Is it ok to add stuff to your water?

Question

I know there is no substitute for plain ol' water but I have a REALLY hard time drinking it. I can barely get down a 16oz bottle in a day.

In order for me to be able to drink water consistently, I have to add those crystal light or lipton diet tea flavor packets. I use maybe 3-5 a day. Either that or drink hot tea.

Is this ok to do? Can there be harmful side effects in the flavoring packets if I use them several times a day?

Answer 1

Your body actually has an easier time absorbing liquids if there is something in them. So no, crystal light or lipton tea is not bad. Be aware of the sweetener content, though. Just like everything else, artificial sweeteners can be bad for you if you consume too much. Try mixing it up a bit. Cranberry juice, lemonade, apple juice, etc.

Answer 2

A difficult question since so far there hasnt been any hard evidence about adding things.
First let me say I am diabetic so I drink only the diet sweeteners like you suggest. My doctor says there arent really any harmful side affects.
Some studies say the diet sweeteners can cause some types of cancer. Others say no they dont. Essessive amounts of tea can cause caffine overload and caffine doesnt hydrate the body.
It takes 1 1/2 quarts of water to process 1 quart of caffine through your body so you are losing fluids by drinking tea.
Nothing wrong with adding lemon or crystal lite.
I would say the benefits of drinking all the water you should will far outweigh whatever harm it may do.

Answer 3

Most of these things especially Crystal Light have added aspartame,a synthetic sweetener.Aspartame is made from aspartic acid and phenylalanine.To amino acids that occur in many protein profiles.It's processed with methanol to make it aspartame.Aspartame has a low level of toxicity in humans and is not reccomended for people suffering from depression because it blasts the phenyalinine right into your bloodstream.The same thing does not happen when you ingest these amino acids alone or as a part of natural protein.Barring depression and no matter how scary everything I said sounds,it probably won't hurt you.So after much ado I finally answered your question.It's not the best but you should be fine.

Answer 4

Add the flavor if you like. No harm in doing that.
You don't need to drink 8 glasses (2 liters) of water a day. You certainly don't need 1/2 your body weight (in oz.) per day. You don't need ANY arbitrary target amount per day. Drink when you're thirsty. Period!

READ FOR YOURSELF:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp
http://calorielab.com/news/2006/05/28/8-glasses-of-water-a-diet-urban-legend

Answer 5

You can get the water down in any form, but try to avoid adding sugar, artificial sugar and other artificial ingredients such as flavor and color and preservatives.Try just lemon or lime. Vanilla water is good. hot or cold tea is fine.

Answer 6

Simple water is best for you ... try to at least force 1/2 gallon of water (no additives) daily ... then if you want to add the sweatners, you can ... but you should have at least 1/2 gallon of plain water a day.

Answer 7

I don't think that it is any worse than drinking soda or things like that, although some diet drinks or artificial sweeteners can be bad for your kidneys. Good ole water is the best for you.

Answer 8

I don't think that will harm you, but just try to give yourself a goal of drinking two glasses of plain water, and add on everyday.

Answer 9

Try and go more natural.

Squeeze a lemon wedge into plain seltzer or buy the naturally flavored seltzers.

Answer 10

Tea without sugar is fine, and has antioxidents that water doesn't have. Go easy on both sugar and artificial sweeteners, and also artificial coloring agents.