My DH drinks nothing but coffee and alcohol - how bad is that?

[MommyisBusySean]

Every single drink my DH has is either coffee or alcohol. I literally can't remember the last time DH had a drink of water or squash or coke or juice.

He doesn't drink alcohol every day or drink to excess- we have a couple of glasses of wine a couple of times per week.

But every single drink he has during the day is coffee. He's probably drinking about 10 coffees a day.

I don't believe all the stuff about drinking 2l of distilled unicorn tears every day but I can't help feeling that (a) he's not getting enough water in general and (b) what water he is getting is coming only from coffee or alcohol.

Generally he's in okay health but I'm really worried about his drinking habits. Is it as bad as I think it is? What problems might be encounter from this? And how the actual fuck do I convince him to drink other stuff?

Thanks, I've NC because I'm a regular

I am not remotely medical but I think caffeine might be a diuretic? So not doing much in the way of hydration. I imagine over time that would be very tough on his kidneys (although again this is just guessing).
Would he drink flavoured water maybe?

or squash or coke or juice. none of these are healthy at all.
Squash- sugar or additives
coke- disgusting stuff , sugar and additives
juice- full of sugar

The coffee is made from water. 10 mugs of coffee is giving him more than enough water. he may (some people) get hyper from the caffeine and in some people this can lead to palpitations or insomnia.

Otherwise, no issue.

Polly I was just giving examples to show that he drinks nothing but coffee and alcohol. I know they're all unhealthy though I do love a can of Coke in the afternoon

Lapin That's what I've been reading and that's my concern. Nope, doesn't like flavoured water apparently.

Polly He doesn't get hyper from the coffee. I think he's used to it now!

I agree with PP. There is a lot of water in coffee! But 10 is a lot unless it's very weak - probably best to switch to decaf for some of that.

I would be worried about that much caffeine tbh.
Must be some other non caffeinated beverages he enjoys? Buy a range and sample them?

Yika Definitely not weak, he likes very strong coffee. He hates the taste of decaf apparently but I think it might be more to do with the fact he's addicted to coffee and needs the caffeine.

Decaf has been shown to cause cancer- the chemicals used to remove caffeine.

He will not be getting dehydrated from 10 cups of instant coffee. That's around 2.5 ltrs a day- far more than we need to stay hydrated.

I'm more worried about your coke habit- far less healthy.

Whatslove Our fridge is stocked with all sorts of drinks but, nope, he'll always go for a coffee instead.

Doesn't his breath smell?

Don't think there's any reason to worry

www.nhs.uk/news/2014/01January/Pages/A-small-amount-of-coffee-will-not-dehydrate-you.aspx

ApuskiDoo Not particularly, no. I love your username- I remember that song

I agree with pp. Your habit of a coke a day and there being various types of drinks on fridge far worse than the coffee.

PollyPerky what are you on about? Decaf causes cancer? I'd like to see a credible link for that pile of nonsense.

My family growing up drank nothing but strong tea, no water or juice passed their lips.

They didn't become dehydrated husks. They lived long, active lives in fact.

There is a lot of water in food too: even bread has water in it for example before we get on to veg, fruit, gravy or soup.

He'll be fine. I had similar drinking habits for years and am one of those irritatingly healthy people.

Now I've given up alcohol and drink more coffee than ever. Caffeine may be a diuretic but he's drinking lots of liquid with it, it's not like he's popping Proplus.

Just make sure his dental hygiene is tip top, to prevent staining.

Gary in the past, the chemicals used to make coffee decaff were found to be carcinogens. Now, most companies use other things but the coffee has still been through a chemical process.

I only drink tea or coffee. But when I'm off work, like this week I drink some decaf tea and coffee too. At work I don't drink at all from 9-4 as I only get a 10 minute break.

It's not ideal. I know everyone's saying it's ok but it can have an impact on your health long term. My brother in law had similar drinking habits (drank nothing but caffeinated drinks and alcohol - not to excess but that was all he drank) and he ended up being hospitalised with a severe aphasic migraine. It was so severe paramedics initially thought he was having a stroke (he fully recovered btw). Not saying it's common but it can happen.

There's not really too much you can do though, just encourage him to drink more healthily.

To be clear, that wasn't the only reason he had the attack, there were other factors involved.

Dh does get migraines occassionally but then finds the caffeine helps with these.

My husband refuses to drink pure water as well. He will drink tea, coffee, alcohol and orange juice. Can I genuinely tell him that he's likely to get self-inflicted kidney stones? please say yes

Some interesting studies about coffee reducing deaths from some causes - not super strong evidence given all the confounding factors but clearly better for you than coke / squash / fruit juice.
Let the man drink coffee and get rid of some of the unhealthy options in the fridge.
Unless he's taking it with cream and 2 sugars!

If someone has a tendency towards kidney stones then avoid tea, chocolate, beetroot, spinach, rhubarb, cola and nuts more than coffee.

My mother is like this and wonders why she gets UTIs.

"Do you never get really thirsty mum and just need a big glass of cool water?"

"Yes, but then I pour myself a long gin and tonic with a nice slice of lemon instead"