It’s never made sense to me that some people refuse to drink water even if they know it keeps you functioning properly. The same people will complain of constipation or dry skin but don’t want to do the thing that fixes their issues.
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Some people live or grew up in areas where the water source tastes weird or gross, so they might have a mental association of water with a negative quality. Some people remark that water is generally flavorless. I’ve heard this from other people on the spectrum. I prefer water with some kind of flavor. Water without a flavor is only satisfying on a hot day or if you’ve been working out. This is possibly a side effect of growing up with a high sugar diet where you expect everything to taste sweeter. So it might be attributed to the sugar industry’s “fat makes you fat, sugar is fine” lasting effect on the populace.
You are spot on. Water is absolutely not flavorless.
Fortunately I live in a place with high quality clean water, and on a warm day if I’m very thirsty, the taste of water is really really good, it clearly beats any soft drink IMO. I can even prefer it over a cold beer when I’m thirsty!
But even minor contaminants can make it taste way worse, if you live in a house with old plumbing, or if you can see buildup in the metal filter most taps have, the taste of your water is probably influenced by contamination besides Iron from the pipes. Good iron pipes are OK, but new synthetic pipes are better.If I drink a carbonized mineral water, I can also most definitely taste the carbonation.
If the water smells like rainy weather or wet skin or in some other way smells off, it is probably contaminated. However the water can have a slight metallic smell because there are actually naturally occurring minerals in the water. BUT if your water is discolored, it is definitely contaminated, and drinking it can make you sick.
Our water is pretty high on calcium, but there is for instance also a small amount of lithium. Lower calcium water taste a bit sweeter, so natural water definitely exist that is even better than our water.Remember always let the tap run for a short while before drinking from it.
If the water doesn’t taste good, it’s probably because it’s not good.I don’t think the cold water on a hot day is about flavor. Its just as flavorless as its ever been. Its neutral and you can’t get away from that without flavoring it. Bad water can taste aweful but the best is just going to be neutral. We like the taste of acidic things for some reason. Not sure why. The cold water when hot is more a craving and if for some reason you can’t get ice cold water but you can soda. Even if your not a soda drinker you may guzzle the icey drink.
This is just not true. When my wife’s family moved to my home state they all though that the water tasted “sweet”. Good tasting water definitely exists.
If i moved there I would get it tested to find out why it had that flavor. Pure distilled water that is only h2o definitely does not.
Sad for you, but just because you can’t taste it doesn’t change the fact that water actually has taste.
pure distilled water does not. if water with taste is water then great. I personally have a bad habit of drinking a particular flavor of water called soda.
Sometimes discoloration of water is just it being full of air. My HOA’s backup water well is like that. It’s been tested and is fine to drink, but it’s incredibly cloudy until it’s sat for a few minutes.
Also, if you’re on well water get it tested. Even if it was fine when you moved in, things change. Maybe the new farm down the road’s fertilizer is leaking in to the ground water. You won’t know unless someone tests.
If it’s only air it just gets cloudy, not discolored.
It can be disolored from iron, and that’s not a health problem AFAIK.I have never heard of anybody here in Denmark who has brown or cloudy tap water. That would simply not be considered acceptable.
Tap water here is always CRYSTAL clear, and generally higher quality than bottled water.
I don’t like drinking water. Obviously I can and do, but even then only filtered water with ice. But my main complaint is that it has no flavor, it’s not very satisfying. Maybe it’s because I was raised on soda, but I like something a little sweet and with a little flavor, so I drink slightly-sweetened iced tea.
It’s definitely because you were raised on soda.
I think many people simply prefer a tastier option than “flavorless.”
My friend from work doesn’t drink water. Like. At all. She drinks Diet coke like all day. She’s in her 50’s and has a ton of health issues. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
That is insane to me.
Same, you offer me a Coca-Cola or a glace of tap water, I go with water any time. Cola will just make me more thirsty and my mouth will taste unpleasant sugary for hours. It’s just isn’t nice.
My favorite beverage is a glass of ice water. Friends are always offering a beer or a soda, and all I want is a tall glass of ice water.
Now I carry a big Stanley cup of ice water everywhere I go.
I know two people who refuse to drink water, and even say that they HATE water.
totally agree, but you lost me at stanley cup
Not the hockey trophy.
It’s one of those big 40 oz insulated cups with a handle, lid, and straw. Put in some ice and cold water, and it will stay cold for 24 hours. They were made famous by the Stanley Tool company. The Stanley ones are about $45, but now there are lots of cheaper knockoffs. I got mine at Aldi for $13.
They’ve become an entire industry in themselves. They even make accessories for them. I saw a short news story on the wildly decorated house of a woman who designed a special purse that had two compartments, one for her stuff, and one for her big tumbler. She made them in all sorts of color combinations, and had them all displayed on shelves in her basement office. They’ve become extremely popular, and have made her rich.
Get one. They work great. I carry mine with me everywhere I go. When I leave a fast food place, I always fill my empty cup with ice, and dump it in my tumbler when I get in the car.
