water vs. sports drinks vs. colas?

[M3CHK1LLA]

i don't ever read much, or post in the fitness threads, but i really didn't see any threads discussing this. if there is, point me the way and mods delete.

i though some of you health nuts could help me with a problem. im told i should drink more fluids, but i tend to drink more sports drinks than water and ive been seeing more about these drinks not being as good for you.

for many years i drank a lot of cokes (colas/pops), then switched to diet cokes which im learing is not really all that good for you either. so i changed to sports drinks and limiting my cokes/diet cokes to just meals.

question, how many bottled waters should one drink a day to stay hydrated and what limits do you put on other drinks?

thanks for your input

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Sports drinks are just soda without the carbonation, and maybe some salt added. They're typically just as bad, if not worse, than soda. It goes without saying, diet soda is just as bad as non-diet.

If you're thirsty, drink water. If you're not thirsty, don't drink. You don't really need to hit an arbitrary amount of water a day, unless your doctor says so specifically.

As for drinking other stuff, obviously try to keep it to a minimum. Though it really depends on why you're trying to cut down.

I only drink non-water beverages with a meal. But, I'm not on any restrictions from my doctor.

 

[USMarine75]

 

[budda]

Buy a water bottle, and remember to drink from it every few hours. "If you're not thirsty don't drink" is great until it's been 4 hours of steady work and you feel a bit dizzy.

I try to drink about 2-3 waterbottles (800mL?) a day, and then weekends are out to lunch unless I'm working OT.

I don't limit my other intake (coffee at work, juice at home) but I don't drink a lot of either. I do however drink enough coffee to keep my teeth from being as white as they once were.

 

[JSanta]

I have cut out all beverages that aren't water (except for my morning coffee) when I finally lost weight last year. I do have powdered drink mix from 4C that helps me get down about 2250mLs of water a day.

I'll echo what Max stated as well. Sports drinks are not really a healthy alternative, but moderation is key:

Gatorade may offer a good drink to complement water for athletes involved in intense exercise and activity. Gatorade may also be helpful to replace electrolytes lost during an illness that involves bouts of vomiting or diarrhea, or after prolonged exposure to excessive heat.

But Gatorade contains high levels of sugar and food dyes, which may increase people's risk of certain health conditions, including weight gain and type 2 diabetes.

Gatorade and other sports drinks are not inherently healthy or healthier than other beverages. When consumed regularly, Gatorade may lead to, or contribute to, problems such as obesity.

Source: http://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp.../HER-Sports-Drinks-Research-Review-6-2012.pdf

 

[Sumsar]

I don't consider myself a healt freak, but my body seems to be in pretty good shape, so I tell you what I go with:

Try to drink around 2 liters of fluids a day, mostly water.
I drink only:
Water
Coffee (I try to keep it under 2 cups/day)
Milk
Occasional fruit juice without any crap added (sugar / vitamins / etc)
Beer / Wine (Usually a single evening, every other week as a social thing)

If you do a lot of exercise in one go, say ride 100 km on a bike you might want to drink water with some added sugar and salts / minerals or eat some kind of energi bar.
You don't need protein shakes or weird stuff like that to grow muscles. Drinking a glass of milk after exercising provides you with all the protein you need - the body really can't absorb very much, so if you do use protein shakes, 95% of it will just end in the toilet.

As suggested earlier in this thread, buy a water bottle and have it by you desk / workstation. Just having it there will easily make you drink ½ - 1 liter of water during you workday. Depending on where you live, just drink tap water - where I live it is cleaner than bottled water.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

depends on what you need. If you're working out or do manual labor or if you're a heavy drinker or if you're on certain meds like those for controlling blood pressure, then sports drinks/electrolyte supplements are a godsend. On the minor end, they help prevent muscle cramping, dizziness and the other common symptoms of dehydration/heat exhaustion.
At the most extreme end, they can keep you from ending up in the ER with heat stroke or hypokalemia, both of which can lead to death. As far as basic electrolyte maintenance, you really don't need products like gatorade unless you fall into the groups I mentioned above, most people can get most of what they need from a decent healthy diet.
If the caloric content is the main problem, then there's plenty of low cal/zero cal options. Sugar is actually useful for people that are dehydrated but you don't need a ton, it's mostly there for helping with uptake of the electrolytes/offering some easily processed fuel for muscle cells and the brain.
TLDR: gatorade/pedialyte/etc serve a specific purpose, no point in using them unless you need them.
One thing I'll say about sports drinks over more concentrated substances like pedialyte/dripdrop/ORS, etc is that they make oral rehydration take much longer since they're diluted.

