Kaplifestyle

A Lifestyle and Fitness site by Gabe Kapler

You are here: Home / Drinks / Replacing “Sports Drinks”

Replacing “Sports Drinks”

By 14 Comments

Let’s get straight to the point. There is a far better way to replenish lost fluids than drowning yourself in toxic colorings, chemical additives, and ridiculous amounts of fake sugar. Gatorade, Powerade and the like have no business calling themselves “sports drinks.” They have absolutely no place in the nutrition plan of a healthy athlete.

This commercial lied to us beautifully when it told us impressionable moppets that we could “be like Mike” if we sucked down a Gatorade after a workout. Since then, more and more drinks claiming to replenish fluids and electrolytes have been marketed to us in this fashion. If you’ve been following this blog, you already know we don’t fall for that shit. You want an alternative, and I want to give one to you.

First, let’s identify what the aims of sports drinks are:

  1. Taste different than water.
  2. Hydrate before, during and after strenuous physical activity.
  3. Replenish electrolytes.

The first two aims can be accomplished fairly easily, so we can get to them momentarily. The third is trickier. It’s helpful to understand the function of the electrolyte. From bodybio.com:

Electrolytes turn on all thought and motion, almost like a wall switch. They trigger all events like muscle action by controlling ion channels. Ion channels are the gates that open and close to move life support material to and from cells in the body. Say for example, you want to start running. Your brain starts the signal that initiates a complicated series of timed muscle actions. Every sequence of that function is both timed and controlled by electrolytes.

Basically, they’re critical. They are not, however, difficult to find. From fitbie.com:

A better way to replenish the electrically charged particles needed to maintain fluid balance in the body and aid the muscle and nerve functions necessary for athletic performance: Pick up a spoon and fork. “Foods contain so many more electrolytes, as well as vitamins and other health-protective compounds,” says author and sports dietitian Nancy Clark, RD.

Now we’re talking. You know we endorse whole foods at every turn. But this isn’t about finding foods to replace Gatorade; it’s about the convenience of a drink for competitive athletes. We’ll need two key components to replicate the claims of the big hitters: potassium and sodium, the electrolytes essential for muscle contraction and ones you lose through exertion and sweating. Oranges have the former, and the latter we can shake into a water bottle, so let us start there.

Squeeze an organic orange and shake 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a large bottle of water.

Boom. You have successfully managed the three objectives of a sports drink without:

SUGAR, DEXTROSE, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR, SALT, SODIUM CITRATE, MONOPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, GUM ARABIC, SUCROSE ACETATE ISOBUTYRATE, GLYCEROL ESTER OF ROSIN, YELLOW 6

Oh, and in the orange, you’ll get a healthy dose of Vitamin C for antioxidant protection and immune support in its natural form.

I wonder what Mike would charge me to endorse OJ, water and salt?

Kap

  • AgentsSka

    FYI, salt is in your capitalized list of ingredients not included in your new mix of; water, orange juice, and salt.

    • Paul Foley

      and the OJ contains Sugar and Citric Acid

      • TJ

        “Taste different than water.
        Hydrate before, during and after strenuous physical activity.
        Replenish electrolytes.”
        The orange makes it taste different than water. Water is hydration. All 3 were covered. Natural forms of citric acid and sugar are much better alternatives than what manufacturers put into the drinks.

        • Paul Foley

          the natural sources may be better — though the argument could also be made that the sugar from fruit juice is unhealthy without the fiber that is consumed by eating the actual fruit. Doesn’t change the fact that this is poorly written. You haven’t actually avoided 25% of the ingredients that Gabe is saying you’ve avoided.

          • Chris

            Paul,

            I believe you are getting lost in minutiae. The point of this is that “Sport Drinks” are loaded with artificial ingediants and that simply using a real fruit and salt accomplishes the goal. If you want to criticize Kap’s writing to make you feel good I’m certain that he’d encourage you to continue, but his loyal readers that have improved their lives over the past year don’t give a fuck :)

  • bill

    Living in Tallahassee, I’ve always had a natural aversion to Gatorade. I just read somewhere that it’s a good idea to have a pitcher of water in the fridge with fruit in it. Supposedly packs a nutritional punch to your water. Lemons, oranges, grapefruit…sounds like a tasty experiment!

    • Big Man

      I can vouch for that. Every night, I cut up pieces of a 1 whole fruit and store it over night in the fridge in a gallon of water. The next day, I drink that water and repeat the process. Lemon water tastes amazing, you will be shocked if you have never tried it. I’ve done it with oranges as well but I prefer the lemons.

  • Paul Foley

    “The first two aims can be accomplished fairly easily, so we can get to them momentarily.” Will these be in another post or…

    • Darin

      I think part of TJ’s response was meant to be down here, so I will just repost what he said.

      “Taste different than water.
      Hydrate before, during and after strenuous physical activity.
      Replenish electrolytes.”
      The orange makes it taste different than water. Water is hydration. All 3 were covered.

  • Curtis Ippolito

    I squeeze lime into my water bottle before playing any sports. Thanks, Gabe!

  • HR Kap! My whole family is allergic to food colors, and all these “sports drinks” are full of ’em. I tell my kids they have the best food allergy, as it prevents them from drinking (and eating) crap mostly. My wife has a theory that many of these kids we medicate for ADD etc are actually having allergic reactions to food colors, many of which are banned elsewhere. The food color industry must have a powerful lobby in DC. Thanks for your work. Go Dodgers.

  • Chester

    Gee whiz, I didn’t know there was math on this quiz.

  • lien

    can’t agree more … the sport drinks that are filled with non-natural ingredients should be dumped

  • Pyro

    Plain table salt (sodium chloride) will not achieve the proper electrolyte balance. Potassium chloride (sold as “salt substitute”) is the preferred method for replenishing electrolytes in the medical community.