The FastDay Forum

Ok, so I may be getting too pedantic, I'm simply curious

We're told to stay hydrated, and hydration comes up time and again

So my question is "are all liquids created equal?"

If I drink a cup of decafinated herbal tea, does that equate to one glass of water or do I need to drink the water as "hydration"?

In this cold I struggle to drink water, and hot/ lukewarm water doesn't do it for me. Hot water with lemon makes my stomach uncomfortable ... so I drink more herbal tea but I'm wondering if I'm doing more harm than good ...

What do you do? How much "water" do you drink vs other clear liquids like decafinated herbal teas

Thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?

Thanks

Jen

Hi Jen. Sounds fine. I drink hot water and herbal tea over cold this time of year. Just stay away from caffeine (or drink plenty of water with it) and alcohol

Agree with Karen. Basically when you fast you aren't getting any fluid that you would from food so you need to drink more. Herbal teas are fine. Personally I keep a glass of water with me at all times...and warm up with a nice cuppa tea.

If you are new to fasting and are used to a high caffine intake, its best not to cut out the caffine too quickly as the withdrawal symptoms can make you pretty rough coupled with fasting. Headaches are quite common if you are used to 10 cups of tea a day and try to switch to just water for a day (I know from experience.).

Great topic Jen
I'm struggling same as you, I've had to really force water on myself and throughout the summer I did quite well but recently its dropped big style and as I'm getting a few headaches now I assume that's the reason I'm still having cups of tea + oxo on fastday afternoons but need to pull my socks up. Sue

I've never cut the caffeine out. Can't stand tea in any disguise. I've always worked on the principle that whatever I do has to be sustainable and cutting coffee isn't as far as I am concerned. I don't seem to have any problems with hydration as I drink water, bovril and non caffeine as well.

Thank you ladies

I don't drink a lot of caffeine, two cups of regular tea with milk in the morning and may be an espresso in the afternoon. The rest is all non-caffeinated herbal. I don't drink salty drinks like bovril, or oxo, or marmite

I don't have problems with headaches, I was more thinking does the body treat the liquid from those teas the same way or does the fact that its infused with something else make it harder for the body to process?

I guess ultimately it doesn't make any difference because I still can't drink the same volume of plain water in the winter so I'm sticking with my 4-6 cups of herbal and keeping my fingers crossed I'm not doing more damage than good and putting my kidneys under a lot of pressure to function


Jen.

Hi:

This has been a question since the days that people were walking around with water bottles trying to get their allotment of water for the day (back then, tea, coffee, soda, beer etc. did not count).

The simple answer is liquid is liquid. Hydrate with whatever works best for you.

Enjoy!