All the ingredients for my favorite homemade sports drink.

Training and Water Loss

The first and most important ingredient to take with you is water. This critically affects blood plasma volume, which is important for working muscles. Just a 2% loss in weight of water (about 1.4 liters) can cause performance degradations up to as much as 10-20%.

“Another benefit of making your own is that you can tailor to your taste preferences and any dietary needs or precautions you need to take.”

Dehydration also increases your heart rate as you try to pump thicker blood around the body. Further losses cause nausea and at 5% water loss your performance will degrade by a massive 30%. At 8% water loss, you will be in trouble with dizziness and difficult breathing.

Everyone loses water at different rates, but a general rule is that we lose about a liter for every hour of hard exercise, depending upon conditions. You could obtain a more accurate measurement of your water loss by weighing yourself before and after each session. Every hundred grams difference will match one tenth of a liter.

Carbohydrates

The next important ingredient in our drink is carbohydrates. You will need to add sugar to your water if you are undertaking an activity longer than an hour. This will supply energy and help replenish your own body reserves of glucose (glycogen).

“[F]or all the marketing messages about the ‘right’ ingredients, there is actually quite a variation.”

Your body can absorb approximately sixty grams of carbohydrates per hour, which equates to 240 calories. Working on the liter per hour principle, that means you should be taking in about sixty grams of easily digested carbohydrates per liter of water per hour.

Carbohydrates can come from a variety of sources:

• Simple sugars like glucose that can be used directly
• Fructose from fruit that requires more processing in the body before it can be used
• More complex sugars and starches

Here are the contents of some commercially available energy mixes and gels:

As you can see, for all the marketing messages about the “right” ingredients, there is actually quite a variation. A home mix might not be so sub-optimal after all! Another benefit of making your own is that you can tailor to your taste preferences and any dietary needs or precautions you need to take. You will also have a better idea of what your drink contains.

Additional Ingredients

Two other ingredients I like to add into a home-brew energy drink are vitamin C and salt:

• Vitamin C is an important essential vitamin. “Essential” means the body cannot store it or make it. You need to consume it every day. Antioxidants are also important micronutrients that assist your immune system, which can become degraded with large amounts of exercise.
• Salt is optional. Most of us have quite enough salt in our everyday diets and are unlikely to use up our reserves. However, if conditions are very warm or you are taking part in a long event, a small quantity of salt may help. As the maximum suggested intake is approximately six grams per day, you will a fraction of a gram per liter in your drink.

Basic Formula

The basic formula for your own energy drink would be 60 grams of sugars or carbohydrates from fruit, dried sugars, or syrups dissolved in one liter of water. Some of the sugars could come directly from glucose powder. Fresh orange juice allows a different sugar, fructose, to be added along with some vitamin C and additional minerals.

“If you have any tendency towards diabetes, then consult your doctor before taking any sports drink.”

Personally, I find orange juice rather sweet so I usually add some malt extract to make up some of the sugars. This adds some more complex carbohydrates and helps reduce the sweetness of the drink with its slightly savory taste. The extract also adds a small quantity of minerals and protein.

Note that malt extract is not the same as the maltodextrin listed in the commercial products. Maltose (from malt extract) and glucose products have the highest glycaemic index. This is a measure of how quickly they enter the bloodstream. If you have any tendency towards diabetes, then consult your doctor before taking any sports drink. I have also found some malt extracts contain salt already, so I would check all your ingredients before adding any additional salt.

On top of this basic formula, you could also include other fruit juices like melon or blackberry. If you have a juicer, then you have a wide choice of flavors available to you that could also include vegetables. You could also add in any additional supplements that you like to use.

My Favorite Recipe

• 1 liter of water
• 20g dry glucose
• 200ml fresh orange juice
• 30g malt extract

This is quick to mix and you will likely find that the ingredients cost less than a commercial mix, as well as having better contents.

More Like This:

• Are Fruit Juices as Bad as Soft Drinks?
• Getting Started With Juicing: What You Need to Know
• Cleanses, Detoxes, and Juice Fasts: Do They Work?
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. United States Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database (USDA), accessed 12 August 2015.

