The Truth About Sports Drinks and Your Family's Health

I'm not trying to make Gatorade the enemy here, however I wanted to explain something I've been saying for the past two years, that was just written about and covered by MSNBC, among other news stations. If you check out the article here, you will notice that the reporter, in the limited time he or she had to writeup the story, didn't really explain why sports drinks are bad for most of us. Energy drinks-it's kind of obvious-there is caffeine in them and your kids shouldn't have them. Sport drinks...do you know why they're contributing to our childhood obesity epidemic? No. Didn't think so and that's ok, I'll break it down for you and then you can choose what's best for you and your child.

First, a little background and science. Sports drinks were designed to QUICKLY replenish valuable energy depleted by vigorous exercise (Gatorade was formulated for the Florida Gators football team to enhance practices and speed up recovery time between them). This is important because when you run a marathon, workout in extreme temps or participate in other energy-draining activities you use up your glycogen store (your stored energy in the body). You need to fuel up again quickly to repair muscles and fuel your body for recovery and normal function. More science ahead, but you get where the need comes from?

So the science. How sports drinks are supposed to work is that when you exercise vigorously (I keep stressing vigorously because taking a walk around the block doesn't cut it) your body uses the glucose already available in your body. It is a naturally occurring sugar that is formed from carbohydrates (which is why I always stress getting the right carbs is key to a healthy diet) in your food. Then it is further broken down to give you energy. (Almost done with the science stuff.) If you are eating a healthy diet you will have a healthy store of glucose in your body so you will need to replenish quickly. If you overeat and/or eat a poor diet, you will have excess glucose in your body that will be stored in your liver, muscles, etc. as fat. Obviously not good.

So here's the problem.

More and more people and their kids are gulping down these sports drinks instead of water for hydration. Yet, exercise has fallen by the wayside and TV and video games are the mainstay. So if you are putting all these sugar and carbs in your body and not utilizing them for exercise they will turn to fat. SIMPLE.

Let's analyze the Nutrition Facts from one 32fl oz. bottle of Gatorade Glacier Ice. At first glance you might think the stats are not that bad. Only 50 calories, 100mg of sodium, 14g of sugars. BUT, THERE ARE 4 SERVINGS PER BOTTLE!! That means there are actually 200 calories, 440 mg of sodium (1/3 of your daily intake in just one drink) and 54g of sugars. WOW.

Again, sugar, salt and carbs are needed for endurance athletes. But you can see why this drink will pose a problem for a kid who's popping chicken nuggets and playing grand theft auto all day.

Let's go into another issue-the ingredients.

Initially when Gatorade was made for the football players, it was pretty much straight glucose and water-pure natural sugars that were readily absorbed by the body to refuel. It tasted gross but did the trick. Then Pepsi bought the drink and changed it for the masses. Now here's a look at what this "sports drink" is filled with:

Water, Sucrose Syrup, Glucose Fructose Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Monopotassium Phosphate, Ester Gum, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Blue 1.

Ok let's ignore the glaring offenses of the ambiguous "natural flavors" and sodium citrate and focus in on the insanely unhealthy ingredients listed above. HYDROGENATED OILS!! I know you know these and that you should avoid them because they are TRANS FATS. Yes, in gatorade, aertery-clogging, carcenogenic trans fats. Oh but if those don't get you how about some blue dye. I hear that's good for the kidneys and liver.

By now I hope you're seeing why it's not just about ragging on a sugary drink. It is in fact all about fueling our inactive kids with drinks filled with sub-standard ingredients that are built to make them fat (purposefully or not-you decide).

The alternative. Good, old WATER! Lots of it. And a healthy diet. You can also use Vita-Coco Coconut Water for a natural hydrating drink that replenishes 3 more electrolytes than Gatorade and has only one ingredient: Coconut water.

Oh and PS-this will save you a whole lot of money...:)

For Those Craving Chocolate!

Here is the recipe for my VEGAN CHOCOLATE MOUSSE. Yes, you read correctly. It is chocolate mousse that is healthy (and not the pretend kind of healthy where they make it "fat free" and there's all sorts of crap in it), inexpensive and easy. Here you go!

Ingredients

2 ripe (we're talking very soft) avocados (just trust me)

2 to 3 tablespoons of raw cacao or cocoa powder

vegan chocolate chips if you dare!

