Sports Drinks And Sugar

Sports drinks used to be a slightly bigger industry but the main two competitors these days are Gatorade and Powerade. I’m not a big Sports drink fan because of the sugar that is in them. It’s not so much a problem that they have sugar, it’s that my body doesn’t metabolize sugar very fast and I end up wearing it.

image: Gatorade.com

This is also a problem with a lot of kids drinking sports drinks, thinking they are doing their bodies good even thought they may be overweight.

If you’re in fit condition and you don’t have a lot of fat on your body, then a conventional, sugar loaded sports drink is just what you need after or during a hard workout, so as your body doesn’t break down muscle proteins for energy. If you’re fit but still have fatty tissue, I would suggest a sports drink with a lower sugar content, as you still need a little sugar to replace the electrolytes, but still want your body to utilize it’s fat for energy.

Kids drink sports drinks these days because they taste good. I remember when Gatorade started to become mass marketed back in the mid 80’s. Back then it didn’t taste all that great. it tasted watered down and bland. For those that wanted to drink it for it’s electrolyte replacing properties, bit wasn’t a bother. In order to sell more, the manufacturer up the flavoring and made it taste better…with more sugar. I’m not saying sports drinks are bad, because they aren’t if used for sports nutrition and not just drinking something because it tastes good.

These days you can find different versions of Gatorade to include vitamin waters like Propel, which is artificially sweetened with sucrolose. It contains vitamins and also has some electrolytes as does it mother product, Gatorade. If you’re fit, then a convetional sports drink is the way to go to replenish after a hard workout. If you’re fit-but-fat (like me), or just fat, then you may want to consider an alternate drink to avoid the excess sugar in your diet. Gatorade also makes G2 which is a lower calorie sports drink. The potassium in these sports drinks is important for recovery so that’s something that you really don’t want to skimp on. If you are dehydrated or on the verge of dehydration then sports drinks are a perfect way of getting water, sodium and potassium back in to your system as well as carbohydrates (Sugars).