I know you are sopose to get 8 glasses a day. Do you include things like coffee, or juice in this equation? Or is it strickly water?

I include everything, although I mostly just drink plain ol' water anyway. This definitely includes coffee, diet soda, tea, juice, etc. There was a poster a while ago (can't remember who, sorry!) who was speaking about a family member who actually had water poisoning because they drank a lot of coffee, but also drank tons of water because they felt like coffee didn't count! Not that it's a really common thing, but it's important not to go overboard with your liquid consumption...

Well...I always thought that the 8 glasses of water needed to be just water - not including other beverages or liquids. But, Dr. Oz, on the Oprah show said that all liquids count in your daily total (water, coffee, juice, pop, tea, etc). However, I still do it the way I was taught way back when. I remember that even Oprah (the nations most "professional dieter") was very surprised when Dr. Oz said it.

The official recommendation is for 'fluids', not specifically water. But it was easier to advise people to drink water because everyone already drinks water. Plus all fluids that we drink contain water anyway.

The body doesn't know the difference if you drink water that has a flavor or other additive since the water is still there. It all counts Plain water is more refreshing, so a lot of people say they feel better when they drink it plain.

I know in my mind I try to keep to "water", because pop, coffee, etc. have other calories and stuff in it. But I had heard quite a while back that most liquids count. At that time, they discounted colas and coffees because the caffeine is a diuretic, but that seems to have changed. I think the big thing to keep in mind is the added calories that can easily add up!

As far as water goes....

When I moved to Korea I really got into just drinking water and coffee. Not by choice necessarily but it just kind of happened. I rarely drink a diet soda but I do drink wine and beer when I go out.

I will say I have seen a lot of benefits on my skin and teeth. The dentist alwasy comments on how well my teeth are doing and I tell him that I drink mostly water each day and brush my teeth right after coffee in the morning. It has made a difference in my health. I have a bottled water fountain in my house and it just works really well. (In Seoul you can not drink the tap water.) I try to drink at least 48 to 64 ounces a day and I really think it has made a difference in a lot of ways.....of course cutting out the diet soda was a big plus for me. Now if I do have one I feel very uncomforatable.

Every once in a while I'll still hear that you aren't supposed to count caffeinated drinks in your daily total because caffeine is a diuretic. IMHO, that's not right because the amount of water you lose from the caffeine is much less than the amount of liquid accompanying it. So, it should all count.

Something else I've heard lately is that 64oz. is actually overkill too. There was a doctor on some show I was watching a few weeks ago...I can't remember what it was, darn it...but he said that you get so much liquid from just food that you get a lot of your daily requirements from what you eat. If you think about it, it makes sense. Soup, fruit, tomato sauce, pudding, all of that is mostly liquid. I don't know how to count that though, so I'll just stick with the 64oz until someone gives me a different number!

There is a recent study out about this by a couple of UPa doctors showing that the recommendation to get 64 oz of water/day does not have a scientific basis. I was really happy to hear this because I've never been a big one for guzzling water. I feel nauseous if I drink too much or too fast. I do have a 32 oz Nalgene bottle that I fill every day and drink by lunchtime. Then I also drink coffee, tea, milk, and eat a lot of soup, so I feel like I'm getting plenty. I have noticed that my skin looks and feels better, and the sinus problems I used to have are almost non-existant these days, so I think it's good to drink water, but not in excessive amounts.

I count everything. If I had to have 8 glasses of water on top of all my coffee and milk - my eyeballs would be floating.
Not to mention that when you eat a diet with fresh fruits and veggies, you are actually getting in a good amount of your daily allotment of fluids.

I only count water as my 8 glasses of water...anything else I drink would be extra. My OCD tells me I MUST drink at least 8 glasses of plain ol' water each day!

Anybody else think it's odd that humans are the most advanced species on Earth and yet we are the only one who spends time worrying about whether we get enough water? Every other species drinks when it's thirsty. I don't remember my Vet ever telling me to make sure my dogs get enough water; the dim-witted little varmints seem perfectly capable of wandering over to the water dish and getting a drink all by themselves.

And yet we spend countless hours worrying about our water intake and what counts instead of just getting a drink when we're thirsty.

See, that's what I think too Robin. I seriously doubt that cave people spent any time worrying about whether they were getting 64 oz of water or not (unless there was none to be had)! I'm sure they just wandered over to the stream when they were feeling thirsty. Now, RECOGNIZING thirst is a whole different issue. I sometimes think I'm hungry or want to eat only to realize that I'm really just thirsty.

I think there is so much misinformation out there, mostly perpetuated by womens' magazines. I remember on a diet website (ediets) they said you had to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. Most couldn't do it. You can actually really hurt yourself drinking too much water. I think women have been abusing their bodies for so many years by trying all the latest wacko diets and trends that we don't even know when we are thirsty/hungry any more.

Well, in an ideal situation, we would drink when we were thirsty but in an ideal world we would only eat when hungry and we wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, what have you.

I don't think our systems are in tune with our hunger and our thirst. I do know that I now drink more water than I ever did. I drink less diet soda/ juices/coffee than I used to. I consume at least 64 oz of water everyday, probably more like 80 every day. I do feel that it helps me feel better and it helps me lose weight. Anything else, I drink when I feel like it. I do drink water with meals to help fill me up.

I am certainly a person that has benefited from the drink more water advice. I used to hate it and could barely stand water. I now crave it and don't feel right when I am not drinking water.

Yeah, but my varmint will also sit in front of the food bowl and chow it all down, then walk 4 feet away and yuck it all up again because she ate too much, too fast.

If we all lived 100% natural lives and weren't exposed to the stressors we're all exposed to - then sure, let your body lead. But unless you're doing the Walden experiment again, I think it makes sense to put a little more thought into it.

.