I’ll bet that’s way more about the “Stanley Cup” tumbler than you thought existed.
The water in some USA cities does taste terrible. Some rural and city water is unsafe to drink. Grow up in one of those places, and one may hate it.
water can taste either really bad, or like nothing
not water tastes consistently better than water
I love water, easily my most preferred beverage; I’ll choose water even if my meal comes with a drink. But it makes me sick in the middle of the night or in the morning. I don’t get it. It makes me nauseous. If I cut the water with juice or I drink coffee it’s fine. If I wait until like 11:40 am, it’s fine. But if I wake up parched at 4 am and I chug water like I want to, I’ll feel sick. If I drink half a glass before breakfast? Sick. OJ? Fine any time. Coffee, apple juice, 2/3 apple juice with 1/3 water? All fine. What’s wrong with me?
Nothing comes close to a crispy glass of cool water
Sounds like something you should seriously ask your doctor.
Is it possible your tap water is low quality? An interesting experiment would be to boil some water for 5 min to kill any bacteria. Then let it cool, and then pour it in a container and pop in the fridge. Then try drinking that in the morning and see if it resolves your issue.
With the coffe it’s already getting boiled for a short time, with the apple juice and oj, you might not be drinking enough water for it to affect you, and it’s getting diluted.
It’s happened for years over many different houses and locations, even different states. That was a good and thoughtful response though, thank you!
In different states? Do you huff steam?
Har har har. I’ve been to different states in the US
Might be electrolyte imbalance.
My husband hates drinking water because his parents only gave him water to drink when he was sick. Otherwise it was all juice and milk.
Basically they’re people who got caught in the food industries propaganda.
They might consciously know they need regular water, but their body is now craving sugar with every sip. If it’s missing, it feels wrong.
Sugar needs to be much more regulated, especially for kids… Adults may be responsible enough to handle it but without regulation the industry will run wild and make everyone addicted.
I’m on the opinion that marketing anything related to addiction is immoral and should be illegal. This includes cigarette, gambling, sugar, drugs (looking at you oxycontin), alcohol and even caffeine.
There is a backdoor into people’s brains that should not be used. Allow people go get their own coffee and sugar but don’t remind them it’s missing when they’re quitting.
(Coffee has been shown to be beneficial in reducing the overall death rate in adults when consuming something like 2+ cups a day so marketing it could be beneficial but the chance kids getting addicted to caffeine is something to avoid regardless.)
Absolutely agree. It is horrible how our governments allow corporations to use that backdoor to extract as much shareholder value from us as possible
As a counterpoint, I don’t replace water with anything sugary/flavored. I just… don’t get thirsty, like ever, unless I’m working outside in hot weather. Most people’s bodies remind them to drink. Mine doesn’t. I try to remember to drink water throughout the day rather than just at mealtimes, but if I don’t have a glass next to me, I will almost certainly forget. I feel like I can’t be the only person like this.
Hmm, interesting point. Thanks for sharing.
Perchance do you have autism and/or ADHD? I ask because I experience the same thing as you do, and for me, it feels like it derives from my autism/ADHD. Like, sometimes the first cue that I am severely dehydrated is that I get a headache. I get a similar thing with hunger, where I could legitimately go for multiple days without noticing I’m hungry if I don’t get reminded that food is a thing.
ADHD here and I do this way to often. I have reminders set to drink water or I will often go a whole day without eating or drinking anything. It is absurd.
+1, ADHD and will forget to drink anything until I start feeling low BP. Usually good at feeling hunger thankfully.
(not oc) yes, this happens.
Undiagnosed, but yeah it’s very probable that I am at least one of those.
The food industry’s propaganda is that you need to drink 2 litres of water a day. You don’t.
In 1974 the book Nutrition for Good Health, co-authored by nutritionists Margaret McWilliams and Frederick Stare, recommended that the average adult consumes between six to eight glasses of water a day. But, the authors wrote, this can include fruit and veg, caffeinated and soft drinks, even beer.
Honestly not sure where to start with this one.
I’m sure the blanket statement of needing to drink 2 liters of water is misleading in plenty of situations but I really don’t think this is what we should be focusing on. This is the last thing from the food industry that I’d consider propaganda. Not to mention that it’s really not a bad recommendation, and a 50 year old book 2 people wrote (no matter their qualification) isn’t really a solid foundation for an argument like this.
Of course water intake is highly individual. Athletes may drink 10+ liters per day, but most people are probably fine with just drinking when they’re thirsty.
I don’t think anyone is saying that 2 liters are necessary for survival. You can get away with much less. The thing is, it’s easy to drink more than enough, it has many benefits, and there isn’t really much of a downside to it. The 2 liters are a rule of thumb, not an exact required amount for everyone.
Regarding the beer, we know nowadays there is no amount of alcohol that is healthy. Sure, beer might be able to hydrate you when enjoyed in moderation, but it’s plain counterproductive when recommended as a healthy diet.
