Gatorade and Powerade have spent millions on advertising campaigns to make us believe that their products are synonymous with fitness, health, and well-being.Their entire selling point is that their products offer some of the precious minerals we lose when exercising heavily, among them potassium. Keep in mind that we should be getting approximately 4,000 milligrams of potassium a day as you read the following.
When looking past the smoke and mirrors, we find that:
ONE 12 OUNCE BOTTLE OF POWERADE CONTAINS:
* 90 calories * 22 grams (5 1/2 teaspoons) of sugar
* 47 milligrams of potassium (a measly 1%!)
ONE 12 OUNCE BOTTLE OF GATORADE CONTAINS:
* 75 calories
* 21 grams (5 1/4 teaspoons) of sugar
* 45 milligrams of potassium (again, just 1%!)
* 21 grams (5 1/4 teaspoons) of sugar
* 45 milligrams of potassium (again, just 1%!)
In other words, don't buy the hype. If you are an avid exerciser and need to replenish fluids and minerals, make sure to drink water after physical activity and chow down on any of the following within 30 minutes of working out: fresh fruit, raw nuts, tuna/grilled chicken/peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread, and non or low-fat dairy.
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5 comments:
Is propel less lame than these two?
What if you are doing a long (>2 hrs) workout at high intensity? Is it necesary to replinish throughout? (I think it definitely helps) What do you recommend?
If you must choose a non-carbonated soda, aka "sports drink" I would choose one without so much sugar--one without High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Since purchased by PepsiCo, Gatorade how contains HFCS, a cheap sugar.
Try skimmed milk. It's practically unbeatable nutritionally as a recovery drink. I know it sounds pretty boring. But it's excellent. A cup contains 400mg of potassium. The only way to improve it's recovery value is to add a couple of spoons of sugar, or some nesquik powder.
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