Kitchen Concoctions: Homemade Organic Sports Drinks

Most sports drinks are just pollutionfests chock full of Kitchen Table Villains such as High Fructose Corn Syrup, food colorings, additives, preservatives, and artificial flavorings and colorings.

The two widely available sports drinks I commonly recommend for athletes and those that are at risk of dehydration are Emergen-C and Recharge.

If you do not have these readily on hand, you can also easily make your own sports drinks at home. Making your own sports drinks is fun, cost effective, and MUCH healthier than most alternatives.

Ingredients for Homemade Organic Sports Drinks:

• Pure Organic Fruit Juice (No High Fructose Corn Syrup!)
• Water or Green Tea
• Organic Sea Salt

Directions: Fill your sports bottle with half juice and half water. Add a pinch of organic sea salt, shake, and enjoy!

Sports Drink Variations and Information:

• You can use table salt, but organic sea salt is best to use as an electrolyte source as the minerals of the sea are very similar to our own electrolyte composition in our blood. Sea salt contains 84 minerals. Aside from sodium, you are receiving potassium, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese, and more!
• A small pinch of sea salt is sufficient for most, a larger pinch should be used for endurance athletes, and convalescent care to stave off hyponatremia, the dangerous condition of low sodium levels that can cause muscle weakness, confusion, slurred speech, and more.
• The RDA for sodium depending on your age, ranges between 1200-1500mg daily.
• Most athletes lose around 1000mg of sodium per hour, depending on how much they sweat, you do not have to replete all of this at once though, doing so may result in gastrointestinal distress such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
• Most sports drinks contain around 20-60mg of sodium per 100 mL.
• One teaspoon of salt contains 2400mg of sodium. For hard core endurance athletes such as Ironman triathletes, that are in need of strict sodium regulation, I would aim for about 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt an hour for starters. If you get cramps or weakness in your muscles then you probably need more sodium and magnesium. If you get an upset stomach, chances are you need less sugar and electrolytes. These are just basic guidelines, the best formula is the one that works for you!
• Soups like chicken and vegetable broth can also be enjoyed as electrolyte sources.
• Green tea can be used for athletes wanting a little bit of a fat burning or energetic edge.
• Honey and sea salt can be added to green tea or your favorite herbal tea if fruit juice is unavailable. Enjoy hot or chilled.
• Try adding an Emergen-C packet to your room temperature green tea for an energizing, fat burning sports drink! Let the tea cool a bit because vitamin C is heat sensitive.
• Herbal teas can also be used in this formula as a simple way to deliver herbal medicine to sick children.
• Hydrating foods such as watermelon, cucumbers, honeydew, cantaloupe, and other such water packed fruits and vegetables are also excellent sources of water, sugar, and electrolytes. They are “Nature’s Sports Drinks”! Keep them in your refrigerator and serve them up cold to kids that have been actively playing in the warm summer sun.

Reference: Exercise Associated Hyponatremia, Cape Town, South Africa 2005. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. 15(4):208-213, July 2005.

Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by my kitchen table!

~Dr. Nicole

Naturopathic Physician

www.KitchenTableMedicine.com

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