2. Association of British Cycling Coaches Coaching Manual.

The post A Simple and Inexpensive Way to Make Your Own Sports Drinks appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Energy drinks, sports drinks, and the like have long been a vice of mine. I say vice because in general these drinks either aren’t good for you, being high in sugar, or they have nearly zero nutritional value. They even have potentially negative impacts on your health given the highly processed artificial ingredients. Sports drinks can definitely be a guilt-inducing aspect of many athletes’ diets, and I suspect many would breathe a sigh of relief if they could find a healthy alternative.

So along came Amara. The creators of the Amara sports drink had exactly this in mind – to make a healthier, unprocessed version of an athletic drink. They also wished to blend the various types of drinks, such as traditional sports drinks, energy drinks, and superfood drinks, and it’s pretty clear to me that they’ve accomplished that.

The Amara sports drink from top to bottom and from inside to out has been thoroughly and painstakingly created down to the finest details. You can tell that Amara is passionate about making something effective at producing energy without sacrificing health, or compromising their integrity as a business.

The drink is a superfood drink because it includes the high antioxidant contents and flavor of the organic and fair trade maqui berries, as well as the organic coffee berry. The coffee berry contributes also to the energy aspect of the drink, providing caffeine. In addition to these aspects, there are also electrolytes in the form of sodium, chloride, potassium, and calcium.

Interestingly, Amara does not pasteurize their drink in order that it may retain all of the nutrition. Instead they use a microbial system to keep the drink safe without using heat. They do admit this does break down in part to methanol, a substance that is toxic in high amounts, but the truth is methanol is present in small quantities in several foods found in nature and should only be a problem to people sensitive to it.

Speaking to the detail the company puts into their drink and social responsibility, the bottle itself and the label are completely recyclable. They have also sacrificed a glossy finish for a matte finish, which is easier for a sweaty athlete to grip while exercising. Pretty thoughtful, if you ask me.

Amara sports drink is low calorie, in part because it’s sweetened by stevia. I don’t personally love the flavor of stevia, but the drink tasted good regardless, and the other natural berry flavors were good.

The only potential downside to this drink, which is also an upside for many, is the caffeine content. With 75mgs of caffeine per serving, and two servings per container, each drink has a little more than the content of 1.5 cups of black coffee. This will certainly help with performance, especially in anything cardiovascular, but not everyone wants the caffeine, especially if they workout close to bedtime.

Amara puts an impressive level of detail and care into their product. Considering that, and the fact that it can be purchased from their site with no shipping cost and at roughly the cost of many energy drinks on the market, it should be a no brainer to make the switch to Amara. This drink is deal for paleo dieters, people eating raw or organic, and – honestly – it’s right for anyone interested in a sports drink.

Amara sports drink is available in a 12 pack for $29.99 at DrinkAmara.com.

The post Product Review: Amara Sports Drink appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Energy drinks and sports drinks are popular for a reason. Energy drinks can be a more convenient way to get an energy boost than coffee, and sports drinks provide us with the nutrients and energy we need. However, both have their flaws. Most energy drinks have become chemical bombs, perhaps the furthest thing from actual food you could purchase. Most sports drinks aren’t any better and typically amount to salted, sugary water. Choosing a product can be frustrating for health-conscious people who also want convenience.

I recently tried Kill Cliff recovery drinks. According to the website, Kill Cliff was founded by a former Navy Seal who was unsatisfied by the energy drinks and sports drinks available. He decided to create what Kill Cliff calls a “recovery drink.” While Kill Cliff states that it is not an energy drink, be aware that it is lightly caffeinated with 25mg of caffeine, which is a little more than quarter the amount found in a typical cup of coffee.

The original Kill Cliff drink, which is called “Tasty,” is sweetened with stevia and has a low calorie content of fifteen calories per can. The other offering is called “Double Awesomeness,” which is sweetened by the sugar alcohol called erythritol. For most people, erythritol should be free of the side effects of other sugar alcohols.

Unfortunately, the Kill Cliff site does not appear to offer nutrition labels, and while the products are available at GNC as well, the labels there seem confused. That said, the website does list some of the beneficial ingredients in each 12oz can, including ginger root, green tea extract, milk thistle, and ginseng root powder, as well as the enzymes amylase, beta-gluconase, bromelain, invertase, lipase, protease 4.5, and serrapeptase. These ingredients and enzymes are intended to aid in recovery as well as energy production. Even though the products are described as recovery drinks, the company recommends consumption both before and after workouts.

