I know the issue of drinking 8 glasses of water daily has been touched on before here, but my question is rather about is it safe to drink NO water – EVER?
I suppose the obvious answer is no, but here’s my story. I don’t drink water, almost NEVER. For most of my 38 years I have never been a water drinker. There are though two exceptions when I do drink water. When I travel to hot climates I carry a bottle with me and drink maybe up to 2 litres per day maximum. And on occaision when I get migranes I find drinking half a litre of water helps out.
My usual daily fluid intake consists entirely of a small glass of juice, less than one can of Coke, and a normal amount of milk on my corn flakes in the morning. That’s it, no coffee or tea, no alcohol.
Despite my family and doctor advising me to drink more water (which they can not provide any explanation why it would benefit me) I do not seem to be suffering at all. I am always average weight, healthy and energetic. The only quirky thing I have is I only produce a pooh once a week, twice a week tops, which seems like a plus to me and certainly saves on toilet paper expenses.
I hope there’s others like me out there. Or am I doomed?
You are doomed. You will die. Eventually. Of course I tell that to all my patients.
One needs enough fluids to keep ones body hydrated, and give ones kidneys something to do. A check of ones urine specific gravity and ones serum electrolytes & osmolality should give ones doctor that information. If ones SG or osmolality are too high, and/or ones electrolytes are out of whack, one should probably try more fluids.
Your body also gets water from foods. You probably eat a lot of fruit and veggies, which are sometimes 90% water or more (watermelon, lettuce). If your doctor can’t point to blood tests that say you need more water, don’t worry about it.
I used to drink a similiar amount of liquid to you, Odd Tunes, and according to the doctors it was a contributory cause of my kidney stones. The kidneys need lots of fluids to flush them thoroughly. Take my word for it, you don’t want those darn stones! Very painful.
Reminds me, it’s time for another drink of water.
V
While I agree that you need to get water in some form I think the insistence that it has to be pure water is exagerated. I don’t care for water that much an I drink a lot of tea, soups and other fluids and I seem to be doing OK. I think our body tells us when it needs or wants more water. It’s called thirst.
Defecation only once or twice a week?
That’s amazing!
Does your … leavings… have the density of granite?
That sounds distressing to me, and since the large intestine absorbs water from the waste your low fluid intake is probably related. I can’t imagine your colon could withstand the abuse for much longer…
True in the vast majority of cases. Of course, there are rare disorders where people don’t thirst, are prone to dehydration. This occurs more often in the elderly.
I never drink water. I do drink almost a gallon of tea a day, so I’d say I’m adequately hydrated, but my mother warns me that I’m killing my liver and kidneys.
But I’d need to check your liver and kidney function tests first to say for sure.
If anything in the tea would be doing you harm, it would probably be the caffiene.
Kombucha, Comfrey, & chaparral teas have all been cited as causes of hepatotoxicity. So stay away from them. Your basic tea-leaf tea (Camellia sinensis, Theaceae Family) has no such associations.
