on days of normal activity, water is just fine–in fact preferable.
On days when I get a lot of excercise or am exposed to the sun, I drink gatorade (I also buy the powdered stuff). I am rather thin, and so my hydration tolerances are pretty tight (body fat helps to store water), but if I play a round of golf in the summer with only water to drink I come home with a headache and feeling generally rotten–no matter how much I drink. When I take the gatorade I feel fine. My own homegrown conclusion is that I lose a lot of sodium when I sweat, and so the gatorade helps to replenish that, along with some sugar to keep me going.
As I said, an energy drink is for those who exercise over an hour continuously, not for the average guy or gal. And if you have hypertension, you may want to avoid the sodium, but I’m not sure about that. I read that for some people sodium does not affect their blood pressure. I don’t know how you can tell if you’re one or not, so I guess it’s best to play safe.
Okay. Been hooked on “Survivor 2: The Outback” almost since the premiere. Last night’s weigh-in held a particular interest for me: I was wondering what effect consuming sports drinks AND drinking water would have had on the net weight loss, hair loss, overall energy levels, etc., experienced by the final four contestants?
I re-read this thread and I think it might not have slowed down their weight loss much, but with the sucrose shots they’d at least have had a little more pep daily. But I’m not sure of the health effect of drinking sugar water and rice for 42 straight days.
(From my doctor): Gatorade, in it’s normal form, is not all that good for you unless you’re burning up calories and electrolytes on the playing field and even then, he questions it’s effectiveness. In his own experimentation with the stuff, he finds it works better if you dilute it 40/50 with water.
As for regular water. It’s mainly used to flush the system, to help rehydrate the body, keep the bladder clean, the kidneys clean and even the liver. It can flush out more waste products with the 8 glasses a day, than just drinking if you are thirsty. It also takes away some of the appetite which helps you loose weight, helps soften your feces, flush the intestines and helps to prevent bladder stones.
Mineral water is best, depending on the minerals. City tap water is just fine because it has minerals in it. Spring water is the same, though some of it tastes like they bottled water weeds with it. I drink tap and distilled water.
If you are real sweat and muscle pulling active, then, in my opinion, drink water and Gatorade mixed. A salt tablet added depending on how much you perspire or the heat of the day is a good idea, but not too much! Pouring out too much body salt can cause your muscles to cramp.
Gatorade, because of the citric acid, gives me heartburn, so I rarely drink it. Pedialyte, if you can’t drink Gatorade, is even better.
In my Exercise Physiology class at university my professor mentioned an interesting point about Gatorade/Powerade/etc…, unfortunately I don’t have the textbook on hand right now.
As has been said earlier, exercisers do not need to replenish glucose or electrolyte stores unless they are doing prolonged exercise (ie. at least 60-90 minutes of strenuous exercise). For almost everyone, just plain water is fine to cover fluid loss.
However, Gatorade as sold (liquid) is not an appropriate source of electrolytes, and especially glucose. The glucose concentration in Gatorade is much to high to be properly absorbed. In order for glucose to be absorbed in the small intestine, water is required - almost the same amount of water as the container!
You would be much better served by buying powdered Gatorade and using half the amount called for, or diluting liquid Gatorade by half.
Also, Gatorade or any drink with sugar in it should be avoided in any sport using mouth-guards (soccer, hockey, etc…) as this can lead to a high rate of dental cavities. This is due to the sugar sitting in the mouthguard for long periods of time.
Tim Noakes, an exercise physiologist, did some studies on the concentration of glucose and whether and at what percentage it slows down the absorption of water. His conclusion was that any concentration less than 10% does not slow down absorption. Gatorade is 8%. You probably know that the formulation of Gatorade was derived from the actual constitutents of human sweat. In addition, the sodium actually speeds up absorption.
Nonetheless, I do buy the powder and use less than the amount called for.
I love this threat. As a person who actually happens to like PowerAde Fruit Punch (something about it being almost, but not quite, completely tasteless) and someone who also is trying to stay healthy, this is new info to me. No more PowerAde for this guy.
Now if only we can get that damn bunny to stop telling us that Nestle Quick is in some way good for us. Yeesh. :rolleyes:
The thing I’ve often heard said about Gatorade…If you can’t stand the taste, you haven’t been working hard enough to drink it.
Now, someone once told me that Gatordade, as it is sold in bottle was actually a concentrate meant to be watered down. But conusmers went and guzzled the stuff whole. The marketers weren’t about to do anything to reduce consumption so…
The thing I’ve often heard said about Gatorade…If you can’t stand the taste, you haven’t been working hard enough to drink it.
Now, someone once told me that Gatordade, as it is sold in bottle was actually a concentrate meant to be watered down. But conusmers went and guzzled the stuff whole. The marketers weren’t about to do anything to reduce consumption so…