When considering convenient drink options, an important question is always taste. It doesn’t matter how great a beverage is for recovery if you wouldn’t actually want to drink it. The Tasty flavor was blood orange, a lightly carbonated citrus flavor that I personally found quite appealing. Several of my friends – and guinea pigs for some of my reviews – also enjoyed the flavor. I don’t normally care much for the taste of stevia, but the drink was indeed tasty.

The Double Awesomeness version of Kill Cliff, on the other hand, tasted a bit funky to me at first. After a few of the drinks I no longer noticed and it tasted just fine. It was my first experience with an erythritol-sweetened drink, and it wasn’t bad, although I prefer the flavor of the Tasty.

I mostly used the Kill Cliff drinks as pre-workout beverages, and I found they did the trick. The company is adamant that they are not energy drinks, but I did find that they gave me just the little boost I needed on some days, with a pleasant flavor. Since they are also conveniently available at GNC, Kill Cliff will be my lightly-caffeinated, better-for-me option than the standard fare of energy drinks and sports drinks from now on.

Kill Cliff Recovery Drinks are available for $15.00-$54.00 at KillCliff.com.

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How Kill Cliff’s recovery drink got the name “The Tasty” is less mysterious than where the name “Kill Cliff” itself came from. Countless samplings around the country yielded one common description from taste testers upon their first sip: “That’s tasty.” The rest is history.

A former Navy Seal started Kill Cliff, and the brand commits a share of its earning to support Navy SEALs and their families. It’s with this heritage that much of the mystique around the name, Kill Cliff, originates. I’ve heard at least two different stories circulating amongst their fan base. One claims the name is in reference to a secret mountainside in rural Afghanistan where soldiers are marched off to their death never to be found. Another story claims the name belongs to the butt of a BUD/S prank in which a SEAL candidate named Cliff arrived at a team party to find everyone in attendance wearing shirts that read “Kill Cliff” – except him of course. I can only imagine that as the popularity of the brand grows so will the number of rumors surrounding the name.

As mysterious as the name is, the product isn’t a secret at all. The slender aluminum can might make you think “Redbull” upon first glance. “The Tasty” isn’t an energy drink, though. Using natural ingredients, Kill Cliff seeks to do what other energy drinks don’t do, which is address recovery by fighting inflammation. With just 15 calories and 25mg of caffeine, its nutritional footprint isn’t one to sound any alarms. Green tea extract and ginseng combine with ginger to create a unique flavor that, as I mentioned earlier, so many described as “tasty.” I’d describe the experience as a crisp Cactus Cooler-like taste with a hint of ginger that really separates the taste from anything I’ve had before.

As far as the application, I am a pretty clean eating athlete and it seems to fit well with me as a fun addition to my routine. As someone who sticks to water, Americanos, and a celebratory class of wine every now and then, I can drink Kill Cliff and feel good about it. Plus, this brand supports a fun environment. From their involvement in the military, endurance, and CrossFit communities to the personable branding, you just want to hang out with these guys.

As a recovery tool, Kill Cliff can be utilized in the post-workout window. In practice, however, there’s no reason not to enjoy Kill Cliff any time of day. Plus, the recovery attributes of green tea and light glycogen reload are more lifestyle type stores anyway. Increasing their consumption in general will yield benefits. Athletes need not view Kill Cliff is a medicated dose for acute situations, but rather a healthy alternative for everyday consumption.

Following them on Twitter is a riot. GNC Live Well stores provide some of their distribution and they’ve got raving fans literally walking into GNC stores the morning Kill Cliff is shipped there to demand their cases before the poor employees know it’s even in the stocking room.

Just about anyone can enjoy the taste of a Kill Cliff, but if you’re an active person these guys may be right up your alley. In addition, if you’re a gym owner or other type of retailer in the athletic community Kill Cliff might make a ton of sense in your product mix as a brand with some spunk. Effort will never go out of style and Kill Cliff has that covered. I can’t help but like that.

Kill Cliff is available online at KillCliff.com ($48/case of 24) or at your local GNC Live Well Store ($3.19/unit).

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