I've been wondering this for a couple of years now. I have such a hard time getting my 8 glasses of water down a day. Crystal Light doesnt have any calories or fat so does anyone know of a reason why I cant drink that instead of water or do I absolutely have to have water instead?

Part of your water can be counted if you drink Chrystal Light, or herb teas (there are other things that count towards water, too, but I can't remember what they are), but you still need to drink water. I'm sure someone will post that will give you more information.

I think this is one of those questions that gets a different answer depending on who is asked, lol. Most people will probably say that it needs to be water.

I ran across an article on webmd that is actually referring to how drinking water helps reduce your risk of a heart attack. But their reasoning for preferring water over other drinks makes sense and could be applied to general drinking.

So the body may digest water better if it is not part of a tea or flavored mixture such as Crystal Light.


A lot of people here drink lots of water and most say that they hated it at first, myself included. However, you get used to it, and you eventually prefer it over other liquids. All I drink is water, v-8, milk, and occasional cups of coffee.

I drink a lot of water. However, I can't stand tap water. I use a Brita water filter pitcher and keep it filled and in the refrigerator. Ice cold filtered water is very refreshing!

Could you please provide a reference for that quote? I've very interested in the subject, because there were several research reviews in the last few years that found that there was no medical research underlying any such assertions. In a nutshell, no one could find any research that showed that plain water was better than water from (decaf, low-sodium) drinks, or from food sources.

If you've found a reference to such research, you're going to make a lot of research reviewers rather embarassed!

actually, not true for all tea. GREEN TEA is very good for your heart, your skin, and for some types of cancer research is finding. it's even good for your TEETH, imagine that! (i just read the latter in prevention magazing... a good one to pick up if youre like me and love reading new health benefits) most studies are recommending that you drink up to 8 cups of green tea a day. some black teas, also.

the discrepency i believe is in the actual caffeine, as caffiene is a dieuretic and dehydrates your body. so you usually need 1 glass of water for every caffienated product.

*mel

great. thanks for all of the comments.

hmmm...now which side to take!

Well, water is actually a dieuretic as well, to be honest. Also, teas may be good for you, and I know that they are. They most certainly have been proven to work against many types of cancer, etc. BUT... water is vital to your body for many reasons. Water Is filtered differently through your system. It helps to "flush" certain toxins from your body, and if it is full of sugars/etc. it must be filtered itself. Not that C.L. or other diet soft drinks are BAD, but just must be accompanied by good old fashioned H20. the best way to look at it, is that you should NEVER count anything other than water as water. Have your water AND additional drinks. Regardless of how healthy they are, they are NOT water.

According to WebMD, the info came from a study at Loma Linda University involving 20,000 people, over a 6 year period.

The article can be foundhere

And here it is in full

hey:
that was what i meant to the person asking about tea, though, yhat you shouldnt count it as a liquid. and of course water is a dieuretic.... natural flushing is the best cleansing, etc, i wasnt denying that. i was just telling her to add a glass of water for the caffeinated products because they don't count for you liquids.

*mel

Well that's one study. Surely an improvement. Let's hope the scientific establishment gets their act together and start confirming/refuting that study, and producing more studies to address all these questions we've had all these years.

Furthermore, that study is a correlational study which only shows relations between 2 variables---NOT one that defines CAUSE-EFFECT (only a controlled experiment can do that). There could many other confounding factors that could contribute to the heart disease "link". For example

1) people who exercise (esp. a lot) tends to drink more water to make up for the sweat & because its refreshing during workouts

2) people who lead stressful lifestyles may be more likely to drink non-water liquids for energy, comfort, etc.

3) people who prefer non-water liquids may also be more likely to opt for fattier foods.

Since the study didn't say they controlled (activeness, stress, diet, among other things) for these factors, we should very well assume that they didn't. Again, as others have pointed out in this thread---further studies need to be done to confirm/refute this.

I also wanted to add that Crystal Light is NOT calorie free...it has 5 calories per 8 oz. of it-the first post said that it was calorie free.
Another reason I think it is beneficial to drink your water plain is because if you were drinking 8 glasses of Crystal Light a day in place of your water-then you are also consuming 8 servings of artificial sweetener.
I think that diet drinks and diet sodas are alright in moderation, but drinking them excessively isn't the the best thing for your system. The purpose of the water drinking is to hydrate you and cleanse the body by flushing everything else out...so if you were drinking the Crystal Light instead you are just adding artificial sweetener and artificial color into your system.
My opinion? Drink your water as water...if you want the occasional diet drink, green tea, cup of coffee-or whatever-that is fine-but it should not be in excess. Your water should be water.
Aphil

I agree. Artificial sweeteners are definitely "no-no" in excess. But my earlier reply was just to state that the study should not be interpreted such that water should be hailed as "The drink". Drinks with artificial sweetners (and also drinks made with water--like tea) are most likely ok and can count as 1-2 drinks in the daily "water" intake.

Also, doctors are quick to point out that 8 glasses of H2O should be taken daily but often negate to inform that there is water IN food too. Unless one eats jerky, dried fruits, and nuts all the time---food intake can actually make up 1-2 glasses in itself (esp. if you're into salads, since most greens are abundant in water content).

Precisely. The reality is that pushing people to drink only plain water may end up backfiring, as some people would end up drinking less water overall. Furthermore, studies have proven the safety of artificial sweeteners like Splenda and saccharine, so there is no factually-defensible reason for advocating plain water instead of (as opposed to "in conjunction with") drinks sweetened with those sweeteners.

I agree 100% with you, but I believe that you should have water as well as other drinks. Not JUST water. I just think it is important to have regular Plain water in addition to diet sodas, other soft drinks etc. I usually keep a water bottle next to my desk, and also have tea, soda, C.L. I am amazed at how I sip both, therefore getting much more fluid. Try it sometime.