To wonder what is wrong with people who don't really drink

Well I probably drink around 3ltr a day which my PT is happy with. Im the healthiest I’ve ever been. I like to be hydrated 🙂

Have you been tested for diabetes OP? Extreme thirst like you're describing is a symptom.

It's not normal to be desperately thirsty while eating a meal, no. It is pleasant to have a drink to pace the meal and conversation but it shouldn't be necessary to wash the food down... that is odd.

No, you don't need 'litres' of the stuff. People who drink to much lose electrolytes and can feel more thirsty because of that. You don't need to have water with you at all times if you're healthy.

I think you need to get out more and realise how much variety there is amongst different people! Personally, I find very peculiar those people who carry huge water bottles around with themselves constantly and can’t go for more than about 10 minutes without swigging inelegantly from it. I can’t believe it’s necessary as it only came in fairly recently - nobody drank so much before the 80s or 90s. But I certainly don’t lose any sleep over it.

I am just never thirsty. Or at least I don’t recognise that feeling. I do drink a few cans of Diet Coke a day because I like the taste and they give me energy but I have to force myself to remember to drink water. I always eat without a drink. And I can play two hours of tennis and not think about a drink. It is a bit weird, I know.

Presumably the residents are okay? You drank diet coke so you can't be that fussy.

I don't usually drink with a meal. When I am thinking about lunch at work where people bring their own, we all just eat the food, I can't think of anyone sitting in the work canteen with a drink alongside their meal.

This is so alien to me😂 At my work everyone has either a bottle of water, bottle of pop or brew with their lunch.

I grew up in a household where we didn't have liquid with meals. DH grew up in one where he did. He gets a drink to go with his meal and I don't (unless it's a glass of wine). I prefer to drink after a meal rather than with it, and at any time other than that if I'm thirsty. Neither of these attitudes feels weird to me. I mainly drink tea anyway. Are you American OP? This feels like a rather American attitude, especially being a guest in a household with well water that isn't necessarily what you would prefer to drink. However, having lived in such a place myself, I think I can reassure you that it might not be what you prefer but it isn't going to poison you if you're only there for a few days.

I can quite happily go for hours without drinking anything, I mostly just have a cup of tea in the morning and maybe a couple of coffees through the day and that’s it. I don’t drink with meals unless I’m eating out.

Even weirder is people who have a hot drink with their dinner. Such a weird thing to have a cup of tea with lunch/dinner. My dad and his ex wife always used to offer me tea, no water or cold drink, just tea.

I don't usually drink with a meal. When I am thinking about lunch at work where people bring their own, we all just eat the food, I can't think of anyone sitting in the work canteen with a drink alongside their meal.

There's certain things I wouldn't eat without a drink though, eg bread pre-meal, something spicy. I'd usually have a drink pre-meal or after but only occasionally during.

I'll have a coffee after but we are talking 15 mins later in a separate location.

Drinking with meals is partly social conditioning. People are raised to do so in many families, restaurants try to sell drinks with food.

Hope this has helped with your sleep somewhat, good sleep is important, nearly as important as keeping well hydrated.

I like a cold non fizzy drink when eating. I think it's probably because if I ate something and it was really hot as in temperature, I could for a drink quickly. Has happened in the past once or twice!

You have a charmed life if this is what’s keeping you awake

I am fully prepared to be flamed here, but why would an adult only drink what I consider children's drinks - sweet drinks and no water, tea/coffee or other hot drinks?

I forget. Genuinely. I have to literally carry a bottle with times written on it!

I have ADHD - I sometimes forget to pee too and wonder why I hurt 🤦🏻‍♀️

My friends and relatives are warned to ask or just help themselves.

Im with you OP!

I hardly drink alcohol but I need water everywhere!! A bottle in my bag if I’m doing errands. One at the side of my bed. Always with a meal. I drink litres of the stuff. We need it!

I was round my nan’s for a Sunday roast the other week. Nobody had a drink with their meal. I just helped myself to a glass of water and though wtf is wrong with you all? How can you eat a roast without a drink?

Also the array of drinks that you seem to require are not good for you. I get this is a weird situ with the well, but water (tap and bottled) is the best thing for you to drink if you’re dehydrated enough that you feel thirsty (thirst is a symptom of dehydration) not 7up, cranberry juice and Diet Coke 🤔🙈

RampantIvy

even after it has been boiled?

Apparently they think that water you have to boil isn't safe.
Presumably even after it's been boiled.

We only have tap water to drink. We do buy in bottles of fizzy pop if people are round, and we have tea and coffee and alcohol on offer too. But day to day for us and the kids, it’s tap water. Coffee for me too 😂

Is anyone else wondering why the people the OP is staying with don't have access to clean drinking water, even after it has been boiled?

It can work the opposite way around as well, though. I wasn't allowed a drink with meals as a child. My stepfather thought all children had some devious compulsion to avoid eating their food and asking for a drink was a trick to "fill up on water". I hated it and found it really difficult to eat. I remember getting slapped for sneaking a quick drink out of the tap while he was out of the room. I always drink with meals now, and so do my children. DH is more of a camel - he drinks about a litre of water in one go every so often, but doesn't need it the rest of the time.

I also remember being painfully thirsty at school, to the point of being unable to concentrate. It bemuses me when MNers say "we didn't have all this newfangled bollocks of swigging water all day, and we were fine". I can't be the only one who wasn't. Frequent UTIs and always thirsty, it was miserable.

I’m with you on this. I always have a drink of at the very least an empty glass waiting to be refilled next to me.