 

[Mathemagician]

You can look up more details online. Here is a breakdown:

Water. This is fantastic for your and you should be drinking it all throughout the day and with meals. It’s refreshing and often when you feel hungry you’re actually just thirsty. Your body doesn’t always get this right so drink some water when you fee snackish at first and wait a few minutes. Water is God’s nectar.

Sport drinks like Gatorade - these have high sodium (salt). They are meant to be drunk immediately after playing a sport in the sun and sweating buckets. Like drink one then keep drinking water until you’re good to go. That’s it. They are not “healthy”, they have a TON of sugar, they are not replacements for water. These can be hidden away in a pantry until you want one.

Soda- this is trash. Don’t feel bad we all love trash sometimes. However you can look up how much sugar is in one can on your own, how badly the contents affect the body for hours and days afterwards, and how easily the body starts losing weight once you cut out this trash. You shouldn’t just “have” soda in your house. It should not be on your weekly grocery list.

That’s from a health-only point of view. All too often someone asks questions like this and doesn’t like the answer and gets defensive with “well a snickers and Diet Coke are my daily treat and I’m not giving that up” and it’s like “....ok I don’t give a shit I’m not your abs enjoy your 600 calorie “treat” bro.”

Alcohol- beer is liquid bread, it’s carbs and calories and has zero nutritional value. Liquor and wine are only slightly not as bad. (A lot of) Alcohol also can slow down your bodies processing of nutrients for a bit.

TL;DR - drink water only and forever. You can look up calories/macros/health advice online.

 

[777timesgod]

Water all the way, stay away from energy drinks and of course the Soda drinks. Your energy will suffer from relying on water (glykoze helps release your current energy in a much faste pace) and not energy drinks but it is worth it in the long run health wise. They used to write the amount of energy provided by a can of Red bull in the past, I remember reading it and being shocked on the crazy amount contained in such a small container. It is bad for your heart to receive such an influx of energy unnaturally.

You do need electrolytes though after sweating a lot. You can get them from a mixture of water and salt (skip sugar if you do not want the calories), fruits can help as well with this matter and steer you away from the energy drinks.

I disagree on an extent to the "Do not drink unless you are thirsty" rule. As many long distance runners say, you must not reach the point of being thirsty when exercising. Rather, you must calculate your immediate need in liquids, based on body type-weight-temperature-intensity of exercise and drink small sips throughout. Being thirsty is a warning from your body that liquids are getting low, when I work our I make a calculation beforehand and take small sips throughout. It keeps the body calm and you avoid having a dry mouth.

 

[Un1corn]

I drink about 1l water when I'm working
I love juice so I drink maybe another 1l juice when I'm at home.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Water all the way, stay away from energy drinks and of course the Soda drinks. Your energy will suffer from relying on water (glykoze helps release your current energy in a much faste pace) and not energy drinks but it is worth it in the long run health wise. They used to write the amount of energy provided by a can of Red bull in the past, I remember reading it and being shocked on the crazy amount contained in such a small container. It is bad for your heart to receive such an influx of energy unnaturally.

You do need electrolytes though after sweating a lot. You can get them from a mixture of water and salt (skip sugar if you do not want the calories), fruits can help as well with this matter and steer you away from the energy drinks.

I disagree on an extent to the "Do not drink unless you are thirsty" rule. As many long distance runners say, you must not reach the point of being thirsty when exercising. Rather, you must calculate your immediate need in liquids, based on body type-weight-temperature-intensity of exercise and drink small sips throughout. Being thirsty is a warning from your body that liquids are getting low, when I work our I make a calculation beforehand and take small sips throughout. It keeps the body calm and you avoid having a dry mouth.