I only recently found out I have literal bad technique when it comes to drinking fluids, end up inadvertently swallowing too much air which makes it an unpleasant experience. Combined with ADHD and I’m a poster child for dehydration. Not that I experience much issues, but my skin is definitely dry.
wait, i might have this problem. would you be able to describe or link to a guide on fixing it?
Lol, I wish. As far as I know, this isn’t a well documented thing, my PCP was kinda like, “huh, that’s interesting, I wonder how many people are dehydrated because of that.”
The only reason I discovered this is cuz my girlfriend knows me very very well and she suspected there was something off. So she asked me probing questions until we discovered I’m literally drinking incorrectly.
So the best I can do is give you a couple of different ways to drink and see if you notice any difference in how easy or difficult it is to comfortably drink without ingesting air.
So first thing we did was have me drink from a bottle. Any bottle where you can form a full seal around the opening with your mouth. Tilt back and let the fluid fill your mouth as much as possible before starting to swallow. That should mean a very minimal amount of air in the first gulp, and no additional air in each subsequent gulp because it’s sealed.
Contrast that with drinking from a normal glass, and you may find that you’re gulping down air as you’re drinking with each gulp. In that case, a straw will probably prevent you from doing that.
But really drinking from a bottle really illustrated the mechanical difference to me and made me realize my hatred for drinking was definitely born of a physical discomfort which was ultimately from a poor technique.
And after I thought about it, I was like ya know, no one really ever taught us how to drink did they? We all just figure it out, and assume we all learned the same lessons.
This might have all been the biggest factor in me never really being into drinking alcohol, because the very concept always sounded like a chore to me.
Anyway, I hope that helps!
What about drinking with a straw?
I did briefly mention that, yes, straws definitely help! I would recommend them.
thanks for the writeup! I dislike straws but am going to try using them for a few days to see if I notice a difference, alongside the bottle trick.
If you remember to, please report back, more data is always good!
It doesn’t make sense to me that I don’t like drinking water. When I lived in the desert, I would drink it all the time, but it’s a habit that I’ve fallen out of. Strangely, I went back to the desert on a trip and immediately resumed drinking water again.
For me, I don’t like the taste. I can taste the chlorine and fluroride and other stuff in the water. I have an RO system with carbon filter and then I need to have it near freezing. Even then, I need to put stuff in it like berries, cucumber or mint. I don’t drink pop, sports drinks or other stuff like that. I do drink tea and coffee.
Yeah, my doctor told me that I’m dehydrated, so I’m trying.
“Because I’m not poor! I got all the water I need from food”.
My boomer dad, constantly suffering from health issues because of poor hydration. Does not help that the only liquids he consumes are beer and wine.
That’s the thing, though. People need about 2 litres of fluid a day, and most of that comes from their food.
Maybe if you gave him a wet food diet, like a cat or something.
Don’t eat cats, that’s gross.
Water? That’s where fish fuck in.
That was way funnier before you got morbidly obese.
I drink as much water as I can handle at work so I can go take a leak and have my phone out and not risk getting in trouble with the boss. I don’t eat breakfast or lunch. Since starting work 3 months ago I lost 30lbs. I’ll eat anything for dinner and I haven’t been trying to lose any weight.
I will add that moving to first shift after over a decade of second shift has been hard on my system and I’ve vomited in the mornings before work more often than not. It’s like clockwork. I have learned that I’ve got a window of about 4 hours after work during which I can eat. Sticking to that keeps morning nausea at bay thanks to an empty stomach in the morning.
Anyways water is great. The other guy at work brings cases of bottled water which I try to understand. The water quality here is quite good and a majority of my water at work comes out of the tap. I have no complains and I wouldn’t spend a dime more than I am now for what I get in addition to microplastics.
You should go to a doctor if you haven’t already.
I appreciate your advice and will do that as soon as new job insurance kicks in but I am a sweat machine doing a physical job in increasing heat. Its a birth defect I was born with that had pediatricians warning my parents it could be a sign of cystic fibrosis. I am in OK condition currently and far past the CF terminal years. Back in gradeschool I would have salt on my cheeks after recess from dried sweat.
If I step out of my fan zone at work I’ll be sweating in under half a minute and beads will roll off my face two minutes later. I’ve been wearing my winter coat at work in the heat to remain comfortable while in the fans. I am not always standing in my fans.
I also started back on nicotine vapes. Everybody at work smokes cigarettes and I’d rather have firsthand smoke as opposed to secondhand smoke. When in Rome and all. It sucks and isn’t the wisest life choice but that’s the breaks.
Thanks again for your concern. If I didn’t have a litany of ways to lose weight going on I’d be more worried. I’m not doing anything I don’t have to do to lose it. I was over 200lbs from being a couch potato for a year. Now I’m only a potato 2 days a week and I bought a new chair.
For my fiance it’s due to autism, we live in annars with amazing water quality and I drink it without issues. She can’t handle the flavour sometimes though, she gets nauseous. The solution is to add sugar free flavouring to the water. Works pretty well and she actually drinks enough water now.
This is our time to shine Hydro Homies!
