Sports drinks were once only popular with athletes, but today their popularity has soared outside of the world of sports. But should you drink sports drinks? If so, did you know that instead of paying the high prices for sports drinks you could always make them in your own kitchen?
Should You Drink Electrolyte Drinks?
Today there is a huge fuss about electrolytes – but what are they are and do we really need them? Electrolytes are essentially vitamins and minerals such as calcium, sodium, magnesium chloride, hydrogen phosphate and hydrogen carbonate. These vitamins and minerals are essential for our survival.
A person eating a balanced diet usually won’t need to replace their electrolytes with a drink. However, there are instances when eating a balanced diet is simply not enough. Humans constantly push their bodies to the limit. Athletes, for example, constantly work their bodies causing them to sweat. When you sweat, you lose electrolytes. It is this reason that has made sports drinks such as popular drink among athletes for years. But losing electrolytes isn’t just a problem for athletes; anyone doing physical labor can lose electrolytes. Pregnant women often find their bodies need more electrolytes even if they eat a very balanced diet!
So, while you don’t necessarily have to drink a sports drink containing electrolytes, if you are pushing your body to its limits it could be one of the easiest ways you can restore your electrolyte levels while simultaneously quenching your thirst.
Benefits of Creating Your Own Sports Drink
There are many benefits to choosing to make your own sports drink in your kitchen instead of just heading to the store to buy them.
- Save you money – This is by far one of the biggest benefits you will find. After just a few trips to the store to buy name brand sports drinks, you will find that if you just buy the proper ingredients, you can save a lot of money compared to just purchasing them at the store.
- Know Your Ingredients – If you are buying the ingredients and making them yourself, you know exactly what is going into each homemade sports drink. When you buy a sports drink in the store, you don’t know for sure where their ingredients came from and what they quality of each ingredient is that you are putting into your body.
- Flavor Variety – One of the best parts of making them yourself is you can create and customize the flavors of your drinks to your tastes. This allows you to create new flavors so you aren’t limited to the flavors you will find at your local grocery store.
4 Recipes for Creating Your Own Electrolyte Drinks
Now that you have decided to try to make your own electrolyte drinks yourself, you are going to need to a few recipes to help get you started. To help get you going, we have four electrolyte drink recipes that you can use so you never have to head to the store for your sports drinks ever again.
Cranberry-Pomegranate Electrolyte Recipe
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ cup pomegranate juice
- ¼ cup cranberry juice
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened coconut water
- 2 cups cold water
Directions: Mix all the ingredients together using a blender or using a pitcher and a whisk. Chill and serve cold.
Lemon-Lime Electrolyte Recipe
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups of cold water
- 1/8 tsp. of salt
- 2 tablespoons of natural sugar or honey
Directions: Pour all the ingredients into a blender and blend the mixture until the honey is dissolved. Chill and serve cold.
Breakfast Blend Electrolyte Recipe
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 cups of cold water
- 1/8 tsp. of salt
- 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey
Directions: Pour all the ingredients into a blender and mix them until the honey dissolves. Chill and serve cold.
Strawberry Smoothie Electrolyte Recipe
- 3 cups of coconut water
- 1 cup of strawberries
- 1 cup of cold water
- 1 cup of ice
- 1/8 tsp. of salt
- 2 tablespoons of natural sugar or honey
Directions: Place all the ingredients into your blender at the same time and blend them until all the ingredients are smooth. Chill and serve cold.
Conclusion
Remember, there are no limits to what kinds of electrolyte drinks you can create if you make them at home. Take these recipes and feel free to experiment so you can create your own unique blends of electrolyte drinks that are much healthier, tastier and cheaper than those drinks you can buy in the store.
Featured photo credit: Craftworks via flickr.com
