BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Weight Loss 8 glasses of water per day?

So, Water is the only liquid one should drink and 8 glasses at 8 oz each is the amount. Drinking coffee/tea with caffeine is BAD, what about decaf? Drinking juice is BAD, what about those juices that don't add sugar? And those people that didn't drink only water throughout the day are dehydrated? Probably not. What the studies are saying is that the 8x8 rule does not only apply to drinking water, but the Total Intake of liquid Including that which comes from foods. As I see it, by forcing oneself to drink an additional 8 glasses of water on top of the foods (and other liquids) one consumes is unnecessary.

I've never seen the debate show you mentioned, and didn't participate on the debate team in school. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Not necessarily out to debate you, just to point out that clinical studies in either direction are questionable and that everyone should research information from all sides and come to their own conclusions.

Moderation is the key to everything. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

my question is.. what is the harm in drinking 8x8? I have found that is the best way, for me personally.. caffine only henders me at this point. The cool refreshing taste of water is quite comforting at this point

You bring up some great points!! I'll respond to them in parts so it's easier to understand <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That's an excellent question and one I had on my list to research, there are just so many things I want to learn about food that I can't get through them all <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I in fact just had some tea with breakfast. However, a quick scan of medical sites finds that decaffeinated coffee raises your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels even worse than caffeinated coffee does. And the more I read about caffeine, the more really nasty side effects I find about it. So I really would say to stay away from all forms of coffee to stay healthy.

That leaves tea. You really want to avoid caffeine in tea at all costs. But decaffeinated tea does have antioxidants in it, and green tea in particular has been shown to help ward off cancer. I do in fact drink diet iced tea quite regularly. I can't find any reports of problems with decaffeinated tea. So I would recommend that as a healthy thing to drink along with water too.

So yes, decaffeinated tea is a good second choice <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

This is actually something I'd been actively studying all day Thursday, and wrote about it in another forum post. It's not that they ADD sugar to juices <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's that the process of MAKING fruits into juices concentrates the sugar and abandons the nutrients behind.

Here's a great post to read on that topic -

Orange Juice and Sugar

A whole orange only has 14g net carbs and lots of Vitamin C. A glass of OJ has **26g net carbs** and much less Vitamin C. It gets down to 1/10th the Vitamin C count after sitting in your fridge!! That's as bad as drinking a glass of Orange Soda. And as nutritionally deficient too.

An apple has 17g carbs. A glass of apple JUICE has 29g of carbs and that is *unsweetened*. And you just lost all the fiber and nutrients by drinking the juice. And then most people drink it sweetened, which is even worse.

Juice is not healthy for you. It's the nature of juice. Juice involves leaving behind the healthy parts and concentrating the sugar. Many, many studies have shown that children grow obese when fed a diet of "natural" fruit juice.

First, the basic part. Medical studies show that your body loses about 10 cups a day in pee / sweat / etc. The 8 glasses was really a *minimum* to take in and was assumed to be WITH your food. Studies show the average US diet gives you 4 glasses of water in your food. So if you get 12 in you "by accident", you just pee out a bit more. Hardly a bad thing. But if you only get *9* glasses into you because your particular diet style is a dry one, you've hit a problem. Just like taking Vitamin E, I'd rather get a bit extra in me to pee out vs not having enough and having my body suffer as a result.

If you drink water laced with lead you get the water, but you also get poisoned. So the point of "drink real water" is to not poison yourself with sugars or caffeine while getting your water.

If you somehow knew exactly how much water you got from your foods you could be scientific about it. ("On Monday I ate 2.5 glasses of water in my food and therefore need to drink 7.5 glasses of water. On Tuesday I ate 3.3 glasses of water in my food and therefore need to drink 6.7 glasses of water.) But in the same way that we don't know exact amounts of vitamins and minerals in our food, we don't know that about water. All we know is our RDA amount of vitamins, minerals, and water. So the most logical thing to do is take a supplement to ensure we DO get our adequate amount every day, and consider the food to be a bonus.

A study done recently by Cornell University found that the average US resident drank less than 3 glasses of hydrating liquid a day (whatever form it was) and that almost 10% of people drank NO hydrating liquid at all during the day. I.e. they only drank liquids known to dehydrate you (caffeinated soda, alcohol). So you would have to hypothesize that all of these people got 100% of their 10 glasses of water a day, every day, in their food for proper health. Knowing what we do about the average US diet, do you really believe that to be true?

Back to the average person getting 4 cups of water in their diet. I would have to say those who eat HEALTHY get 4 cups from their vegetables and meat and such. But those who eat junk food like Pringles, candy and chocolate and such are probably getting far less than those 4 cups. Those who eat bad food AND drink sodas / dehyrating liquids end up with quite a water deficiency daily.

If you don't get adequate water, your body stops functioning properly. It doesn't flush toxins from your body, it doesn't sweep fat out of your system, it doesn't move nutrients around to where they belong. That's a lot of body system functioning to risk because you don't feel like refilling your water glass <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's not like drinking the 8 glasses puts you into "overload". If you really DO get 3 glasses in your diet, now you have 11 in you for the day. Excess just pees out.

