Keeping track of how much water you drink can be a pain sometimes, but since I drink bottled water, it is fairly easier to keep track of how much water you drink according to how many bottles you drink in a day. When it comes to liquids though, I tend to drink more tea. One source tells me that 8 ozs of tea or coffee, if made brewed at home and you know what's going into it, can count as 1 cup of your recommended daily water intake. Another source say it does not. Can anyone set the record straight?

Since the tea I brew is basically nothing but tea leaves and water, shouldn't it be considered a legit source of hydration?

I've always counted all liquids as part of my daily water intake. Another thing to remember is that you get a lot of water from food also, especially fruits and vegetables. But that's more difficult to measure.

I've always gone by the idea that you can't count coffee and tea because they are diuretic and make your bladder, kidneys, etc work harder. With coffee too you are putting in some good stuff but also some not-so-good stuff so it isn't a pure source of liquid for your body.

Also, unless you use all organic sources for coffee and tea, you're getting some extra stuff there you don't really want too.

Pure water (or liquids from food) are still the best, I think. Unless you happen to live in a city with medications showing up in the water! Arlington, TX, where I live is one that has them. I use a filtering system on my sink but you can also absorb them through your skin in the shower, etc.

here's an article about it.
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Right the problem with caffeine is that it damages your body's ability to process that water fully. So it can't count as a full cup in that sense. If you drink herbal tea it is fine!

I drink iced tea all the time. I make sure however I drink more than I "need" to for the daily water levels so that I can make up for the caffeine in the tea which causes not all the water to be usable. I also then limit myself in the soda sense and will not drink more than 12 ounces of soda in a day. However, I may drink a non-caffeine soda more than once in a day but that isn't as bad since it is no caffeine.

I also drink water and rarely drink coffee as it's caffeine levels are WAY too much for my system tat functions on little to no caffeine.

I can't take much caffeine either and always drink all decaf products. I hardly ever drink soda but when I do it's caffeine free too. I wonder if even with decaf drinks if there is a trace amount of the caffeine that keeps you from absorbing some of the water?

Chloe - if you start with something that has caffeine in it like tea then yes even the decaffeinated tea has some caffeine in it. But if it's something that never had caffeine in it at all - like herbal tea - then you're all set

Since i only drink decaf coffee in the morning i figure i can only count half of it as hydration. Even decaf has SOME caf in it. But it's my best compromise since I do enjoy morning coffee. I did try only teas in the morning for about a year, but it's tough. Like the "mouth feel" of coffee (black, no milk or sugar).

Half is still better than nothing!! And I definitely am all for enjoying what you eat and drink

yeah, that's how I see it.

I don't drink soda, but would imagine many people only drink soda during the day and no water. Would non-caf, sugar-free type sodas count, then, for those people, as hydration?

Well non-caffeinated is definitely good. The problem with sugar-free is that there are a lot of chemicals in them and there is a running debate over the damage those chemicals do. For example if you keep training your tongue to desire sweets then over time this is not good because your tongue maintains its sweet tooth and is far more likely to cave in when other "sugar rich" sweets are around.

My boyfriend used to drink a ton of sugary sodas. Back when we first went on low carb (several years ago) he completely converted from sugary sodas to non-sugar sodas and lost a LOT of weight (about 80 pounds I believe). But over the years he has gained it back because by maintaining that same intake of "sweet drinks" he has kept his sweet tooth meaning if a sugar-free alternative isn't right there he'll go for the sugar variety. So long term it is important to get yourself broken of the sweet habit.