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 dash of honey (you can leave this out if you wish)

some sliced strawberries for topping

shredded coconut for topping

Method

Peel and pit avocados and put in blender or food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the toppings, and process until smooth and chocolatey. Top with strawberries or other fresh fruit and shredded coconut. Serve.

OMG it's amazing! You'd never believe it! And the whole time you are getting the healthy fats your body needs from the avocado without the cholesterol-packed, fattening dairy products. Yay for you!

Healthy Dessert? Yup.

...and I'm back!

It's been a while since my last post, reason being, I recently found out I am pregnant!! About 8 weeks at this point and feeling great. It's amazing what the body can do when it's healthy. We weren't even trying!

So the cool thing is, as I've said before, I won't become a garbage disposal just because I'm pregnant. I value my healthy diet even more now than before. I also want to instill healthy habits in my future child! One thing that has always helped me to do this is to have dessert after every meal.

Yes, that's right, dessert after every meal. I'm not talking about sugary, processed stuff that will send your blood sugar into a tizzy, pack on the pounds and keep you wanting more. I'm talking about nature's dessert-FRUIT! There are tastey, quick and inexpensive ways to curb your sweet tooth after a meal. Here's the first recipe of many on fruity desserts:

Sweet Strawberry Banana Smoothie

1/2 cup (ish) frozen strawberries

1 banana

1 Tbsp ground flaxseed

1/2 cup (ish) of almond milk (or any milk substitute you like)

Blend and enjoy! You will need to add ice if you use fresh strawberries.

And note, there is no cholesterol, very little fat and tons of calcium (from the almonds), omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in this dessert. Can your ice cream, cake or cookies do the same? I think not!!

Just give it a try! :)

Snowy Day Recipe for You AND Your Kids! (or just you)

On snowy days like today, you can fight off boredom, give your kids an interactive and fun activity AND enjoy a tasty treat that will last you days with the following recipe.

They are Homemade and Healthy Granola Bars that use only the ingredients pictured here. That's it!!! I didn't even have to run to the store! I had this all in the pantry so it cost me NOTHING! If you were to buy these ingredients, it'd probably cost you about $10, but it would give you ingredients to make several other things or several batches of granola bars!

These are way cheaper, healthier and tastier than store-bought bars. Here's how you do it. Oh and **PARENTS** please let your kids do this. They can and should get their hands dirty with this recipe! Also, this is just a base recipe-make it your own. Mix in things you love to enhance and change it to keep it interesting!

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas-use what you've got, but they need to be soft so they can be mushed

2 cups of old fashioned oats-they can be rolled or steel cut JUST NOT QUICK

shredded coconut

dates, pitted and chopped

vegan chocolate chips (or if you dig regular ones use regular)

walnuts, chopped

cinnamon

nutmeg

***Notice there is no sugar added to this recipe!! This means you and your family can enjoy the natural sugars found in the real fruits used for these bars. Refined sugars are bad because they cause blood sugar level spikes that can make you tired and hungry faster, when you actually aren't. They also offer little value nutrition-wise but cause you to pack on pounds. With fruit, you get the natural sugars packed with nutrients AND fiber which allows you to feel full, absorb the nutrients and flush out (pun intended!) the toxins in your body. Win-win here!***

The above picture is of pitted dates. You find fresh dates in the produce section of your grocery store. They are a fruit, so they come with pits. Make sure they are somewhat soft to the touch when you buy them because then they are more easily incorporated. These will be your most expensive ingredient. If you don't want to use them-simply substitute a little applesauce (with no added sugars or weird things in the ingredients) to keep the sweetness up. Dates are great for any recipe, smoothie, whatever, where you need to add sweet flavor without sugar! In my eyes, a pantry staple!

Method

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix them up, by hand, until all the oats are coated with the banana. It should be a mushy, wet-ish mixture. See below.

Then spread into a casserole dish that you would use for something like brownies. You'll spread them in the pan as you would brownies too-flat and even and covering the bottom.

Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes. The cool thing with this recipe is that there is not raw meat or dairy in it so LET YOUR KIDS LICK THEIR FINGERS! Let them eat some of the "batter" if they want. These bars only need to cook to keep them together so just when you start smelling them, check on them and they can probably come out. Mine were done today in about 20 minutes. It just depends on how thick you make them. Also note, in the picture to the right, how much cleanup work this recipe takes. WOW, washing that one bowl and spatula is going to be tough. LOL.