It's like a car with oil. You keep your car full of oil because the oil lubricates everything. If the oil drops to half, now parts are grinding on parts and causing damage. If you drop to zero oil the car completely dies (if it didn't before that point). Your body needs *all* its water every day. It can't run on only half the water and be healthy.

OK this is the last part of your message to respond to <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The point is never to force yourself to do anything. Just like eating healthy shouldn't be about forcing yourself to eat chicken and broccoli. It should be about making wise decisions for the health of your body.

So you COULD sit down to a meal of oatmeal raisin cookies and sugary cola with a big bowl of ice cream for dessert. And that would be a bad decision health-wise. Or you could sit down to a meal of grilled lemon chicken with a side of asparagus with cream sauce, and have a glass of water with it. And fresh raspberries for dessert. That would be equally as satisfying plus much more healthy for you.

So there are two issues here. The first is of being thirsty and the second is what to drink. I've done many, many experiments on the first issue here at our house. I have a 15 yr old son who often has 2 friends over. We also have friends over for dinner a lot. I'll ask if people are thirsty and they'll say no. But then I'll gather up glasses of water and put them out and they drink them down very quickly. If I wander around and keep those glasses filled, they drink them down very fast. They don't "feel parched". They don't think they are thirsty. But if those glasses are there beside them they drink the water right up.

The same is true with me. If I sit here working and don't have water nearby, it doesn't occur to me to go get some. But if Bob brings me a glass of water, suddenly it's empty again. I am not "forcing myself" to drink it! The kids and my friends aren't forcing themselves to drink to be polite. But they really DO want that water and they drink it. And I notice big differences in peoples' general level of contentment if I give them water vs not doing it. Little do my visitors know that I've been conducting evil experiments on them (bwah hah hah hah!!!) <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So I suppose in a way it's cruel when I "withhold" water from them, but they don't even realize it <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> They don't ask for any or go get any. And these are people who are quite comfortable in the house and WOULD go get something if they wanted it. But then when I *do* get them water or refill it, they appreciate it.

On the second point, I could and do bring them Splenda soda (for the kids) or glasses of wine (for the adults). And yes, they drink those down. But then they drink water I bring them at higher rates. Usually when we have a dinner we serve wine and a glass of water. And the wine drinking doesn't "offset" the water drinking in a 1:1 ratio. They don't just drink "the same amount of liquid". Alcohol definitely dehydrates you.

So anyway I really don't see anyone in our house ever being forced to drink 8 glasses. But when that water is there, they easily *do* drink 8 glasses of water, and do so quite readily.

I suppose if you never exercised, and therefore never sweated at all, your body might need somewhat less than 10 cups of water into it to replenish those waters. And maybe if you ate a super-water-rich diet of lots of oranges and apples and such, you would only need to drink 4 glasses of water a day to make up the difference. But the only way you know what your body needs is to keep something you enjoy drinking by you, so you can drink it when you need it. If you only drink dehydrating liquids, or if you don't keep water around to drink, your body never has a chance to reach for it when it wants it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think that's my stance on it. Some days for example I do eat a lot of salmon. So I am getting in good amounts of Vitamin E. But I still take those Vitamin E capsules every day, to ensure I get adequate amounts on a regular basis. In the same way, somedays I exercise and sweat more. Some days I don't exercise and sweat less. Some days I eat juicy foods. Some days I don't eat juicy foods. If I were to try to figure out on a day to day basis what my "remaining water balance due" was and try to drink just that amount, it would drive me crazy. I know the human body needs an average of 10 cups a day. I know a diet tends to give 4 cups a day. But if I drink 8 glasses a day I account for ranges of activity, ranges of diet moisture, and everything else in between. The excess just pees out, and I'm guaranteed that my body is getting ample water to flush out toxins, fat, and to do what it needs to do.

I can see first hand in Bob's weight loss that when he drinks ample water, he loses weight. When he doesn't drink ample water, his body's systems slow down and he stops losing weight. It's a very easy correlation to see. Yes, I experiment on him too <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Definitely stay away from caffeine!!

I have located a highly informative website that fully explains the dangers of drinking too much water.

Drinking Too Much Water

LOL <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Wheres my bottle of water!

LOL that is tooooo funny!! That can't be natural, can it? On the other hand, why would a woman do that to herself?? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I was thinking about this thread tonight, I went out to the Outback with my boyfriend and another couple. The other guy ordered decaffeinated iced tea, the woman ordered an Amstel Light, I got a glass of wine and all four of us got waters too.

The other two people weren't low carbers, but all four of us drank through our waters even though we had other things to drink, and had refills. We didn't even talk about the whole water issue. We just all asked for water with our drinks, and we all chose to drink water at least half the time even though we had other drinks on the table too. Water quenches that thirst in a way other things don't <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So at least for us four, we all chose independently to have a water alongside our drink, and we all chose independently and without any forcing to drink that water for at least half of our liquid consumption for the evening <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />