So I’m sure you have al heard that drinking 8 glasses of water a day should be your goal in order to stay healthy, etc.
But does this include laso teas, coffee, orange juice, soups, etc? Or do they mean literally 8, 8oz glasses of water?
Also is 8 the minimum, or is more good/bad?
The whole thing is a load of psuedoscientific claptrap.
(http://www.snopes.com/toxins/water.htm)
So to answer your questions:
In the fantasy realm it has to be water. In the real world it doesn’t matter what you drink.
In fairyland it has to be eight glasses minimum. More is better. In the real world 8 glasses is too much for most people. Drinking that amount or a little more probably won’t do any harm, but it won’t do one bit of good either. Drinking a lot more could do you harm.
Follow the simple rule and drink when you feel thirsty. You think those people wandering acorss the African savanna 100, 000 years ago evolved a system that required them to drink all the time? It was a long way between waterholes.
This last came up in August at this thread, including these references to earlier threads.
I hate to argue with the Mikkelsons, but there’s some pretty solid sources out on the 'net claiming that water’s real good for prevention of kidney stones. Also good: grapefruit juice, straight lemon juice (and plenty of it), beer. Bad: soda. No Real Impact: coffee, tea, wine. Undecided: soft vs. hard water, soft vs. hard water.
Well, consider soda for a moment. How is drinking soda any different from drinking a glass of water, followed by a bit of corn suryp? They’re going to mix in your stomach even if they’re not mixed beforehand.
It isn’t, you’re right. But he didn’t mention corn suryp, or even syrup. As it is concentrated sugar it requires considerable water to process. So a glass of “soda” is not as good as a glass of water.
I believe the original statement was 8 glasses worth of water, no natter how ingested. This includes water taken in via food or any type of water-based drink. But of course this cannot be irrespective of the nature of the food or drink.
Thanx for your responses guys! Lots to read 
My husband gets kidney stones every so often, and his urologist and the ER doc always advise him to drink more water, and cut back on the soda and milk. He hardly ever drank water. During the day at work, he would drink lots of Coke, and at dinner, he’ll drink a huge glass of milk.
He has come to realize that he needs to drink just plain water more often, and has started to replace some of the soda with water.
" How is drinking soda any different from drinking a glass of water… "
Soda has chemicals in it, water, basically, does not.
The problem with soda is that the dissolved sugars and salts in it actually make you thirstier, in the long run. And most soda drinkers I know confuse coldness with wetness, and then grab another soda. There’s many other, better ways to rehydrate.
I would like to reinforce the advice about plenty of water. I was told by more than one doctor that I should drink at least 5 pints a day. This was because I have had kidney stones - and they hurt like hell!
As an added bonus I don’t get the headaches I used to. I must have been dehydrated without knowing it.
V
Water itself is a chemical compound, Handy.
The deal is that a person should drink a certain amount of water each day. There are various general formulas for how much water a specific person should drink each day - but that’s complicated. Much easier just to tell people to drink at least 8 glasses.
Food has lots of water - french fries are full of water. Would you rather to try calculate the water in a server of fries, adjust your needed intake to compenstate for the salt and fat in the fries… or would you rather try to drink 8 glasses a day?
Incidentally, diabetics and people with low blood pressure are also on the “really need to drink water” list.
But you’re going to consume a bunch of different chemicals while eating, anyway. How is drinking a can of soda different from drinking a glass of water, and following it up with, say, a piece of candy or something?
Or, to be more accurate, how could drinking soda be considered any different from drinking water, and then consuming a small amount of the suryp used to make the soda? If I drank eight glasses of water a day, and also consumed a small amount of concentrated suryp, would that really be considered more healthy than just drinking eight sodas a day?
Other than the caffiene, there is not a lot of difference nutritionally between “5% real fruit juice” (many “juice box” drinks kids love to drink) or apple juice and soda. Both are effectively sugar water. If you prefer 7Up to apple juice, there isn’t much difference.
Ok, I get it. The molecules in “suryp” are just different enough from the molecules in “syrup,” so they pass through you without being digested.
Well, if you look at my post very carefully, you might notice that a couple words are underlined and colored. This is called a “hyperlink”, or “link”. If you position your mouse over the link, and click on the left button, your browser window will load the website it points to. It’s common practice to link to other websites around here so others can check the source of your information.
In this case, it’s University of Mariland Medicine’s medical reference section, under “Kidney Stones”. To quote them, “Cola beverages can severely reduce citrate in the urine and should be avoided. Many soft drinks contain phosphoric acid, which increases the risk for stones. Some research shows that drinking one quart (less than three 12-ounce cans) of soda per week may increase a person’s risk of developing stones by 15%.”
Is that sarcasm I detect? Nah, couldn’t be. You must just be very meticulous when providing information.
I notice that they specifically finger phosphoric acid as the culprit. I drink 7-up, which uses citric acid (and also lacks caffeine, which is a plus), so I would imagine I’m not put in as much risk for stones as, say, a Coke drinker.
Wine is a diuretic, and drinking wine will necessitate drinking more water. Coffee and tea are also diuretics, but weak ones, and they should not significantly increase your need for more water. Beer bad? Not as bad as wine. Beer’s alcohol content (4-5%) is much less than wine (12%) and the water in beer about balances the diuretic effect.
Yes, my post was phrased casually, and my next was a bit over the top. Sorry for any confusion.
I said “soda” when I should’ve said “cola beverage”. It occurs to me now that the referenced study only refers to drinks flavored with the cola nut.