Correct, the "don't drink unless you're thirsty" idea is wrong. Water and electrolyte balance are a constant and cumulative thing in the human body, so it's generally better to err on the side of drinking a decent amount of liquids rather than not enough.
I've seen multiple people get heat exhaustion and 2 people get heat stroke because they weren't getting enough electrolytes or liquid throughout the day.
table salt (sodium) alone is not good enough for rehydration.
There's a bunch of different electrolytes that matter for proper hydration, like potassium and magnesium. Basically if people want to avoid sports drinks then take a multivitamin with some water, those have more than enough potassium/etc to help minimize cramping and other symptoms of dehydration.

If anyone wants a recipe for a homemade sports drink that actually works, this is one that I based off the WHO's Oral Rehydration Solution (which doctors without borders uses as well):
2.6g/L Na (table salt works fine)
13.5g/L C6h12O6 (sugar)
1.5g/L KCL (potassium chloride)
2.9g/L C6H5Na3O7*H2O (Sodium Citrate)
The powder is stable for extended periods of time , but it only lasts a short time in water, so I'd say make little premade packets of powder, and just add to water as needed.

you can buy high quality bags of KCL and sodium citrate off amazon fyi

 

[Drew]

So, for someone just hanging out, not in the middle of a workout or doing hard manual labor, definitely cut out anything with sugar or sugar substitutes in it. Water is great - I keep a 32z HydroFlask on my desk at work and on my bedside table at home, and probably drink two a day in the office.

From the standpoint of an endurance athlete, things get a bit murkier.

• Electrolyte balance and salinity are things that get kicked around a lot as a reason to drink energy drinks. Honestly, the science is less conclusive than you'd want, and most of it is done or funded by manufacturers of exercise drinks so there are some pretty clear biases. Speaking as a guy who rides thousands of miles a year on a racing road bike, will do several 100-150 mile rides a year, and does things like ride up mountains as fast as I can for fun, my thoughts are more or less as follows. Electrolytes probably don't hurt, but using calorie-less electrolyte tabs (I like Nuun, lightly flavored, and you can toss a sleeve in your jersey pocket if you refill bottles with water), I haven't noticed any marked change in performance between replenishing electrolytes and just sticking to plain water. Long rides or workouts, if you like sports drinks, go for it. Short ones, stick to water - the electrolytes almost certainly won't matter on short distances, and it's unclear if you'll burn as many calories as you consume, making it counterproductive.
• Hydration matters too, but you can push this farther than you'd expect and still not really see any sort of performance decrease. Generally, "drink when you're thirsty" is probably enough, but I've personally found that being a little more disciplined than that can be useful in being sure to drink regularly enough to not get to the point of being thirsty, not because "by then its too late," but because sometimes in a long enough ride you simply don't notice, because everything else hurts. Case in point - mid-March I was in Tucson to ride up Mt. Lemmon, which from the base to the observatory up top (~32 miles, 6500 feet of climbing) I figured I could do in about 3 1/2-4 hours. I made myself take a sip of water every 10 minutes and had a Gu packet every hour not because I was worried about getting hungry or thirsty, but because over that kind of period the chance of me not thinking about it and just forgetting about it would have resulted in a VERY ugly blowup. Over 3 3/4 hours I drank a little less than two bottles of water, well under the common "rule of thumb" approach of one bottle an hour, but the consistency was enough to get me to the top without issue. I'd be lying if I said I felt great at the top, but hydration was not my problem, lol. Definitely something I want to think more about but I think that might be important, here. On the flip side, over-hydration can be lethal, and is just as dangerous as dehydration. So, never FORCE yourself to drink either.
• What WILL kill you in endurance sports, ten times out of ten, is nutrition. You can push this for short periods of time - in my experience the two hour mark is about the point on a bike where if I'm not eating I'm going to start getting into trouble, running maybe closer to one hour. Beyond that point, though, you hit a WALL. For me this is the main reason energy drinks can start to make sense, less the electrolytes and more because the Scratch Labs stuff I use when I'm not using Nuun will help replenish calories, though not nearly enough on its own (that Mt. Lemmon ride was estimated by Strava to come in around 4,000 calories using estimated power output and a heart rate monitor, and I've broken 7,000 on a single ride before, 160 miles with something like 12,000 feet of vertical). If I was to go out and do a 100 mile ride tomorrow in warm not but brutally hot weather, and I was given the choice between one water bottle and three Gu packets, or two water bottles, I'd take the Gu, hands down. It won't be fun either way, but nutrition will break you long before hydration will.
• Semi-relatedly - about the only I time I go out of my way to drink soda is it's SO high in calories, if you're ever starting to fall into the hole on a long ride, a can of Coke, bonus points if its flat, is an absolute godsend. That 160 mile ride, I pulled a hard u-turn at speed coming down a downhill to pull into a general store for a slice of pizza and a Coke, and I honestly think that was the only reason I finished.

