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5 Reasons to Ditch the Sports Drink plus a Healthy Alternative!

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5 Reasons to ditch the sports drink - ohlardy.com

Ask any athlete what their go-to product for electrolyte replacement is and I guarantee that almost everyone will say Gatorade.  Or Powerade.  Or any other -ade product.  The marketing campaigns of these products has been quite successful.  While most people think that sports drinks are doing their body a favor, in reality these “aids” are doing more harm than good.

Here are five excellent reasons to ditch the sports drinks for good!

  • Sports drinks that you can find in the store are loaded with refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup.  They have almost as much sugar as soda!!  Just think of someone who is trying their hardest to exercise and lose a little bit of weight.  Chugging a sports drink after that exercise isn't going to help their weight loss efforts at all.
  • Along with the electrolytes that are included in sports drinks, you will also find artificial flavors, sweeteners, and colors.  None of these are food and none of these belong in your body.  Their only role is to create a flavor and appeal that is simply missing from the product.  These ingredients certainly don't replace electrolytes.
  • There is a LOT of processed salt in these products.  This is understandable because these drinks are designed to replace the sodium lost during high intensity exercise.  I would like to stress “high intensity exercise” here because if you are only working out at a moderate level and are not sweating profusely, these drinks can do more harm than good.
  • The acidic nature of sports drinks can be very damaging to teeth.  The citric acid present in the product softens tooth enamel, and your dentist probably wouldn't be too happy about that.
  • For most people these sports drinks are useless.  The average person exercising most likely isn't performing at a vigorous intensity for longer than an hour.  In this case, a drink of water would be more beneficial than any sports drink.

So, what is the alternative for an endurance athlete that must replace the electrolytes lost during an intense workout?

Coconut water.  Coconut water is a natural source of potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, and phosphorus.  Besides electrolytes, coconut water also contains B vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and antioxidants.  Simply, coconut water is a good, good food.

My husband is a runner and after his LONG runs, he needs something more than water.  Tamara was kind enough to share a healthy sports drink recipe with me that I would like to share with you today!

Making this drink is so simple you may wonder why you didn't think of it yourself.  Or, maybe you have!  We would love to see it! 

Healthy Sports Drink

Ingredients
  

  • Ice
  • Coconut water I like to choose a product that is NOT from concentrate
  • Lemon or lime or a mix
  • Healthy pinch of Sea Salt
  • Honey a teeny bit if you like a sweet drink - we think it is delicious without
  • Basil a leaf or two, chopped

Instructions
 

  • Fill your water bottle with ice and top off with the coconut water.
  • Squeeze an entire lemon or lime into your drink and top it off with a healthy pinch of salt.
  • Add the basil and shake it up to combine (be sure to put the lid on first, ha!)
You may wonder why salt is added if coconut water is already a source of sodium.  While coconut water is loaded with potassium, the levels of sodium just aren't sufficient to replace the sodium lost during a high intensity/endurance work out.

I must give my husband credit for adding the basil to the ingredient list.  On a hunch, he added the basil, and it was a good move.  This drink is so versatile, so have fun adding to the flavor mix!

Enjoy!

Please share your creations with us in the comments section!

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5 Reasons to ditch the sports drink - ohlardy.com

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13 Comments

  1. I am a runner – and I put in a bit of honey and salt in one of my water bottles during my long runs (over 7 miles) to help – way cheaper than those gel chews they sell – and way better.

  2. With that freakin’ “share” sidebar <— over there it makes it impossible for me to read this story – I have opened this page in 3 different browsers – at BEST I have about 4 lines of unobstructed text to view. Really, really lame. I would subscribe if I could read it! He'll, I would read it if I could read it!!!

    1. Well thank you so much for kindly letting us know. That is weird. I am not getting that at all in any browser that I am using. Do you see your profile picture for the Facebook icon with the word ‘switch’? If so, click that. Sometimes on other sites, I have that problem. It seems to rectify it. I am not seeing the problem myself, so hard to figure out what you are seeing.

  3. Great recipe. My older son really felt the difference during a sports camp, and was happy to ditch the commercially prepared sports drink. His favorite variation was watermelon chunks, a squeeze of lime, a tiny amount of mape syrup, sea salt and coconut water liquified in the blender, then frozen into ice cubes, with plain coconut water poured over top. Thank you for giving us an excellent recipe to play with!

  4. To prepare for a colonoscopy, they often tell you to mix the Miralax with a light colored sports drink or juice. I would rather use this recipe for a sports drink based on the ingredients compared to the commercial drink. Do you think it would be okay in terms of the high level of potassium in the coconut water compared to what is in the commercial brand?

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