Natural Gatorade

I thought I would share this post from @iamwellandgood after I saw a woman guzzling a large Fruit Punch Gatorade at the gym last night. The woman was probably 50+ pounds overweight and was paying to work with a personal trainer, likely with the intent to lose weight. I felt for that woman. She was likely drinking that Gatorade with good intention. We’ve been told that when we sweat, we need to replace lost electrolytes. But drinking that bottle of Gatorade likely completed mitigated any potential for her to tap into body. Why? Let me explain. One of the main reasons we carry excess body weight is the inability to regulate blood sugar correctly (lets ignore the conversation of overconsumption of food for now). When we eat carbohydrates, they are converted into glucose (sugar) to feed our cells. Our body produces insulin to shuttle glucose into our cells. Without insulin, we would not be able to uptake glucose = type 1 diabetes. But insulin is also a fat storage hormone. So if there is insulin in your bloodstream, you WILL NOT be able to tap into body fat for energy since your body is going to feed off the immediate glucose available. If there is any left over glucose the body doesn’t use, it stores it away as fat. If you look at the ingredients of Gatorade, you will see that it contains sugar, dextrose, natural flavor (MSG!), salt, monopotassium phosphate, modified food starch, red 40, and caramel color. Each serving contains 14g sugar...and there are 4 servings in a bottle = 56g of insulin spiking sugar!! On top of that, you are ingesting Red 40, an artificially derived petroleum dye that is implicated in hypersensitivity, immune dysfunction, ADHD, and behavior disorders. Purdue University has done a number recent studies demonstrating this... Coconut water is great as a natural source of low glycemic sugar and electrolytes. Juice from lemons/limes (not concentrate) is a great source of potassium (electrolyte) and vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant. Vitamin C is able to squelch free radical damage from oxidative stress generated during intense exercise. And magnesium is great to increase blood flow, relax the muscles, and balance blood pH.