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Improve Athletic Performance, Boost Recovery & Prevent Cramps With These Top Electrolyte Supplements
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People pound energy drinks to fire up their mornings, help them get through a brutal workout, and to recover and replenish electrolytes after sweating buckets, or partying all night.
But here’s the problem with most of the sports drinks we reach for first: they’re loaded with sugar and artificial ingredients. You might get a quick surge of energy, but you’ll feel a crash soon after. Not only that but while you’re doing your best to rehydrate you could also be packing in a ton of unwanted calories from simple sugars.
That’s what we want to avoid.
If you’re looking to replenish electrolytes throughout the day, a supplement in the form of a power or a drink– without all the added sugar – can be a better option for maintaining proper levels
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Benefits of Electrolytes
Electrolytes regulate our muscle and nerve functions and our body’s hydration and blood pressure. They also help with rebuilding damaged tissue. When you exercise, you sweat and naturally lose a lot of water and salt through your pores. Within those salts, you’ll find important electrolytes like potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate.
All of these electrolytes carry an electrical charge, which works to stimulate muscles and nerves. But when we’re low on electrolytes, that’s when we can get all kinds of annoying side effects such as muscle cramping, dehydration, headaches, and fluid imbalances.
Drinking water during intense exercise will help with fluid loss, but it won’t give you those critical electrolytes – so you might still suffer adverse effects if you’re exercising hard for long periods of time. But by drinking something that also replenishes electrolytes, you’ll notice complete benefits like:
- Better hydration
- Maintenance of pH levels
- Improved energy and focus
- More efficiently regulated body temperature
- Fights back cramping
- Improved endurance
LMNT Keto Electrolyte Powder Packs
LMNT does two things very well. First, they deliver quality ingredients in correct dosages to ensure that you get the essential electrolytes you need in the quantities you need them in. Next, they offer individual, easy-to-transport packages that are perfect for hikers, bikers, runners or anyone else who
$44.85 for 90 servings at Amazon.com
GHOST® HYDRATION STICKS
Containing 24 hydration sticks, each loaded with electrolytes like calcium, magnesium and sodium, this is a phenomenal option for people who need on-the-go energy and muscle recovery: just pop the stick open, mix in a shaker with water and enjoy. And in typical GHOST® fashion, these sticks are available in multiple delicious flavors, including Sour Patch Kids® variants and a Sonic® Cherry Limeade that has to be tasted to be believed.
$29.99 for 24 servings at GHOSTLIFESTYLE.com
GHOST® HYDRATION DRINK
Would you rather stock your fridge with an electrolyte drink rather than fool around with powders? No problem, GHOST® has you covered. Their brand new HYDRATION DRINK delivers a potent electrolyte formula sans caffeine, in four delicious flavors: Lemon Lime, Kiwi Strawberry, Orange Squeeze and Sour Patch Kids® Redberry®. With zero sugars and just 10 calories per bottle, these drinks deliver all of the hydration you need without any of the unnecessary extras.
DripDrop ORS Electrolyte Powder
We’re big fans of this variety pack of electrolyte powders from DripDrop. You get berry, lemon, and watermelon flavors in 32 8-oz serving packets, allowing you to put one in a backpack or gym bag and mix it on the go. They taste great, and offer 70mg of vitamin C on top of the usual magnesium, zinc, and potassium. They’re not sugar-free, but with just 7 grams and only 35 calories per stick, you’re not going to sweat your macros too much.
$35.99 for 32 servings at Amazon.com
Cure Hydration Mix Organic Electrolyte Powder
With flavors including berry pomegranate, watermelon, and ginger turmeric, Cure Hydration makes hydrating and replenishing electrolytes an incredibly tasty experience. Gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO, and made with organic coconut water and pure Himalayan salt – no sugar added – you can feel good about pouring one of these powders into your water bottle each day.
$23.99 for 14 servings at Amazon.com
Zipfizz Electrolyte Healthy Energy Drink Mix
Zipfizz is a top choice for electrolyte energy drinks not only because it has many excellent customer reviews, but because it’s all-natural and contains zero sugars or artificial sweeteners. It’s easy to use and contains a lot of beneficial vitamins, minerals, and energy boosters to help replenish what you lose after a tough workout, game, or whatever causes you to sweat – we won’t judge. This pack comes with three different flavors of powder – grape, fruit punch, and orange soda – that you throw into your water bottle, shake, and enjoy.
$21.58 for 20 servings at Amazon.com
Nuun Hydration Tablets
Gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and Keto-friendly, Nuun hydration tablets are incredibly easy to take on the go, and one tablet is good enough for a 16-ounce drink. This pack comes with four tubes – flavors include citrus fruit, lemon-lime, orange, and tri-berry – each containing 10 tablets. The non-GMO sourced tablets contain the essential sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium replenishment your body needs during or after a training session, and they don’t contain any artificial sweeteners.
