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I think we do, for two reasons. First, we are affluent enough to drink a lot of pricey recreational fluids, including alcoholic, sodas, and coffee/tea. Second, modern plumbing and light, cheap plastic containers have made access to water universal. I always have a couple of gallon milk jugs full of water in my car, so I am never far from drinking water, and there are water taps everywhere.
When traveling in the third world, which is much like traveling in a different century, access to drinkable fluids is much less to be taken for granted.
Poeple eat and drink alot now days.I really doubt we drink as much water has we do not work and need as much fluids and retrin more because of it.That is what happens with weight.
I was thinking the same thing, most of us dont have to tend to our crops on a daily basis for survival. Then again the availability of liquids in bottled form is so available today.
I cant remember the last time I have seen my Mom and she's not carrying around this huge plastic mug of water.
I still disagree that drinking a lot is just related to eating a lot and being overweight. I drink a lot (a lot) and I'm not fat and don't eat gluttonously.
Yes, people today are fatter than people were in the past. Yes, portion size, of food, is generally bigger today than in the past. But people like me are not eating bigger portions of food, but are drinking a lot more. I can't be the only one; I'm sure there are lots of people like me--not fat, but do drink a lot, and couldn't be satisfied with the small drinking glasses of yesteryear.
So I really want to leave the food thing out of this, as it's a confounding variable. I am just interested in drinking fluids. Not fattening fluids, but fluids in general, especially water. If you take out the food/gluttony variable, do people drink more today than they did 50+ years ago?
It's also not just related to ready availability of bottled beverages--I started off talking about drinking glasses, and bottled drinks would not really affect glasses. If availability of bottled beverages has caused us a society to drink more fluids, this would not necessarily affect the size of our drinking glasses; we'd be drinking from bottles. I tend to not buy bottled water, as it's wasteful (to me) but I have a water purifier/filter at home and one at work. At home I constantly fill my huge drinking glass, and at work, I constantly fill my huge cup.
And if you do want to focus on bottled beverages, just look at soda bottles. In the 40s & 50s there were coke bottles that were 6 1/2 ounces and 10 ounces (I also inherited a collection of old coca cola bottles). Today, that wouldn't be very satisfying. I don't drink soda, but the people I know who do usually buy the big 16 or 20 oz bottles.
I have not read the whole thread, so forgive me if I repeat. I feel that people used to drink when they got thirsty, but in the past 25 years we've been told that we need to be drinking water constantly...which I do not. People think they can't go on an errand without a bottle of water...It's silly IMO.
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