Better Than A Sport Drink? 7 Healthier Picks To Power Up Your Workout

Monday, June 4, 2012 Better Than A Sport Drink? 7 Healthier Picks To Power Up Your Workout After a tough workout at the gym, many people reach for a sports drink. You know the ones; those technicolor fruit drinks, most often labeled with an "ade" suffix ("Powerade," "Gatorade," etc.) and an ingredient list long enough to make any nutrition-minded person give pause. At about 100 calories per 16 ounces, on average, a sports drink can certainly put a dent in the caloric maintenance of a workout session. And while doctors and sports nutritionists recommend the drinks for endurance and pro athletes, who need the extra calories, sugars and salts, the average gym class warrior isn't in need of anything labeled "G Series Pro 02 Perform." That's because research shows that athletes don't deplete their electrolyte and glycogen stores for more than an hour of intensive training. For those of us who maybe sweat it out over a three mile run or 45-minute spin class (certainly nothing to sniff at, but not exactly record breaking either), lower-sugar and all-natural alternatives to the standard variety of sports drinks can have the "same benefits, but also health benefits for the long term," explains Elizabeth Applegate, Director of Sports Nutrition and a senior lecturer in nutrition at University of California, Davis in an interview with HuffPost Healthy Living. "Most of us who exercise are doing it to improve our health and to look better, so we want to think about what makes sense with that in mind." VOTE: Would A Ban on Supersized Soda Help People Make Healthy Choices? 8 Tips For Choosing Healthy Mexican Food Celebrities' Favorite Outdoor Workouts Sculpt A Tight, Toned Body Without Moving BLOG POSTS Mark Hyman, MD: The Last Diet You Will Ever Need Each of us has the capacity to make the small changes in our lives that will create big changes in our food landscape, our agriculture and even our government policies. Russell Bishop: How To Rise Above Your Negative Emotions What's the alternative when your negative emotions take center stage? The simple answer is to use them to get back on course. Sister Jenna: Pause For Peace: Join The Initiative When we meditate on a source we begin to rekindle that inner awareness of ourselves and not only remember we are peace and power but also accumulate those virtues and qualities in our souls. Ellie Knaus: Why We Sweat The Small Stuff (And How To Stop) Some of us would rather pretend our hard battles don't exist and invent a war over the trivial instead. Half the time, we don't even know we're doing it. But there's hope.

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