On the Importance of Being Hydrated
It's important to stay well-hydrated during your workout, especially during a particularly strenuous exercise session. (How to know if you're dehydrated? Thirst is the first sign; as it starts to move from thirst to dehydration, you may feel fatigued, weak, woozy, or queasy.)
For most exercisers, drinking plain water will do just fine. However, if you exercise for more than an hour at a time, I recommend adding some electrolytes to help your body more quickly and easily replace the fluids lost through sweat.
It takes the body some time and effort to take water you drink and bring it to the proper mineral balance to enter into your bloodstream, where it can do its job of clearing out waste products from your muscles and delivering nutrients to help your muscles recover and restock their energy stores. When we drink water that already contains this balance of minerals, we save the body some work, and bring ourselves back to a fully hydrated state faster.
I find that especially in the hot summer months, I have more stamina in my workouts (even those just 30 minutes long) if I sip on an electrolyte drink throughout my sweat session. Unfortunately, many of the sports drinks on the market contain artificial colors and other chemicals that I would really prefer not to put in my body.
Enter Hydrate from the Beachbody Performance line. With a clean and simple ingredient list, this product gets me the minerals my body needs without any of the junky additives. This drink actually separates fairly quickly (the powder doesn't stay suspended in the water very well) but I'll gladly keep on stirring it before I take a drink rather than consume surfactants with dubious health effects.
On this ingredient list you'll find:
Calcium citrate
Magnesium citrate
Sodium citrate
Potassium citrate
Quercetin (uncaria elliptica), a flavonoid polyphenol that quells inflammation in the body
Flavoring: natural mandarin orange flavor and citric acid
A blend of sweeteners: non-GMO beet sugar, stevia leaf, dextrose
Silica (a naturally occurring mineral that keeps the powder in powder form instead of gelling together into a gummy mess)
That's it!! Mostly active ingredients and a short, natural list of flavorings and preservatives.
Again, this product is a "nice to have," not a "need to have"... but it sure is nice to have it when I'm toiling away at an Insanity workout on a sweltering August day!
Want more info about this product? Interested in getting set up with a fitness or nutrition program tailored to you? Shoot me an email at the address below—let's connect!
