Do you all think drinking water really helps? I read Dr. Rolls Volumetrics book and she says that though its good for you..it does nothing to help you feel full.
What do you all think?

I think it really keeps me hydrated and drinking lots of the water keeps me from drinking other stuff that isnt' good. The less water I drink the more soda's I have the tendency to drink so I guess it really helps me not over do it else where.

Does it help? 100x yes! I calculated a weeks where I drank the recommneded amount of water for my weight (170oz) and those I didn't. On average I lost 50% more weight on fully hydrated weeks as not. Not only that, I felt better, had fewer headaches, and er...food I didn't use...found it's way out...easier...heh

From what I've read recently, Barbara Rolls sounds like she's right on the money. (also from my personal experience...water is great but it doesn't help ME to feel full, especially if I'm hungry!)

Actually, Dr. Rolls was quoted in the May/June issue of Yoga Journal in an article titled Liquid Assets - Water is good for body and soul, but you don't need to drink as much as you might think. Here's the truth about what's enough, plus five other myths about water:

Dr. Rolls' study, entitled Water incorporated into a food but not served with a food decreases energy intake in lean women, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1999, can be accessed here.

Interesting article - YJ doesn't have it posted online, but you might want to hunt up the May/June issue to read the whole thing (try your library).

In addition, here's a link to one of the studies used as a basis for the article -"Drink at least eight glasses of water a day." Really? Is there scientific evidence for "8 × 8"?

I'm so glad that people are beginning to research this whole water thing. I was in Holland last summer and read in a Cosmopolitan that doctors are beginning to accept the fact that it isn't necessarily WATER intake, but FLUID intake that counts. Thus, you can count your morning coffee and your diet coke as part of that fluid intake. It doesn't necessarily have to be water. Now I'm not a Cosmo reader (it was the only thing on the boat that wasn't in Dutch!) so I take that with a big ole grain of rock salt - however, I don't think they are completely wrong.

They also went on to say that the old addage of 8 8oz glasses of water a day minimum for everyone is hooey. Now THAT made sense to me. They used an example of a woman who weighed 130lbs and a man who weighed 250lbs. There is NO way that they require the same amount of water. So while she may be drowning, he's dying of thirst. I do find that to be true.

I've also seen articles that claim you should divide your weight by 2 and that number (in ounces) is how much water you should drink. i.e. I weigh 241 lbs. That means I should drink 120.5 oz of water per day. Now I consistently drink 80 oz or more water a day in order to keep my skin hydrated and elastic. BUT, I LIVE in the bathroom. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when I have to go RIGHT before I walk out the door of my office, drive like a bat outta **** to get home, then explode when I get there. How in the world can this be good? Flushing your kidneys is one thing but expanding your bladder to the point of pain seems - well... not right.

I am also very happy to finally be able to say (with some merit!) that water does NOT make me feel full. It never has. It actually makes my stomach feel hallow and emptier somehow. I don't ever feel full, I just feel water bloated like when you accidentally swallow a bunch of pool water. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me because SO many people insist it makes you feel fuller. Finally I don't feel like an outcast because it has the opposite effect on me. Maybe it only serves as a placebo effect and makes people THINK they feel fuller. Either way, bring on the research! This is good stuff!

Alisha

I read that article Mrs. Jim...I found it very interesting, however, odd.

Adding water to a food increases the sense of fullness, but drinking the same amount during the meal does not? Considering how it all ends up in the stomach, that doesn't seem logical.

I wonder if it wasn't water being in the food that mattered, but the temperature of the water consumed. I make my own blender smoothies and soups and I discovered that I feel a lot more satiated from a warm soup than I do with a cold smoothie when the ingredients and volume of liquid to solid ratios are relatively the same. Also, when I was doing research for a paper on eating disorders I noticed that pro-ana sites often suggested warm broth as a hunger reducer.

Perhaps the temperature of fluids plays a role in satiety. I wish there was a way we could experiment with this...

