Sports drinks are one of the biggest marketing scams in history.
These "performance" drinks are marketed as the perfect post-workout remedy because they're packed with electrolytes.
ELECTROLYTES: the fancy name for the minerals potassium, magnesium, sodium, and calcium. These four minerals comprise ~2% of body weight and are important to nerve and muscle function. Electrolytes are minerals that conduct electricity when they're mixed with water, which is how they allow our muscles to contract and our bodies to move. We lose water and electrolytes when we sweat.
Sports drinks are made of synthetic and chemically made electrolytes, processed sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and food dyes. Their reputation as athletic performance enhancing beverages is good marketing, not proven science.
With repeated use, processed sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and food dyes contribute to bad health outcomes. Many avoidable chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and liver disease are related to high intake of processed sugars in the diet, like sports drinks!
Switching to sugar-free options typically means getting more synthetic chemicals which often have a worse health profile than sugar.
Naturopathic physicians like to restore electrolytes with fresh fruit! Honeydew is 90% water, and contains all 4 electrolytes- potassium, magnesium, sodium, and calcium- everything you sweat out during a workout. You can also try an apricot, banana, or citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit! Fruits also contain fiber, which balances the sugar intake, so eat the whole fruit, not just the juice.
Don't let good marketing convince you that the "blue" performance drink is doing your body more good than a natural healthy diet!
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