$29.96 for 40 servings at Amazon.com
Buoy All-Natural Electrolytes
Based on the World Health Organization’s formula for Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), this easy-to-squeeze electrolyte supplement is free-from sugar, caffeine, calories, and artificial ingredients. The benefit of this supplement is that it leaves barely any taste behind, so you can easily squeeze some into water, coffee, or juice without making a big impact on the flavor of your drink. You are meant to squeeze for half a second (or the equivalent of 1/3 of a tsp) per drink.
$39 for 120 servings at JustAddBuoy.com
Ultima Replenisher Electrolyte Drink
With no added sugars, zero calories, and zero artificial ingredients, it’s hard to go wrong with the Ultima Replenisher. Although this clean drink mix contains no caffeine, it still boosts your body’s energy levels naturally by replenishing and replacing everything you lost during an intense exercise sesh. If you’re battling a headache or cramps from travel or a wild night of partying, it can help with those, too. All it takes is one serving and you’ll feel a major difference in only a short amount of time. This pack includes five different flavors: raspberry, lemonade, grape, orange, and cherry pomegranate.
$47.99 for 90 servings at Amazon.com
Thread Performance Daily Hydration
Targeted towards developing athletes, Thread’s Daily Hydration formula is built around potassium, with the correct ratio of sodium, magnesium and trace minerals to enhance absorption and deliver better focus, energy and recovery when it’s needed most. Because each serving comes in an individual stick, these electrolytes are ideal for the athlete on the go, so they can hydrate before a practice, on a road trip, or wherever else their sport takes them.
$29.95 for 15 servings at ThreadPerformance.com
Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier, Electrolyte Powder
Thanks to Cellular Transport Technology (CTT), one packet of this electrolyte supplement supplies the body with the same hydration as two to three bottles of water would. It contains 11 essential minerals and vitamins – including the daily requirements for vitamins B3, B5, B6, and B12, more vitamin C than an orange, and more potassium than a banana – and it holds three times more electrolytes than the average sports drink. This pack comes in a lemon-lime flavor, which many reviewers have enjoyed.
$27.99 for 16 servings at Amazon.com
Key Nutrients Electrolyte Powder
This supplement is not only easy on the wallet compared to competitors, but it is ideal for those following a Keto diet. Designed to rehydrate and replenish the body after a moderate or intense sweat sesh, it contains six electrolytes – Ca, Mg, P, K, Na, and Ci – as well as 12 essential vitamins and minerals. Completely clean and caffeine-free, it is best when stirred into water or juice and has a lemonade-like flavor.
$39.99 for 90 servings at Amazon.com
RELATED: Beat Dehydration for Good With These Expert Tips
What to Avoid When Buying Electrolyte Drinks and Powders
As mentioned above, electrolyte drinks often contain unnecessary and unhealthy ingredients, which is part of the reason why a lot of health experts recommend you simply stick with water. (Of course, water is way better than caffeine-loaded, sugar water.) This is where most people look at their bottle of Gatorade and ask, “Am I making a mistake?”
This is not to say that Gatorade is bad for you. However, the thing to be wary of when it comes to sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade is the amount of sugar your body is taking in. Both contain 21 grams of sugar per 12 fluid ounces. That’s 56 grams of sugar per bottle (32 fl oz). That may not have ill effects on a person who is working out regularly, but that may be too much sugar for someone that’s knocking back a Gatorade while watching a basketball game instead of playing in one. As we know, excess sugar intake can lead to weight gain, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar.
Coconut water is another top player in the electrolyte game. While this drink serves as a great source of natural electrolytes and contains a ton of potassium, many of the coconut water offerings on the market can be high in sugar as well (it is a natural sugar but, nevertheless, too much isn’t ideal) and calories. This drink, too, is best reserved for those who are engaged in physical activity or are in need of electrolyte replenishment, and not for drinking while watching TV,
If you’re looking for an ultimate thirst quencher, here’s what you should avoid:
- Artificial sweeteners: Sweeteners like sucralose (Splenda) and aspartame are used by many beverages to cut out the calories while still maintaining a decent flavor. Unfortunately, they can cause negative side effects like headaches, nausea, and even heartburn. Worse, studies suggest that sucralose can upset your balance of gut bacteria, which can create digestive issues, lowered immune system, and more.
- Unnecessary ingredients: If you scan the ingredients and see a laundry list of stuff that sounds like a science experiment, that’s not a great sign — especially because there are plenty of products to choose from.
- Bad reviews: As always, do your homework. It’s usually a good idea to research a product if you’re unsure
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