So, for normal life, just stick to water, you really don't need anything else from a health standpoint. For exercise... Electrolytes don't hurt, but aren't really critical. Energy drinks can help on longer workouts spanning several hours, but primarily as another source of calories. And, if you work out for several hours at a time, you NEED to replenish calories. "Bonking" and having your blood sugar collapse, is going to fuck up your performance far more than hydration alone will. For the most part paying attention to your body is enough, but on particularly grueling efforts there's a strong argument to be made for discipline just in the interest of playing it safe.

 

[777timesgod]

On the flip side, over-hydration can be lethal, and is just as dangerous as dehydration. So, never FORCE yourself to drink either.

I read in the past that some of the symptoms of water-intoxication (hyperhydration) are similar to heat exhaustion and this causes medics being called to assist a person that collapsed from it to give water to them, which makes things worse!

Of course, becoming ill from drinking too much water is rare, we usually forget to drink unless we are sweating badly or exercising intensely (or both). Checking the colour of your urine each time you go to the bathroom is a good indicator (among others) for your water intake.

 

[Drew]

I read in the past that some of the symptoms of water-intoxication (hyperhydration) are similar to heat exhaustion and this causes medics being called to assist a person that collapsed from it to give water to them, which makes things worse!

Of course, becoming ill from drinking too much water is rare, we usually forget to drink unless we are sweating badly or exercising intensely (or both). Checking the colour of your urine each time you go to the bathroom is a good indicator (among others) for your water intake.

Yeah, it's EXTREMELY rare.

Honestly, hydration is pretty easy while working out - as long as you're doing it, you'll probably be ok. I worry a lot more about nutritional intake, since in the middle of a strenuous effort you almost never stop and think, "hey, am I eating enough?" and running into a caloric deficit (where you're buring calories faster than your body can metabolize them, from food or fat stores) is going to fuck up your ability to perform at a high level way before hydration will.

Which, if people ever bitch about why "sports drinks" or "energy food" stuff always seems to be high in sugar and simple carbs, there's a damned good reason for that - sugar can enter your bloodstream extremely fast, making it a very efficient mid-workout food. On long endurance rides where I'm in more of an endurance heart rate zone than a threshold/max effort outing, I'll often layer energy gels with real food - I like beef jerky on all day rides for the protein and sodium - but on threshold and higher efforts I physically can't eat stuff like that without getting an upset stomach, and digestion of anything remotely complex pulls blood to your stomach and away from your (in my case) legs.

 

[jaxadam]

This is what I'll usually use to get my day started, then I'll switch to coffee.

 

[spudmunkey]

Probably not that helpful, but the only flavored water that doesn't taste like complete ass, chemicals/Windex, or television static to me, is Hint. There's no artificial sweetener, except for the small amount of flavor they add. I like that the fruit flavor actually tastes pretty close to the real fruit, and not some Jolly Rancher/Starburst version of the fruit . For a while, I was keeping track of all of the 12-packs on Amazon, and bought a few whenever they got below $16 or so, and bought at Target whenever theirs went on sale (sometime as low as $1 each). What I was seeing was a gigantic uptick in plastic bottles in my recycling bins. I was drinking more of this water than I was of soda, but then I was also drinking it instead of water water, so there were TONS of bottles. If they sold it by the 2L or 1gal bottle, I'd think about getting it again. I haven't bought any for almost a year, but it's still my favorite flavored water by a long shot

 

[Beefmuffin]

As someone who just had a one month run in with a kidney stone, I'm telling you that water is one of the only liquids you want to be drinking in any excess amount. Sports drinks really are just as bad or worse than sodas. And for every "bad" fluid you put in your body, that's more water that you need to drink in order to help your kidney filter it out. It sucks for the first week or so but you find yourself getting used to drinking mainly water fairly quickly once you take the plunge. I've had a history of Kidney Stones so I wasn't a stranger to it, but I was surprised to find that drinking mainly Gatorade in place of what used to be sodas was not a safe alternative. That's when I started looking into it, and truth be told, most beverages are terrible for you to drink, especially without water to go with it, and can lead to all kinds of health complications.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I read in the past that some of the symptoms of water-intoxication (hyperhydration) are similar to heat exhaustion and this causes medics being called to assist a person that collapsed from it to give water to them, which makes things worse!

