Gatorade Replacement Drink

My goal this summer was to find something to replace Gatorade for my both myself and my husband's frequent softball games. We play 3-4 times per week, so we have to have something to replenish the electrolytes, especially in this hot summer weather where we just sweat everything out. Drinking plain water doesn't always cut it when you play high intensity sports. I think I have been fairly successful, yay! As long as I have known my husband, he has been a die-hard Gatorade fan while playing sports. Probably because it is all he's ever known. However, have you ever read the ingredient list in Gatorade? It is scary. I don't even know what half the stuff is! So I did a little research:


Most Gatorade drinks contain water, sucrose (table sugar), high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, modified food starch, red 40 and other artificial colors, and some Gatorade flavor variations use brominated vegetable oil as a stabilizer.

Brominated vegetable oil has been associated with a wide range of health problems including delayed fertility, thyroid disorders, and kidney problems. Here's a link with some additional info:

http://thesilverclouddiet.com/2013/02/a-sugary-drink-with-a-toxic-secret/

The article I linked above also states that "a single serving of Gatorade contains 14 grams of sugar. This isn’t the simple table sugar your familiar with, but a potent mix of heavily refined sucrose syrups, think liquefied empty calories, and glucose-fructose."


Gatorade also has a wide range of artificial food colors, which have been found to cause damage to DNA. Some studies have shown cancer and tumors have been linked to certain artificial coloring.

And the list goes on! All of these horrible ingredients are in one drink! High fructose corn syrup could literally kill you. I'm not trying to be all doom and gloom, but come on people! Do some research and know what you are putting into your body. READ the article I linked below. This guy cuts through all the crap and propaganda that is fed to us about another health danger: high fructose corn syrup, also found in gatorade drinks.

http://drhyman.com/blog/2011/05/13/5-reasons-high-fructose-corn-syrup-will-kill-you/

Basically, anything that isn't real shouldn't be put into our bodies. Food shouldn't be from a lab. No wonder cancer, disease, diabetes, tumors, autoimmune disease, and other awful health related illness are rampant in our society today! It's like we're being used as guinea pigs - I feel like we're just experimenting and saying, "Lets's see what happens if humans ingest this genetically modified piece of crap.... Boom - Cancer." I for one like to know what I am eating and what the consequences are if I eat it. I don't trust something just because I am "told it's good for me." We have brains for a reason. Use them!

*End Rant* - On a lighter note, see the picture below, which is what we are consuming every softball game instead:    :) It is a plant-based electrolyte hydrator that is dairy, gluten, and soy free. I ordered it off Amazon for a significantly cheaper amount, but it can also be found at Whole Foods. Whole Foods also sells individual 1 serving packets for $.99 each if you want to sample if before buying a whole box. 
We like to mix in about a cup of organic, low sugar lemonade, and then 2 cups of filtered water. I think it is also great just mixed with water alone. They have two flavors: berry and lemon-lime. Berry is by far the better of the two, in my opinion. 
Now mind you, this is not going to taste like Gatorade. One of our friends tried it and wasn't too keen on it - probably because they expected it to taste just like Gatorade. This drink is actually good for you and will get the job done. You have to acquire a taste for more natural foods/drinks if you aren't used to it.  Hope this is helpful!