drinking with a meal or 30 mins before meal?

dinneenp · 16-09-2010 2:32pm #1

Hi,
Some say don't drink water/milk with a meal. Also don't drink 1/2 hour before eating.
Any reason for this or urban myth?
Thanks,
Pa.

EileenG · 16-09-2010 5:35pm

Unless I see evidence to the contrary, I'm voting urban myth. I've never seen any convincing reason for this.

Sapsorrow · 16-09-2010 6:11pm

Personally as someone who as digestive problems, I find anything more than a tiny bit of fluids with meals makes me uncomfortable and I feel more sluggish afterwards. If it's not causing you any grief I wouldn't worry about it though, just listen to your own body to see whether it's bothered or not. AFAIK the logic behind not drinking with your meals is that you are in effect diluting your digestive enzymes and making it more difficult for them to do their job.

--Kaiser-- · 17-09-2010 7:47am

Not too sure on this either, I generally don't drink half an hour before meals anyway, so I can't say if it makes a difference.

I wouldn't drink a lot of liquid with a meal however as it can tend to make you chew your food less and wash improperly chewed food down with lots of drink......if that makes any sense.

metamorphosis · 17-09-2010 8:43am

While i can't drink too much with a meal, i find that drinking a little beforehand really helps me and prevents some normal digestion issues i might have otherwise

wha · 18-09-2010 1:00pm

I find I HAVE to have a drink with a meal... is this weird? I don't enjoy my food unless I have some water or another drink with it. In restaurants I'm always the one who drinks most of the jug of water on the table!

Does this mean I'm not digesting properly or anything?!

Sapsorrow · 18-09-2010 1:09pm

wha wrote: »

I find I HAVE to have a drink with a meal... is this weird? I don't enjoy my food unless I have some water or another drink with it. In restaurants I'm always the one who drinks most of the jug of water on the table!

Does this mean I'm not digesting properly or anything?!

I used to be the same when I was younger, I used to drink a pint or two of water/squash/milk etc with each meal to my mothers dismay. Then when I started getting into nutrition as a young teenager and heard it wasn't ideal I started to wean myself off it, it was just a bad habit I'd formed. Now I would find drinking a lot with my meals repulsive. The other possibility is that you're dehydrated and that meal times is the only time you're actually recognizing it. Do you drink much water in between meals or eat a lot of salty foods, smoke or drink a lot of tea/coffee/sugary drinks?

brianthebard · 18-09-2010 2:02pm

I drink several litres of water a day and a pint of water with every meal, and the only side effect are regular visits to the bathroom. So like sapsorrow says it really just comes down to how you feel and what you prefer.

wha · 18-09-2010 2:06pm

Sapsorrow wrote: »

The other possibility is that you're dehydrated and that meal times is the only time you're actually recognizing it. Do you drink much water in between meals or eat a lot of salty foods, smoke or drink a lot of tea/coffee/sugary drinks?

Interesting point! Sometimes if I have a drink between meals I'll be like "wow... didn't realise how much I needed this!". And I do drink a lot of coffee... I'll try more water during the day and see how that helps!

here.from.day.1 · 18-09-2010 2:15pm

I cant eat a meal without a drink of some kind.. usually because the food is very dry or spicy.

gerrycollins · 19-09-2010 4:31pm

its said(ive no proof) that having a drink of water before a meal tend to fill up your stomach and leave you less hungry and less likely to eat more than you should.

if you are cooking at home no issue but handy when out and about.

also having it warmed a bit is said to get the system working so that the meal wont sit heavy on your stomach.

EileenG · 19-09-2010 5:51pm

There was a study which found that drinking two glasses of water before meals resulted in greater weight loss than control. But when Temple checked out the study, she found that the control group were not required to do anything before meals, so the extra weight loss could be due to the intervention effect (having to do something special reminds you that you're on a diet, so you eat a little less). You get the same effect just from writing down what you eat.

Can't see what warming the water would have any effect. In fact, if drinking water did work, it's likely to be from the body having to burn extra calories to raise the temperature of cold water to body temperature.

gerrycollins · 19-09-2010 8:56pm

EileenG wrote: »

There was a study which found that drinking two glasses of water before meals resulted in greater weight loss than control. But when Temple checked out the study, she found that the control group were not required to do anything before meals, so the extra weight loss could be due to the intervention effect (having to do something special reminds you that you're on a diet, so you eat a little less). You get the same effect just from writing down what you eat.

Can't see what warming the water would have any effect. In fact, if drinking water did work, it's likely to be from the body having to burn extra calories to raise the temperature of cold water to body temperature.

what i was told is that the warm water starts the system in the morning and if you drink cold water in the morning, especially, your inner working could go into a shock with cold water hitting it first thing in the morning.

personally i believe it to be tosh

EileenG · 19-09-2010 9:19pm

Because humans evolved to only drink warm water? No wait, we evolved drinking cold water and we all died from shock? No, must be something else.

Come on, you've drunk cold water or juice in the morning for most of your life. Did you go into shock? With Irish weather, warm is nicer, but the idea that we can't drink some cold water is just nuts.

gerrycollins · 20-09-2010 1:16pm

EileenG wrote: »

Because humans evolved to only drink warm water? No wait, we evolved drinking cold water and we all died from shock? No, must be something else.

Come on, you've drunk cold water or juice in the morning for most of your life. Did you go into shock? With Irish weather, warm is nicer, but the idea that we can't drink some cold water is just nuts.

hey i know only stating what i was told before.

rubadub · 20-09-2010 9:03pm

EileenG wrote: »

In fact, if drinking water did work, it's likely to be from the body having to burn extra calories to raise the temperature of cold water to body temperature.

Yes, I have head of anorexics taking ice baths to burn more calories. I think part of the reason people get sick more in winter is they are eating the same amounts and not compensating for the energy to keep warm (amongst other reasons).

Here is a article on water & fatloss,
http://www.ergo-log.com/waterweightloss.html

that website has loads of interesting studies, in layman terms http://www.ergo-log.com/

Sapsorrow · 20-09-2010 9:13pm

I remember doing this in college and being told the effect is due to the weight of the water depressing the stomach wall and so causing a nerve impulse to trigger the release of satiation signals/hormones from the brain, effectively telling it it's had enough to eat.

rubadub · 20-09-2010 9:22pm

Sapsorrow wrote: »

effectively telling it it's had enough to eat.

I saw a program before about soup being more satisfying.

Again from that site is an article on blending up your protein shakes to increase volume, after having a blended shake men drank 12% less kcal later on at lunch than men who drank theirs unblended.

http://www.ergo-log.com/weightlossshake.html

drinking with a meal or 30 mins before meal?

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