The Shocking List of “Health Foods” That Aren’t Healthy At All

2. Sports Drinks

Athletes consume sports drinks for the electrolytes. Electrolytes perform a variety of functions in the body, a major one being regulating your body’s fluids. They’re key for staying hydrated and ensuring optimum performance during exercise.The thing is, you don’t lose electrolytes as fast as you might think.

You actually lose water much faster than electrolytes. Sports drinks were originally made for high-level athletes, like football players and marathon runners. It’s only through high-intensity or high-endurance physical exertion that we need to replenish electrolytes to maintain hydration and performance.

Somewhere along the line, the recommendations for athletes became one for everyone, and Gatorade and other sports drinks became a staple item in seemingly everyone’s gym bag.

The problem with is these drinks aren’t just electrolyte replenishers, but are also loaded with sugar. Just like with fruit juice, sugar in liquid form isn’t the best thing for your body. The key takeaway?

Unless you’re a high-level athlete, you’ll rehydrate just fine with water.