Of course, becoming ill from drinking too much water is rare, we usually forget to drink unless we are sweating badly or exercising intensely (or both). Checking the colour of your urine each time you go to the bathroom is a good indicator (among others) for your water intake.

Hyponatremia (water intoxication) is pretty uncommon unless people have pre-existing conditions like kidney or liver disease, heart failure, or they're on blood pressure meds like thiazide diuretics. Hyponatremia (lack of sodium basically) does share some basic symptoms with heat exhaustion (headaches, nausea, fatigue) but any decent medic will look for cramping, cool clammy skin (even in the heat), and erratic weak pulse alongside the other mentioned symptoms.

General rule of thumb for urine is light lemonade= good, clear=fine most of the time, any other color= not good (especially brown)

Most people have no problem getting enough sodium and magnesium in their diet, but potassium and calcium are harder to maintain if you're doing strenuous workouts every day.

 

[777timesgod]

Which, if people ever bitch about why "sports drinks" or "energy food" stuff always seems to be high in sugar and simple carbs, there's a damned good reason for that - sugar can enter your bloodstream extremely fast, making it a very efficient mid-workout food.

Food intake is important for exercise and yes, sugar will give you a boost (see my post for the energy processing power of Glykoze above) but at what cost? These drinks are bad for your health in the long run and it is unnatural for the body to break energy like that. Strain is placed on the heart as it is not only dealing with a body that is exercising but also processing energy at an alarming rate.
Lastly, the buzz from simple carbs is drained fast, I prefer the slower burning carbs from Brown Rice as an example. I extend my workout regime and my energy is spread along a larger time frame.

 

[Drew]

Food intake is important for exercise and yes, sugar will give you a boost (see my post for the energy processing power of Glykoze above) but at what cost? These drinks are bad for your health in the long run and it is unnatural for the body to break energy like that. Strain is placed on the heart as it is not only dealing with a body that is exercising but also processing energy at an alarming rate.
Lastly, the buzz from simple carbs is drained fast, I prefer the slower burning carbs from Brown Rice as an example. I extend my workout regime and my energy is spread along a larger time frame.

Go out and do an 8 hour high intensity endurance ride and get back to me. Weightlifting or crossfit or something else, sure, I'd probably give you different advice, but endurance cardio, sugar is about the fastest and easiest thing for your body to metabolize, and if you're burning 5-7,000 calories in a single go, you basically just need to shovel calories into your system in as fast and easily digestible manner as your system will let you.

If you look at marathoners or high level endurance cyclists, simple carbohydrate based energy gels are basically ubiquitous. The reason for this is while, as you put it, they may be processed at "an alarming rate," your body is burning calories at an alarming rate. Race pace, I'm burning very nearly a thousand calories an hour. Google says one cup of brown rice is 216 calories, and if the choice is between one cup of brown rice or two ounces of Gu, that's a no brainer (and not just because the latter is a LOT easier to eat while you ride).

Don't get me wrong, if I was playing pick up basketball with a few buddies I'd be drinking water too, and most of the time when I'm riding I stick to water as well... But for really intense efforts, your priority is just getting calorioes into your system as easily and in as easily digestible a form as possible, which means portable simple carbs.

I guess it may not have been clear unless you also read my earlier post, but I'm talking specifically in the context of high performance endurance sports here, which is about the one situation where energy drinks or powdered drink mixes (IMO) start to make some sense.

EDIT - hell, I think the only time I've had a soft drink all year was at a bar at the ski lift just off the summit of Mt. Lemmon, because I was COOKED after a 32 mile climb, and needed some calories fast. And I'm pretty sure it was instrumental in helping me keep it together enough to get down off the mountain.