Easy, Homemade Gatorade-Style Sports Drink with Electrolytes

Sports drinks (and health-wrecking energy drinks) are big business these days. They can be quite expensive when you buy them for every practice, workout and game. ‘Big Drink’ doesn’t want you to know you can easily replicate sports drinks at home, likely with ingredients you already have in your kitchen.

Here’s how to get the benefits of sports drinks without all the (seriously harmful) chemical additives (and food dyes), without taking a hit to your wallet.

If you’ve followed Deep Roots for very long you may already know I have a good number of delicious, hydrating drink recipes from a Honey-Lemon daily detoxifier to a Mexican Hot Cocoa/Coffee that serves a medicinal purpose.  There’s also an additive-free, (exact taste) homemade Kool-Aid for active children, a Good Girl Moonshine for brain-boosting midday power-up, and our amazing Haytime Switchel recipe for when we had the farm and did some of the hardest physical work during hay-baling season!

The body becomes dehydrated when it has lost more fluid than it’s taken in, resulting in not having enough water to allow it to perform at optimal level. People won’t feel it right away as most people drink water only when they feel thirsty.

However, you’re already dehydrated at that point, especially if you keep going.

Moderately active people won’t see a difference immediately, but studies have shown that athletes’ performance worsens even at 2 percent loss in water volume. According to Dr. William Roberts, founder of the International Institute of Race Medicine, your skin, muscles and mood are not the only victims. Your kidneys, heart and cholesterol levels also suffer.

Any time your body performs a function that requires extra work, speed or endurance, you need to give water to the body in ADVANCE of the event.

Sports drinks are made to a specific concentration to provide a balance of carbohydrates for fuel and sodium and other electrolytes to maintain hydration levels. This is so you can digest them as easily and quickly as possible.

Coconut water provides a balanced flavor, an excellent source of vitamin C, thiamine, potassium, manganese, calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, and copper. Feel free to use plain purified water if you prefer, but you will need to add electrolytes, like sea salt and a powdered magnesium supplement, for proper refueling.

Natural sea salt contains close to 80 essential minerals, and all of them are available in colloidal form –meaning they are so small your cells can readily absorb them. (source)

Easy, Homemade, Nutritive, Gatorade-Style Sports Drink

The recipe may also need some tweaking based on your own needs:

• Adding too much sugar can cause stomach distress during exercise.

• Adding too little sugar can lower the amount of carbohydrates you get before, during, or after your workout. This can affect your performance and ability to refuel.

• I include baking soda because strenuous exercise leads to the buildup of lactic acid resulting in muscle pain and fatigue. Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) supplementation is especially popular during short bouts of high-intensity exercise with improved performance. (source)

• Magnesium is vital to peak cellular performance during exercise and to prevent cramps and ‘charley horses’.

Yield: ~80 ounces (10+ cups, or approximately 2.36 liters) and you can easily half or multiply the recipe

Ingredients:

• 7 cups raw organic coconut water (plus 1 cup hot water – see directions)

• 1/2 cup organic lemon juice (alkalinizing)

• 1 and 1/2 cups juice of your choice (with only their natural sugars) – pomegranate, apple, cranberry, orange, lime, grapefruit, or cherry juice

• 4 TBSP magnesium powder (as in Natural Vitality Calm, unflavored if you want to avoid additives called “Natural Flavors”)

• 2 slightly rounded tsp. Himalayan pink salt or Redmond Real salt (for trace minerals and electrolytes in balance with cellular fluid of the body)

• 1/2 tsp baking soda (alkalinizing sodium bicarbonate)

• 1/4 c. raw honey OR 1/4 c. maple syrup OR your preferred sweetener to taste

• If you are low on iron, add 3 TBSP black-strap molasses.

Directions:

First put the magnesium powder, baking soda, and sea salt in a large pitcher and then add 1 cup HOT water. Swish it around until the foaming stops (this means the magnesium is being activated). Then add the juices, sweetener, and any extras. After that, add the remaining 7 cups of COLD liquid. Stir, chill, and enjoy.

If you have a group game day, you can put together an ice bucket and a grab-your-own Gatorade-style sports drink bottle. Shake before drinking.

“True healthcare reform starts in your own kitchen, not in Washington.” ~Anonymous

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