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    JONAH23   2,896
SparkPoints 		2,500-3,999 SparkPoints
 
 
water isn't just WATER?

Saturday, January 21, 2012

okay, so i'm a points junkie. which is good, cuz it's keeping me motivated. I decided to do a spark search for my one point. My question? What counts as Water? I mean there is water in almost everything, especially everything we drink. If I have 2 coffees, a tea, and a glass of milk, do I still need to consume 8 cups of plain h2o? A fitting question, as I hate the idea of bottled water and cant' stand the taste of the water in the city I have chosen to live...and until Brita or another filter company makes a glass pitcher system, I won't be using that either...
Up until now, i've been drinking myself to pain getting all my water on top of my other beverages in a day... I drink a lot (not alcohol), always have...just not always plain water. Sadly, in the last years, pop has replaced most of my healthy liquid intake. Hence joining sparkpeople with an amazing 60 lbs to lose...amongst other bad habits... ;P

back to the points junkie thing. What counts as water?
A LOT. Tea counts as water, Coffee counts as water, Juice counts as water, Water counts as water....MOST BEVERAGES count as water. Anything that hydrates! I bet 8 ounces of soup broth counts as water too! The difference between these items and just plain water? Calories/nutrition. It makes way more sense to drink 0 calorie items if you are counting on 64oz in a dayjust think about how much less you are able to eat if you drink 64 oz of apple cider or orange juice.......and conversely, if you're sick and can't eat much, knowing that the 4 bowls of chicken soup, 2 cups of juice, and 2 cups of tea still get you to your liquid goals...and keep you relatively nutritionally balanced as well...

But at least I know now that when I choose to have a beverage with calories, I can still click on that dreaded water glass at least once.

And get my 5 points for 8 cups consumed.

As I said.

Points Junkie.

have a day - make it great!
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  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

STLADEE 1/21/2012 7:18PM

    Thanks for the blog I was just wondering if my coffee I drank this morning counted as my water intake! emoticon

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SUEINTHEPARK 1/21/2012 2:31PM

    Thanks for sharing your research! This is good to know!
Get those points!!!!
emoticon

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JUSTYNA7 1/21/2012 2:17PM

    I count herbal tea as water. Caffeine and alcohol drinks, no because they dehydrate me... so I need to ADD a water each cup of coffee or caffeine tea.

Soup, you be the judge. Lots of broth, I'd say yes.

My kids are lifeguards and very aware of dehydration. If you are exercising or in hot climate or room, then drink water. But here is the thing. If you chug water.... it will go right through you. Your body can only take in a little at a time. So really you are not getting water! Instead try and have small sips, maximum a half cup at a time. I find if I make a huge cup of tea at first it is too hot to drink it all... then I forget it is there and end up drinking it in small amounts. One of my latest favorites is called "gingered lime" which to me tastes like lime koolaid... but it's good for you. Sometimes I make a jug of water with chunks of lemon or lime in it and keep that in the fridge, adding water for a day or two before discarding the fruit. I don't keep a mammoth cup... just a small one, although if I'm in the car I'll bring a water bottle.

Another note is if you are eating small frequent meals then your body appreciates water to help it digest (more work than large meals) and a small amount of water before eating helps with decreasing appetite.

I laugh at the idea of setting a certain amount of water. Instead of counting cups I tend to be more mindful about drinking more and I try and be aware of signs of dehydration like dry eyes, being irritabable, dry skin. But if you are into the points for it then having a water bottle with gradations on it so you know how much you've drunk would help. I used to know that my jug held 6 cups of water in the fridge and my water bottle holds 3 cups..

As for terrible tasting water.... sad. I love our well water and the smartest thing we did was get a fridge with ice and water in the door. 1. Mountain Equipment Co-op and other sports stores have water bottles that have filters in them. 2. For a while our well had a problem with too much salt in our well so I have a water distiller (evaporates the water and the result is pure distilled water with a rather flat flavour but absolutely no minerals or impurities and once it is refrigerated it tastes fine). There are likely people like us who only needed a temporary "fix" so you might find something used on line as the costs can really vary. Now we use the distilled water for the iron and a couple of sensitive house plants. 3. Alternately you can buy filters that go on your tap. Good luck.



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JONAH23 1/21/2012 10:46AM

    LESS nerdy? doesn't learning all the hows and whys make you MORE nerdy? that's not an insult. LOVE those nerds! not the candy, either!
hee hee

thanks for being my friend!

you are gorgeous, BTW! emoticon

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SKNNYSTHRNBELLE 1/21/2012 10:42AM

    very good ideas! and I'm a points junkie too :) but I've learned exactly why and how those reward networks work in the brain, so I feel less nerdy about it now!

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