Make Your Own Sport Drink

The endurance exercise season is here! El Tour de Tucson is in just a few weeks and the Tucson Marathon is coming up in December.I'm speaking tonight with the kids participating in Junior El Tour. This group of kids have been training for the 30 mile ride in El Tour de Tucson. My talk tonight is all about what they should be eating and drinking before their ride.Sport drinks are commonplace, and often they are over-used. Only when you are exercising longer than an hour, do you need to eat or drink during your workout. If you will exercise longer than 60 minutes plan on consuming fluids, carbohydrates and sodium in a sport drink or some type of sport product or food with fluids.Hard on Your Pocketbook and Your BodySport drinks can be pretty expensive, plus they are often full of refined sugars and synthetic food dye. You can make your own sport drink with 100% fruit juice so that you get extra antioxidants that will help promote recovery from exercise and strengthen your immune system, rather than consuming empty calories in a traditional sport drink.Add Salt as NeededYou can modify the amount of salt in these drinks to fit your needs. 1 teaspoon of salt contains 2400 mg of sodium. Salty sweaters need much more sodium than these recipes provide. Salty and heavy sweaters often need 800-1000 mg sodium per hour of exercise. Some athletes may require even more than this.[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:7][amd-zlrecipe-recipe:8]Material on this blog is provided for informational purposes only. It is general information that may not apply to you as an individual, and is not a substitute for personalized nutrition or health advice or healthcare. Never disregard medical advice or delay seeking medical care because of something you have read or accessed through this website.