drinking water

[howartt]

everybody seems to say different, how much water should we drink a day?

[mrs_overall]

It's recommended we all have 2 litres a day but this is IN TOTAL, including liquid in foods, cuppa's etc.
Most people mistakenly think they have to chug down 2 litres of water in addition to their other fluid intake.

[joggerjayne]

I think you should exclude diuretics, because they pass through you, and cause your body to give up more water than they give back to your body.

So you don't count coffee, tea, alcohol.

[heathfield]

It depends on where you are and what you're doing. While on military service in the desert (125�F in the shade) we were ordered to take a minimum of 8 pints of water daily. A bit different if you're sitting at home watching TV all day.

[Zax47]

joggerjayne, sorry but that's cobblers. The tiny diuretic effect of tea, coffe and alcohol is far outwieghed by the volume of liquid they comprise. If not then those who only drink tea and coffee would shrivel up and die! ALL intake of liquid is valid, whatever the form.

This was confirmed on QI, where a senior dietician from a London hospital was consulted about this very subject and gave her professional view (that what you said is rubbish). She also said there is no fixed amount you should drink each day - just drink when you are thirsty, the body is clever enough to know when it needs hydration - hence thirst!!

[shylock73]

2 litres of fluid per day is recommended by my dietician as long as it`s either water, fruit juice, squashes, caffeine-free coffee, tea, but not alcohol.

[Joyz]

"Drinking eight ounces of cold water can burn off an additional 9.25 calories as compared to room-temperature water," says J.T. Kearney, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist. It was originated in one of the posted articles of Sixwise.com