Gatorade. Is it really better for you than water?

Originally Posted by omfgepoxy

I prefer Gatorade over anything to drink, I drink about a case a week (approximately 12). I rarely drink water since it doesnt' have any flavoring or it tastes a bit flat. Juices and soda feel heavy to me when I drink them, most of the time I don't even finish half a glass/bottle/can. The only other thing I drink is my protein shakes before/after my workouts, so it's usually the only way I stay hydrated.

Here's study on sports drinks vs. water. Here's an informative Q&A on Gatorade vs. Powerade . Now go fourth and do your bidding!

Holy fuck man, you realize how bad that shit is for your teeth? I drink Gatorade, but only before and during a workout.

Originally Posted by SemperFidelis

Anyone ever notice that Gatorade tastes a lot sweeter after you're tired?

Yup, any time after a good workout or run everything tastes sweeter. Probably has something to do with a drop in blood sugar.

Originally Posted by xiaowei

I guess Gatorade does have some minerals in it the body may need. But, I seriously I doubt poeple can sweat out enough to warrant using Gatorade. We already get plenty of salt from our food and the like.

You don't run long distances do you? Any kind of endurance activity and you can very quickly deplete your electrolyte levels. In Basic training we were having to add salt to our food (which is already pretty salty) just to make sure we got enough of it. You'd get rings of salt in your uniform after training all day.

Originally Posted by Arkhangelsk

Vitaminwater is indeed my preferred choice of 'sports/energy drink,' since it doesn't taste like fake watered down fruit juice (like Gator/Powerade). It has a lighter flavor, since it's just fruit essence more than actual flavoring. The Energy or Stamina generally are my favorites, but I also like the ones that don't really 'do' anything besides have Vitamins -- especially the Watermelon flavor.

Seriously you'd be better off with a good multi vitamin than you are with these "vitaminwater" drinks. Also the only time you should be drinking stuff like Gatorade is when you are doing a lot of physical activity. The stuff really isn't meant to be a replacement for water...

Originally Posted by nazpyro

Gatorade/Powerade definitely are my go-to if I'm feeling more spendy on a thirst-quencher. I always had them in supply in my apartment. This stuff really helps me. I have bottles of water too that I drink often enough, but sometimes I get this weird "overhydrated" feeling (does this exist?) where I just feel a little nautious after drinking too much water. Gatorade/Powerade seems to relieve this feeling for me, plus it tastes good to me. I just recently tried Gatorade's Rain brand, and it goes down soooo good. Yum.

You can indeed consume too much water. However I seriously doubt that is the case with you. You'd have to be comsuming more than 12qts of water per day to risk water intoxication and the only reason why that is dangerous is that it delutes the salt in your body to such an extent that it become life threatening condition. You'd have the same symptoms as someone suffering from dehydration/heat injury... not the feeling that you drank to much water. My guess is that you just overfilled your stomach with water (I've done this before ) and it makes you want to puke (which I have also done )

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Dee: Sports drinks are far worse for your teeth than Coke. Gatorade for example is extremely acidic. How do you think they keep all that sodium and potassium in an aqueous state?

Mucknuggle: It is far worse for you than water. The high salt content in sports drinks is not a healthy thing. Americans in particular get far more salt in their food than they need, adding more to the water you drink is only going to cause you more problems than benefits. So unless you are training for something that requires that you push your body well beyond the normal daily use then you have absolutly no need for a sports drink, in fact you'd be better off with water because your body already has more than enough salt in it. As I said before, the only time I've ever had to worry about my bodies salt levels was during basic training where we were constantly physically active 12 hours a day for weeks on end.

SemperFidelis: As I said, it is called water intoxication. It has a technical name but I don't remember what it is off the top of my head.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Oh haha SemperFidelis you beat me to the punch.

shining_force, you might want to take your own advice.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

They make it that way to keep the electrolytes from precipitating. Hence to keep it dissolved they make the drink more acidic. Sorry if I didn't give a detailed enough comment on that O_o. I didn't forsee anyone arguing with me on something that takes a 2 second google search to confirm.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Cal

Water is superior to 'sports drinks'.

Anything any company says about any sports drink will rot the mind and the teeth.

I agree, but sports drinks do have a purpose and a usage where they are superior to water and that is only when you are in need to quickly replace lost salt and other electrolytes from your body ie field exercises in the military, running a marathon, distance swimming, sporting events etc. Most people never do these sort of activities so they are needlessly destroying their enamel.

Dee: You might want to let them know that they are pointlessly hurting themselves by drink sports drinks all the time.

I was speaking idiomatically.