Quitting caffeine

Amp34 · 9 Mar 2015 at 11:59

Castiel said:
Not according to my GP, Urologist and nutritionist. All of whom say I (male) should be drinking around 2 litres a day, more depending on my exercise regime. This doesn't include food....I pee around 4-5 times a day. Again, this is what I was told is healthy by my consultant.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/water-drinks.aspx

Thats against the original scientific advice, which was 2 litres a day including food. Unfortunately most people didn't realise that. That hasn't changed last time I looked so it's odd they all say that you need to be drinking 2 litres as well as water from food consumption.

Most people will get about a litre of water from their food, with another litre needed from actual liquid.

But as said it depends on who you are and what you do. I don't drink a huge amount of water, even when doing lots of exercise in hot weather compared to many people I'm doing it with, however don't feel thirsty and my pee is fine so...

Edit: just tried the formula and it comes out as 1.6L for someone at 12st, so about a litre of water a day physically drunk, which seems reasonable.

Amp34 · 9 Mar 2015 at 12:09

BunnyKillBot said:
There is a big difference between sucrose and fructose. Of course, always check the label because most supermarket juices are indeed added (cane) sugar. Freshly squeezed no additives, rock on.

If it says fruit juice then it's a juice with no added sugar (even from concentrate). If it says juice drink then it's got added stuff. Always worth checking.

Personally I prefer smoothies, although most store/cafe bought smoothies are way too full of juice and light on blended fruit.

Castiel · 9 Mar 2015 at 12:19

Amp34 said:
Thats against the original scientific advice, which was 2 litres a day including food. Unfortunately most people didn't realise that. That hasn't changed last time I looked so it's odd they all say that you need to be drinking 2 litres as well as water from food consumption.

Its not. Everything I have read, including the NHS websites all say we should be drinking around 2 litres of liquids a day....not eating it, specifically drinking it. I thought as you did, but every single medical professional I have spoken to in the past two months (and that three urological consultants, two nutritionists, a GP, a uro-oncologist and a professor of medicine) all say that is not the case. One said that the average, reasonably active man needs around 3-4 litres a day of liquids to stay adequately hydrated. around 80% of this will come from beverages and the rest from other sources such as food. the major portion of your fluid intake should be liquids, preferably water...they all said the same, while saying that it is a rough recommendation and each person will be different...hence the peepee check..

If you are not thirsty and your peepee is nice and light in colour then you are probably drinking enough.

Amp34 · 9 Mar 2015 at 13:06

Castiel said:
Its not. Everything I have read, including the NHS websites all say we should be drinking around 2 litres of liquids a day....not eating it, specifically drinking it. I thought as you did, but every single medical professional I have spoken to in the past two months (and that three urological consultants, two nutritionists, a GP, a uro-oncologist and a professor of medicine) all say that is not the case. One said that the average, reasonably active man needs around 3-4 litres a day of liquids to stay adequately hydrated. around 80% of this will come from beverages and the rest from other sources such as food. the major portion of your fluid intake should be liquids, preferably water...they all said the same, while saying that it is a rough recommendation and each person will be different...hence the peepee check..

If you are not thirsty and your peepee is nice and light in colour then you are probably drinking enough.

The scientific evidence doesn't seem to tally with what is recommended by NHS choices. A good example is found in this (non scientific) article showing the difference between the NHS website and scientific study http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/13/myth-eight-glasses-water-day . As with much scientific stuff evidence is divided and much of the information out there is out dated... Best way is to check your pee as you say.

The origin of the 8 glasses/2 litres of fluid a day is an interesting one though. It seems to have come from the U.S. nation research council in the 40s, where it states you needed that much. The second line, stating much of it comes from food, was "lost" to history.

When I'm actually at my desk all day I have to force myself to drink at least 3-4 glasses of water a day, I can quite happily go a day with just a pint of water when not exerting myself. If I'm hiking in hot conditions I'm "lucky" if I drink more than a litre-ish if I'm not actively forcing myself to drink more. I'll have someone besides me that's finished their 3 litres in the same time and still thirsty. Pee comes out fine though.

Xordium · 9 Mar 2015 at 14:28

The simple fact is that you like calories and "it's my genetics" water is not magically disappeared or created. Therefore, you have to simply replace what is lost through what would be termed "insensible losses" ie water vapour from breathing and sweating and what would needed to give an adequate supply to the kidneys to sustain sufficient secretion. Anything over and above that is due to a non-optimal (for human metabolism) environment.

Try challenging people where they get their figures from and the rationale behind them and the may not be able to tell you.

Amp34 · 9 Mar 2015 at 14:48

Exactly, the more you sweat/expel water, the more you need. If you're a really "sweaty" person then you'll need more water. This whole idea of having to drink a specific amount of water a day is a bit weak, but then so is the recommended calorie intake on the side of every piece of food. It's a guide, rather than hard and fast rule.

Xordium · 9 Mar 2015 at 15:14

That is why as a base line I prefer to actually use a researched formula that accounts for body surface area and the loss across that along with what would be an acceptable filtration rate for someone of a certain age. You can then fine tune that with several other variables eg exertion, humidity and temperature etc.

Standard values for adults are stupid. Eg let's take paracetamol arguable the most given drug in the world. We diligently calculate the dosage for under 18's up to 1g max exactly tailored to their actual size and then for all over 18's we are given a dosage of 1g exactly whether we are dealing with a frail 5 ft 70 year old female or a 18 stone 6 ft 8 in bloke. Totally stupid. We are all drastically different. And in the case of actually requiring fluid we have very good homeostatic indicators that tell us exactly when we need to drink that have had years of fine-tuning.

Judgeneo · 9 Mar 2015 at 15:21

All of you with your algorithms, formulae, colour charts and guidelines. I use a different approach: If you are thirsty, drink water.

Xordium · 9 Mar 2015 at 15:25

Judgeneo said:
I use a different approach

Since that has been mentioned several times already I am not so sure that is a different approach.

Emlyn_Dewar · 9 Mar 2015 at 15:27

A week off tea/coffee so far for me, and still feeling pretty knackered.
I pretty much only drink tea/coffee, so it's always a huge shock to the system to give it up...
I find I'm sleeping better now, but I don't think there'll be much more useful happening.

This is how I get through the day now...

Xordium · 9 Mar 2015 at 16:24

Have you tried really chilled water. The cold action will give you an instant "wake-up" and therefore you'll subconsciously accept the similarity.