Sports drinks are a big business in America. Last year Americans spent $5.4 billion on sports drinks. Are they a gimmick or something you need? People feel better drinking what their favorite major athletes drink. Sports drinks have benefits in some situations, but are not the best choice for most people. Water is best for hydrating your body.
Keeping your body hydrated while exercising is the most important reason to drink fluids. If your hydration levels fall 10%, you will see a decrease in performance. If it falls more, you will see significant drop in performance levels. Water is the best fluid to keep you hydrated for most people doing most exercises, not sports drinks.
To determine what you should drink is dependant on how long you are exercising. If your workout will be more than an hour of steady exercise, you should drink sports drinks. The problem that most people run into is drinking sports drinks for less of a workout. What this does is give you a big dose of sugar that you don’t need, and is counterproductive to why you are exercising.
The type and flavor of the sports drink can also make a big difference. A 32 oz. Bottle of fierce Grape Gatorade has 200 calories of carbs in the drink. If you are trying to lose weight by running, you will need to run about an extra 20 minutes to burn off just the sports drink. If you’re running longer distances over 1 hour, the extra carbs and energy will help you.
Sports drinks also don’t quench your thirst as well as water, so you will also have to drink more to get the same hydration level. You will probably drink more because they tend to taste better than water. Something new that will help water taste better are the new water mixes that you can get. Taste good, no calories, and better for you than sports drinks if you are exercising to lose weight.
Fruit juices, coffee, carbonated soda, and beer are all beverages that people drink when they are thirsty, but are not good for hydration. The carbs in the juice and soda is counterproductive, coffee is hot, and alcohol dehydrates you even more.
If you want to have a sports drink that will give you an energy boost and still hydrate you, try this. Get some frozen concentrated fruit juice; look at the can to see what you are going to get as far as calories from it. Then mix it with 4 times the water called for to dilute it. You will still get the same amount of sugar from it if you drink it all, but it will hydrate you much better because you will be getting much more water.
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