that you have Aspergers, so you might not always catch sarcasm or irony or other sorts of humour. Don't worry - I agree with all your posts in this thread. You're being very logical AND citing highly reliable sources.

But, you're arguing with some .... um... not very bright people. If they want to drink "pure" water or pay extra for zero-calorie impurities like Mio, at least they won't die of hydration... MUCH LIKE THE PEOPLE WHO DRINK ONLY TEA OR DIET COKE!

You're right, I don't usually catch sarcasm and/or irony. I understand them if I notice them and can sometimes even use them, but I often don't notice them. Even in person, as we (Aspies) seem to lack the ability to read body language as well. This appears to be biological, so there's a limit as to how well we can be taught to do this.

I also don't know where they'd GET pure water. I'm not sure there's any on earth. Our chemist says water dissolves one thing or another from any material you try to contain it in or deliver it with. Water is as close to a universal solvent as we know of, so it dissolves almost everything. You sure as he11 don't get "pure" water from the tap, or in a bottle at the store.

I don't drink "plain" water because our water here is awful. I drink coffee (black w/ no sweet) in the morning and iced tea the rest of the day. I drink Mio or diet sodas when I'm out and about, because I can easily get them at the gas station or convenience store. I don't track water or any of the aforementioned beverages because they are essentially nothing. None of those has significant amounts of anything. Not even sodium, which is the oft-cited problem with diet sodas. Diet Coke has 20mg sodium, the others have zero.

I suppose I "get" that I'll never convince some of these people, no matter how good my sources. It's a little like I'm...compelled. I love Randall Munroe (XKCD) because he's so spot on with so many (admittedly geeky) things. This comic completely hit home:


(alt-text = What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!)

Drink whatever you want. Don't like plain water? Diet soda, non-diet soda, Crystal Lite, coffee, tea, juice, milk, sports drinks, beer... All hydrate you just about as effectively as water, the only downside is that some of them have calories you would have to account for. Hydration is all about FLUID, not about water.

WTF??

Thats quite dumb really, water has tons of benefits that all these other drinks don't.

Not to mention that artificial sweeteners trick your body into thinking it's getting sugar and then when it doesn't get any it can go a little haywire! Some people also believe it stimulates your hunger hormone.

Better to avoid them if you can.

As well as beer, which completely dehydrates you. I'm sorry, but I just cannot believe someone actually justifies that ANY beverage is hydrating. WOW.

I'm glad I'm not alone in this...I gave up all soda (well pop to this Michigander, lol) in January - I drink 1 cup of coffee each morning, and sip on water, sparkling flavored water, or water with Crystal Light-type packets throughout the day, but no where near as much as I should. Thanks for all the ideas on this thread!

Drink whatever you want. Don't like plain water? Diet soda, non-diet soda, Crystal Lite, coffee, tea, juice, milk, sports drinks, beer... All hydrate you just about as effectively as water, the only downside is that some of them have calories you would have to account for. Hydration is all about FLUID, not about water.

WTF??

Thats quite dumb really, water has tons of benefits that all these other drinks don't.

Not to mention that artificial sweeteners trick your body into thinking it's getting sugar and then when it doesn't get any it can go a little haywire! Some people also believe it stimulates your hunger hormone.

Better to avoid them if you can.

As well as beer, which completely dehydrates you. I'm sorry, but I just cannot believe someone actually justifies that ANY beverage is hydrating. WOW.

Woo, and i thought i was quite blonde ha!

The amount of stupid in this thread is incredible

If I drink a cup of water, then eat a sugar-free candy, does eating that candy negate any hydration effects of the water?
(if you believe it does, please remove yourself from the gene pool at once, as you are too stupid to live)

Drink whatever you want. Don't like plain water? Diet soda, non-diet soda, Crystal Lite, coffee, tea, juice, milk, sports drinks, beer... All hydrate you just about as effectively as water, the only downside is that some of them have calories you would have to account for. Hydration is all about FLUID, not about water.

WTF??

Thats quite dumb really, water has tons of benefits that all these other drinks don't.

Not to mention that artificial sweeteners trick your body into thinking it's getting sugar and then when it doesn't get any it can go a little haywire! Some people also believe it stimulates your hunger hormone.

Better to avoid them if you can.

As well as beer, which completely dehydrates you. I'm sorry, but I just cannot believe someone actually justifies that ANY beverage is hydrating. WOW.

Woo, and i thought i was quite blonde ha!

Well why don't you all take it up with the Mayo Clinic because they believe it does.

If you've found support for the Mayo Clinics findings on this, please I'd like to see it. Being totally serious, I'd like to see proof of this.