That’s High Quality Water…Errr, Gatorade…Errr Coconut Water!

Which is really the best for fueling you?

Seems like these days everyone is drinking something different to fuel their workouts. From Gatorade to coconut water, everyone has their own secret mix of high performance beverages. But are they really any better than water? Can a bottle of Gatorade, really make your grueling runs and arduous bike rides more enjoyable? As I am always looking for more something to make me feel less like throwing up during a workout, I looked into the science behind the products and consumer reviews.

Water

Water is crucial to any diet. Think of water as your base, it can help support your body with the other performance beverages that you may be drinking.

There are a ton of benefits to water, here’s a neat diagram from howstuffworks.com showing the most common benefits:

Water can also help you lose weight (makes you feel fuller), Exercise easier, boost your mood, and stave off DEHYDRATION (perhaps the biggest perk of water!) ALSO…ZERO CALORIES! WHAT, WHAT?!

Gatorade

Originally, Gatorade was composed of salt, sugar, water, food coloring, and citrus flavoring. Now every line of Gatorade differs on their ingredients list. Most Gatorade still contains those base ingredients and a few flavor variations contain brominated vegetable oil used as a stabilizer. SCARY! Brominated vegetable oil has been linked to cramping, blurred vision, and vomiting!

On a positive note, they have begun to use stevia sugar to sweeten some of their low calorie drinks.

Stevia has yet to be linked to any major health issues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatorade)

The beautiful thing about Gatorade is that it contains carbohydrates (Sugar has a place in our diets!). The sugar (or carbohydrates, essentially the same thing in the body) breaks down very quickly and gives us the energy that is in great demand when we work out. Also, the electrolytes (salt, potassium and chloride) found in Gatorade replaces those same minerals we are losing through sweat.

If you aren’t workout, Gatorade should not be part of your diet, unless you are severely dehydrated for some other reason.

Coconut Water

I recently discovered the beauty of coconut water. It is slightly bitter when not mixed with other things. I actually love the vitacoco flavors pineapple and mango. Coconut water has less sugar than other sports drinks, like Gatorade, but you can still drink way too much of the stuff. Again, it’s one of those things that you should only drink if you are dehydrated or need to perform at an optimal level during exercise. It is alos rich in sodium and postassium (replace those electrolytes baby!). Plus, it’s all natural!

So Which is best?

From multiple confirming sources including the Huffington Post and the New York Times, coconut water was better, but not by much, at fluid retention through a workout. For exercise performance, there was little to no difference between water, sports drinks, and coconut water.

A good point to mention that the New York Times stated is that sports drinks (including coconut water) serve a purpose for those who exercise for long periods of time (longer than an hour) but water was probably the best option for shorter periods of exercise.

What’s your favorite way of fueling during a workout?

Shut Up and WORK IT!

My college softball team used to say this chant before every game. We huddle together and say some motivational words sprinkled with smiles and winks and then we would put our hands in and someone would, "Ladies, lets get to..." and we'd all shout back a resounding, "WORK!" It made sense, we were about to do something that required a tremendous amount of focus, tenacity, and teamwork. It always got us going and ready to play.

Now out of school for two years now (I'm SO old, I know!), I had almost forgotten about the battle cry, until I read a post by the Fitness Nerd entitled "The Three Real Reasons People Succeed" (read it here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/10/22/3-reasons-people-succeed/). Great article! (I actually recommend that you read anything from the Fitness Nerd and his troops of rebellious nerds. He is so inspiring and will make you want to change your life!) Anyhow, after reading the article, I remembered how empowered and excited I felt when we acknowledged the amount of work we were about to take on and we "put on our hard hats" and got to work!

I think the same concept rings true for anything you want to accomplish in life, such as my journey to my fittest self. You must start out accepting, acknowledging, and fervently launching yourself into the work that must be done. Any path worth following will surely have some obstacles and work will need to be done.

I know myself well enough to shamefully admit that I start out projects with such gusto, like the hey-i'm-going-to-JUST-DO-IT, nose to grindstone, get work done! After a short duration, reality sets in and I start to get back to my normal half-arsed, “I don't need to put all of myself into this” attitude. And it happened with THIS fitness journey all too quickly! I once again followed in my normal path of jumping in feet first only to have my excitement wane as the weeks wore on, and it was only three weeks! First, my self-talk (you know, those little things you think about yourself) and the way I talk to others goes way negative, then my attitude begins to change from positive to nearly-pessimistic. It’s not long after that that my original mission nearly goes down the toilet!

So it all comes down to attitude.

Often, and all-too-recently, I forget that my attitude and the words I say physically affect those around me, my stress, and, in this case, my workouts.  Recently, I have found myself stressed and saying negative things about activities I love. I didn't worry about it too much until it reached its pinnacle last Thursday at my kettle bell class. I said something negative about one of the exercises the fitness instructor had us do. I meant it in a kidding kind of way but the instructor snapped back at me and caught me off guard. I didn't understand why he was mad. And then I thought, "Why am I being so negative, why am I making excuses?" This was my fault, this ones on me. So after being pissed at him for awhile because he snapped at me, I let it be a learning lesson that I need to adjust my attitude and my words. For someone who prides herself on having a positive optimistic attitude, I sure have to make that adjustment  an awful lot! I'm reminded of this lesson at least twice a year when my attitude starts to get sh..atty.

It was almost fate that I read this article, if you believe in that sort of thing. Read a snippet from the article below:

Those that fail give up at the slightest sign of resistance.  They willingly accept that “things got busy” or “I had a bad day” or “I don’t have time,” and then they complain that they can’t seem to get healthy. They get overly excited when the scale reads lower than expected, and then they become inconsolable when the scale moves up a single pound the next week.

Those that succeed?  They put on their “hard hats,” and go to work. No complaints. No excuses.  No feeling sorry for themselves.  Just progress.  They understand there will be good days and bad, busy days and slow days, days filled with awesomeness and days filled with sadness. They don’t allow themselves to ride the roller coaster of emotion.  They just shut up and do work.

...

Hard hats go on, clocks get punched, and work gets done.

              

 -Steve at NerdFitness.com

Life hands us attitude checks sometimes and it boils down to whether we accept the lesson or ignore it and continue to be pessimists (as Life Is Good says- there's no sense being pesimistic, it wouldn't work any way). How often do you have to re-apply that hard hat and go to work? Is it time for you to go to WORK?

Attitude check...where's your's today?

I know where mine is, it's time for me to shut up, drop the excuses, scratch the complaints and GET TO WORK!