This is a no brainer! Once the bars come out-let them cool for about 5 minutes so they are more easily cut. But if you can't wait-go at it-they just won't be pretty. This recipe takes only 10 minutes of active work, which you can draw out with your kids if you want-but then the rest is oven time. Awesome huh?

And just for kicks-let's analyze a popular granola bar favorite that appears to be healthy shall we? Yes.


Ok so forget the Nutrition "Facts" for now because I haven't been able to chat with you about how to read that yet and let's focus on the ingredients.

The first ingredient is great-oats. Ok, then...well, sugar. Not good. Then, canola oil-a fatty, nutrient-less food. Then, corn flour-a binder perhaps? Unecessary and certainly void of nutrients because of how processed it is. Then, OH LOOK, more sugar-this time it's brown which means the white sugar was mixed with molasses.

Still no nutrients or flavor-just sugar.

At this point you can stop hoping for some type of real food ingredient because the top 3 to 5 ingredients are the ones that count-they are the ones that make up most of the food. And as we can see here, these "granola bars" are just sugar in bar form. Lovely.

Instead-how about feeding your body and your kids' bodies something nutritious that was made at home and is packed with real food like oats, bananas and dates. Worth it? Yes.

When You're Hungry for a Snack...

On a day where you don't feel like leaving the house (in my case because of my snow) and you are having people over, or you just plain need a healthy snack, you can still create this pretty, yummy and nutritious treat for cheap!

I also bring this to parties a lot because it looks a whole lot better than just bringing a plate of veggies with some hummus. The picture to the left is actually from one of my Healthy Eating Supper Clubs that I hosted at Whole Foods Market in Fort Collins, CO. I served this, to rave reviews, as an appetizer. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

1 english cucumber

1 package of oil-free roasted red pepper hummus (or if you can't find it, make it yourself with recipe below!)

1 cup of raw cashews (toasted if you are feeling ambitious!)

NO JOKE THAT'S IT! I'll tell you how to assemble below and will also give you my recipe for homemade hummus that's to die for, in case you want to keep the "homemade and healthy" thing going on. I highly encourage this because then you can make your hummus without oil.

Method

Wash the english cucumber and cut off the ends. Then peel the cucumber so the skin looks like stripes! Slice into 1/2 or 1/4 inch rounds and spread on a plate. Spoon a heap of roasted red pepper hummus on top of the cucumber slice and garnish with a cashew. Serve! This yummy dish is fresh, healthy and balanced with all the components that make a dish taste great! Try for yourself!

WHY skip the oil?

Because if you look at the label here for Spectrum Olive Oil (it will be pretty much the same label for any olive oil you get), you'll notice that the serving size is only 1 TABLESPOON, and that in that one tablespoon there are 120 calories-all from fat!!! So if you are adding, say 1/4 cup of olive oil to your hummus-that's about 4 tablespoons equalling 480 calories all from fat!!! And you don't even feel full from those calories!

People will argue back and forth about the potential health benefits of olive oil. I'm not here to talk about that. Whatever you believe-fine. HOWEVER-no one can disupte that olive oil is 100% fat and if you are trying to lose weight or be healthier, it is not ideal because again you will be getting calories that won't fill you up. Instead I recommend ditching the calories and getting your fats from whole plant sources (not the extracted ones in this case) to fill you up with nutrients, fiber and the like. You'll see a real difference once you stop cooking like Rachael Ray and Paula Deen. Really! It can be simple if you let it be.

Homemade and Healthy Hummus (no oil in this recipe!)

Ingredients

1 can no-salt-added garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed-some of the liquid reserved

lemon juice (from a real lemon, not that funny lemon-shaped squeezie bottle)

1 tbsp horseradish (the kind from the store that doesn't have preservatives)

2 tbsp tahini (which is just crushed sesame seeds-good, healthy fat)

fresh ground pepper

dash of low sodium tamari

dash of cayenne

dash of cumin

dash of paprika

dash of coriander

(add a few roasted red peppers from a jar if you are making the hummus for the dish above)

Directions

Blend all ingredients to taste. You can used the reserved bean liquid to thin out the mixture with flavor (to replace the oil). Remember, taste along the way. Add more spice if it needs it. Enjoy!