I just read the volumetric book last weekend and have started the lifestyle change and enjoying it. She does say that water doesn't fill you up but water enriched foods do. She does say you need the water for hydration and that it is better than drinking your calories.

I love the Volumetrics book..It helped me lose some weight. However I am finding adding more protein..(no I am NOT giving up carbs) has helped me gain control..but then I am only on day 2!!!!

I found that the best way to get the benefit of water making me feel fuller was to drink a couple of glasses of it JUST prior to eating. True, it will wash out quickly later, but for the short-term, it filled me so that I ate less during that meal. It helped me to eat smaller meals.

I sort of have a foot in both camps ... sometimes water helps me feel full (I think that's when I'm dehydrated or when temps are in triple digits ... I live in Arizona and NEED water) but sometimes it just creates a false fullness that's replaced by worse hunger (as posted on another thread just now.

Fat free milk can also provide hydration but the protein and carbs do more to REALLY alleviate hunger for me ... at a cost of few calories.

I can't say that water makes me feel full, but I can say that without all the water I drink (12-15 servings a day), I would definitely eat more. For one thing, our bodies often confuse thirst for hunger, so we may reach for a snack when a bottle of water will satisfy our true needs. Also, I used to get frequent headaches, and I get them much less frequently now, since I have also read that the leading cause of headaches is dehydration (even though I was drinking soda and juice and milk or whatever).

In any case, we are all different, and I know that drinking 12 servings of water makes me feel much better than drinking 12 cans of diet soda

Jill, I also find that drinking water makes me feel better ... I hate water, actually, but yes, that headache brain foggy feeling as well as being out of control emotionally sometimes seem in my bod to be a signal of not enough hydration and water helps. I drink a water that has electrolytes added but NOT a sweet taste or calories ... it's helpful.

I have a bit of the same experience. I don't think water makes me feel more full (and it does make me feel a little bloated if I drink a lot at once) BUT if I'm going to a restaurant where I know the portions are too big, I try to down a good bit of water before my meal arrives. It does temporarily fill me up to the point that I slow down my eating and by the time the water fullness goes away (usually about 15-20 minutes) my stomach has had time to realize how full I really am from the food I'm consuming. The sloshy, bloated feeling goes away as soon as I go to the bathroom - usually only about 1/2 hr.

Also - I've always had trouble with my skin. Since I've made a concerted effort to stay hydrated, the difference has been like night & day. And the one day in the last couple of months that I didn't get enough water (only drank about 3 glasses all day long ) I woke up the next morning feeling almost hung over. Makes me wonder if I always felt that way before and just didn't know any better.

I don't mean to hijack, but I agree with you on the water, Julia. I have also noticed if I eat greasy, processed food I fee lthat "hangover" the next day, too. I have a good friend and coworker on the "Fast Three" Plan (McDonalds, Burger King and Taco Bell ) and I would watch his whole body and demenor change after a fast food meal. For years I had headaches and other aches and general "yuckies" and thought that was just the way I was. After changing ym diet and exercise (and leaving a high stress job) I have often wondered if the reason I feel so much better because I gave these things up or really started to make exercise a priority or some combination. Knowledge really is power, huh?

My husband is now a big believer in drinking water...but I have to consider that with him, before he started making a conscious effort to drink water, he tended to be underhydrated. (He has a pretty phsyical job.)

He is also one of those people who has found that even artificial sweeteners inhibit weight loss, so drinking water instead of diet sodas has been a large help in that department. Does it fill him up? No. Is it even ever a difference between being hungry & thirsty? No. (I've never understood that theory myself, I know when I am thirsty.) But for whatever reason, it works for him. My pet theory is that since he wasn't drinking enough to begin with, his body was hanging on to the water it did have as much as it could--sort of a starvation effect, but with water--& so holding onto water weight. I don't have any way of verifying that, of course, being that I am not a scientist. But it makes an intuitive sort of sense, as the 10 or so pounds he lost while doing a week's worth of Fat Flush was almost certainly water (as even the book says).