Okay, to make a long story short, I don’t drink pop anymore. (I gave it up for Lent a couple of years ago, and figured, why start again?) Usually, I drink bottled water, but it’s expensive and my parents don’t like to buy it. Our town’s tap water has a horrible aftertaste, so sometimes I need something to drink. So I will make Gatorade out of that powder mix that they sell. Anyway, my mom doesn’t mind, since it’s pretty cheap. But my dad insists that drinking gatorade if you’re not sweating (or getting ready to sweat) is a bad thing and can hurt you. I think that it won’t, and it gives me something to drink. Even if I’m right, I’ll never be able to convinve him, but at least I’ll know I’m right… (That is, if I actually am right)
It’s certainly extra calories, but beyond that there’s nothing in Gatorade that can hurt you. It’s mainly salts and electroyltes with a generous serving of sugar to make it palatable.
Here’s the ingredients list:
Sucrose, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Salt, Sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, natural and artificial flavors, calcium silicate, Red 40, partially hydrogenated coconut oil.
The sugar is probably the most dangerous thing in there.
So does a glass of gatorade have more or less sugar than a can of pop. If I can convince him that pop is worse, I might have a chance (Since he drinks alot of pop)
Gatorade has much less sugar than soda (pop). And by sugar I mean simple carbohydrates.
Soda has roughly twice the sugar of Gatorade. But when comparing between the two, keep “serving size” in mind.
Gatorade advertises roughly 50 calories/serving for an 8 oz. serving.
Most soda (not diet) has roughly 150-180 calories from sugar, but a serving of soda has traditionally been one twelve ounce can. In other words, if you drink a quart of Gatorade you are not consuming less carbs than a can of soda.
Apples to apples:
12 oz Gatorade = 75 cal
12 oz soda = roughly 150-180 cal
As both Gatorade and soda have negligible calorie contributions from protein and fat, most calories are provided by “sugar”.