Sports Drinks Vs Water - The Ugly Truth

Lucozade, Powerade, Gatorade...
In the 21st century - advertisements for energy drinks are everywhere. You can no longer switch on the television or flick open a magazine without seeing an advert for these glorified potions. It seems that these drinks are taking over the fitness world, and you only have to wander down to your local gym to see just how popular they are.
So what actually are these so called "sports drinks", and what do they proclaim to do?
A sports drink is a beverage designed to increase energy levels, replace electrolytes and and keep you hydrated. So let's look at how they claim to do this:
Increase Energy Levels
Sports Drinks are full of sugar - A 500ml bottle of Lucozade energy contains 21 teaspoons of sugar! To put that into perspective, a can of coke contains 10 teaspoons of sugar. When these sports drinks are consumed, our body converts all the sugar into glucose which is released into our blood stream. This glucose provides our bodies with energy - which is what gives us that "alert" feeling.
The problem is - glucose is a very short lived energy source and has detrimental effects on the body. When we drink sports drinks, our bodies have to produce large amounts of insulin to help our cells absorb the glucose from our blood stream. Any excess glucose is then converted to fat in our livers and deposited into our cells. Insulin also inhibits the breakdown of fat within our bodies. Both these factors encourage the accumulation of fat, and are counter productive when you consider the reason people are at the gym!
The counter argument to this is that the sports drinks provide you with the energy you require to perform an intense workout - which provides benefits that far exceed the negative impacts of the sports drink. Well I say that is a terrible argument, and here's why..

The average person that visits the gym performs moderate intensity exercise for around 30 minutes. Let's imagine their chosen exercise is running - in which case they will burn around 250-400 calories in their session. Now let's imagine they consume a 500ml bottle of Lucozade Sport, which contains 140 calories. That is around half the total calories that they are burning by being at the gym, just from consuming an energy drink. So for every 10 minutes they run, they are only burning 5 minutes worth of calories...
What makes matters worse is the sugar in the sports drink - which is bad for two reasons.
1. As explained earlier - consuming sugar causes a surge in insulin levels, which promotes the accumulation of fat within our bodies.
2. When glucose is readily available in our bloodstream, our cells will use this as their primary source of energy. As a result, the energy we require to perform exercise will come from the glucose in our blood. If we didn't drink the sports drink then our cells would not have access to that glucose - which means they would have to get energy from breaking down our fat.
As you can see - sports drinks are a counter-productive method for someone who want's to lose fat. However, those in support of sports drinks will still argue that they provide you with the energy that you require to perform exercise. However again, that is a flawed argument..
The average gym visitor has access to more than enough energy to perform 30 minutes of exercise. They are likely to have glucose in their bloodstream from their meals that day, and if they run out of glucose, they can breakdown fat reserves to power their bodies. The only time when sports drinks are beneficial is for ultra endurance athletes - the kind that are performing intense exercise for hours on end. But even then, there are far better sources of energy - what's wrong with a good old banana? Not only is this far better for your body than sports drinks, but it is broken down far slower so provides sustained energy over a long period of time - as opposed to a short spike that is supplied by glucose. In short - sports drinks are just as bad for us as sweets, and there are far better ways to provide our bodies with the energy required for exercise.
Replacing Electrolytes
Electrolytes are minerals that can be found in blood and cells, and help to regulate bodily fluids. The most well known of these are Sodium and Chloride.
During exercise - the body's electrolyte balance can begin to shift - and as the body loses electrolytes through sweat, the imbalance can result in symptoms such as muscle cramps, fatigue and nausea. Sports drinks capitalise on this by promising that they can replace the electrolytes in our bodies and prevent these symptoms Whilst there may be an element of truth in this - it is irrelevant to the average gym visitor. Our bodies lose electrolytes relatively slowly, so unless you are exercising for over an hour, your body will be able to address its electrolyte imbalance without the need for sports drinks.
Hydration
The final promise of the "sports drinks" is that they keep you hydrated. Keeping hydrated is an important part of any exercise routine, as the body loses water far quicker than it loses electrolytes. A lack of water can lead to dehydration which results in fatigue, muscle weakness, headaches, dizziness and poor concentration.
However - do you want to know the best way to keep your body hydrated? WATER

There is absolutely no better way to hydrate your body than to drink water - and plenty of it. What's more - it's free, contains no calories and has a multitude of benefits to your body.
The other trouble will sports drinks is that they encourage you to drink before you feel thirsty. They claim the reason for this is that once you feel thirsty - it is too late - and dehydration has already kicked in. This is absolute nonsense, and there is simply no scientific research to back up this claim. Our bodies are extremely complex machines that have evolved over thousands of years. Considering water is the single most important element for our survival, I'm sure our bodies have developed the ability to warn us when we need to drink (before we get dehydrated). And how does it do that? It's called being thirsty!
The fact of the matter is, we do not need to drink water until we feel thirsty, as this is our bodies way of letting us know we need to drink. The danger of drinking before we feel thirsty is that it can result in over hydration - which is very dangerous. People very rarely die of dehydration, but it is very common for people to die of over hydration.
So there you have it..
Sports Drinks are completely unnecessary for the average gym visitor:
- They contain a massive amount of sugar.
- They are rich in calories
- They promote fat accumulation in your body.
- They are a short term energy source.
- They are useless in regards to replacing electrolytes unless exercising for 1 hour+
- They are an expensive form of hydration - water is free and more effective.

