Coffee

[PaleoCrossfit]

In my perusing of the discussion boards, I have found that many people the consumption of coffee can be counted in your daily water intake.

Might I ask why?

Though water is used to make coffee, it is not water in its purest form.

[MikeBuck]

Just because people count it as a fluid.  Some do not seem to understand that all fluids are not equal.  I drink a diet coke every day but fully understand that it might do more harm than good.  At the same time, I drink about a gallon of water a day also.  Just hard to give up my vices.

[PaleoCrossfit]

I completely agree. I drink 3-4 cups of black coffee a day, but I also drink 120 ounces of water. I just don't understand how many think/believe that coffee and tea COUNT as part of your daily water..?

[AndrewUK]

TBH I have been counting most fluids as water. I thought it was all ablout hydration so most fluids do that right?

I am new to this in case you where wondering! 🙂

[Dominique]

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@PaleoCrossfit wrote:

Though water is used to make coffee, it is not water in its purest form.

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So if you put one teespoon of sugar into one liter of water and drink that, it's no longer water, the tiny quantity of sugar was enough to transform it into non-water?

[AndrewUK]

So what about cordial. Does that count? I'm driving king lots of no sugar vimto at the moment is that OK to count as water??

[PaleoCrossfit]

I think that's a bit drastic of an example, but I see what you're getting at.

(Personally, I think water additives are terrible, but that's becaue I believe that artificial sweetners are terrible for you)

Coffee is a natural diuretic, as is tea, so really, it's not hydrating you the way that water would.

And in your example, a teaspoon of sugar wouldn't change water, if anything it would aid your blood sugar in sustainment.

[PaleoCrossfit]

And also as a disclaimer, I don't think there is ANYTHING wrong with coffee and tea, I just don't feel it should be counted as water.

For instance, you don't count your diet soda as water, so why would you count your coffee that contains 2 tablespoons of sugar and creamer in it as water?

[teatime23]

in this case, if you decaffinated the tea and didnt add sugar or simply counted the sugar in your calorie intake then the tea itself could be counted as water.  I'm new to the fitbit scene but i am deffinitely not new to teas.  Along with being hydrating (decaffed verieties) they contain so many good antioxidants for you.  Personally I find white tea the easiest. You steep in hot water for 35-40 sec discard the water and simply steep again using the same tea for 2min 30 sec.(works for bagged or loose)

[UVcat]

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@PaleoCrossfit wrote:

Coffee is a natural diuretic, as is tea, so really, it's not hydrating you the way that water would.

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I have no opinion about whether coffee/tea/soda should count as water or not, but I wanted to point out that if you are a regular consumer of them, they actually do give the same hydration level as the same amount of water. Here's an article; it links to the relevant scientific study.

I was surprised when I first found out about this, so thought I would pass it along. Most people think that coffee/tea are dehydrating, but the fact is that they are not, as long as you are drinking the same amount that you normally do. I believe that alcohol is dehydrating regardless of your normal level of consuption.

-c