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Top 5 Cancer Causing Foods

Have you ever wondered which foods are best to avoid when trying to prevent cancer?

The secret is to be able to identify which foods contain ingredients that are carcinogens, or cancer promoters. Once you know which ingredients will end up giving you cancer, you can read labels and avoid those foods altogether.

So, what are the ingredients to avoid?

Let's start with sugar. One of the ways cancerous tumors develop is by feeding on sugar in the bloodstream. If you are continuously overloading your body with sugar you're giving your body what it needs for cancer to flourish.

Next is sodium nitrite. This chemical is added to certain foods... mostly lunch meats and bacon...on purpose in order to make it look reddish and fresh. Once upon a time, meats were preserved with salt, but manufacturers eventually switched to this much more dangerous form of meat preservation.

Then there's hydrogenated oils. When oils are heated in the presence of hydrogen and metal catalysts, it makes them hydrogenated. this preserves the shelf life, but also creates trans fats. Aside from causing cancer, trans fats are bad for your heart and can even interrupt metabolic processes.

Finally, there's the acrylamide factor. Acrylamides are created during the frying process, when starchy foods are subject to high temperatures.

And so, taking all of the above into consideration...the top 5 cancer causing foods are: 

Hot Dogs - Usually preserved with sodium nitrite and full of fat (among other things!)

Donuts - These contain hydrogenated oils, sugar, white flour and acrylamides. Talk about the perfect cancer causing food!

French Fries - Often made with hydrogenated oils. There would also be acrylamides present.

Processed meats and bacon - Lots of saturated fat and nitrites. You can find some without, but you'll have to ask.

Chips & crackers - Usually have white flour, sugar, and trans fats. many manufacturers also hide MSG in the form of yeast extract, and mess around with serving sizes so you actually take in a lot more bad stuff than you think.

There you have it. Avoid these foods most of the time and you're well on your way to avoiding that dreaded 'C' word altogether.

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7 Liver Cleansing Foods - Part of the Detox Diet

Is it possible to eat a diet that consists of liver cleansing food without starving yourself or changing your entire lifestyle? We believe that with the proper detox diet that you can have a proper liver cleanse and have increased stamina, decrease colds and infections by reinforcing your immune system, and get restful sleep and wake up refreshed. These are some of the benefits derived from eating a diet of liver cleansing food.

So what are these foods, and how difficult will it be to incorporate them into your weekly diet? You will find these foods to be rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber, and detox diet foods that have a high presence of antioxidants. Plus, they will be no trouble at all fitting them into your weekly diet.

1. Leafy green vegetables. Because of their high quantities of plant chlorophylls, they are able to remove toxins from the bloodstream in vast amounts. As an effective liver cleansing food, they can be eaten raw or cooked. They also have the ability to neutralize chemicals and pesticides, helping the liver in one of its functions as a filter of these toxins.

2. Garlic. It doesn't take much, thankfully, to activate liver enzymes to assist in flushing out body toxins. Additionally, in detox for the liver garlic have two natural compounds that aid in liver cleansing, allicin and selenium.

3. Carrots, beets, and red and yellow fruits and vegetables. These are high in beta-carotene, important for its antioxidant qualities, which inhibit the oxidation of other molecules. These antioxidants help to prevent many of the diseases caused by oxidative stress.

4. Whole grains. These liver cleansing foods should be brown rice and whole wheat grain, not the white flour foods. These liver cleansing foods aid in liver function and decongestion, along with improving overall fat metabolization. White bread, because of its processing, offers little in the way of nutritional value as well as adding toxins in processing. If you want to go totally healthy, sprouted grain breads top them all.

5. Olive oil. When used in moderation, their lipid base literally sucks up harmful toxins, relieving the liver of toxic overload.

6. Green tea. Fast becoming known for its overall health benefits, it also helps the liver in its overall functions, as it is heavy in plant antioxidants.

7. Turmeric. Called the liver's favorite spice, it helps in liver detox by helping enzymes that actively flush out dietary carcinogens.

These are a few foods that assist in liver cleansing, and should be part of any detox diet. Obviously, there are a few that should not be included as liver cleansing food, and they would be processed foods, artificial food additives, preservatives and synthetic sweeteners, to name a few. Also, try to steer clear of those foods which are not grown organically and have been treated with pesticides and synthetic chemicals. Finally, of course, the overuse of alcohol can cause havoc with a liver detox program.

These liver cleansing foods should be in our everyday diet. If you imagine the liver as a filter, in time that filter is going to get congested with contaminants. The Master Cleanse diet, as well as other liver detox diets, can periodically give the liver a boost and clean things out. A product found on our website we are sure will provide immense benefits for a total liver cleanse.

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