Staying hydrated during your workout is important, but you might want to think twice before you toss aside $1.50 and 150 calories instead of hitting the water fountain.
Although energy drinks can help you push through a more intense workout, most of them thin your wallet, not your waistline.
The basic sports drinks - Gatorade (which now goes by "G") and Powerade - provide "aid" in the form of carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are made by sugar and though the different combinations of glucose vary from drink to drink, none carry natural "good" sugars.
The carbs in G and Powerade (and all their imitators) may not have any fat, but they sure do have a lot of calories.
For example, a 20 ounce bottle of G - the ones you can get from the Rec Center vending machines - carry 125 calories.
I thought I'd ask an expert endurance athlete to get another opinion.
"I'm not a huge fan of Gatorade or sports drinks in general. They have way too much sugar," senior cross country runner Mira Patel said. Patel has been named as one of the top runners in the Centennial Conference.
You know what else has 125 calories, tastes a whole lot better than Gatorade and can also be bought with your JCash? A serving of frozen yogurt from Nolan's. Not to mention you might also sneak in a little calcium and protein.
But what about vitamins? This is where another competitor enters the ring of the beverage battle. Its name is VitaminWater and you shouldn't let its pretty colors and witty labels trick you into thinking it's harmless.
VitaminWater's yummy taste, unfortunately, doesn't come from vitamins. It comes from sugar. I suppose this sugar may be a little less processed than the strict sports drinks, but that still doesn't make 125 calories thrown in with some vitamins and no juice "healthy." Not to mention that vitamins A, D and K won't be absorbed by your body unless they are taken with food. All things considered, it seems like the best route is to keep vitamins and water separate. Eat half a banana and absorb some vitamin A, and wash it down with some zero-calorie water. Same vitamins, half the sugar!
But if you just can't make it to the gym without a sweet, caloric, colorful drink to spur you on, don't cancel your membership. Recently, Gatorade and VitaminWater have come out with calorie-conscious beverages that still taste good without losing the healthy stuff.
G2, Gatorade's low-calorie option, gives you lots of electrolytes to energize your workout at 70 calories per bottle.
But depending on your stance for or against artificial sweeteners (along the same lines as Splenda and Sweet 'N Low), you might want to stick to real G's corn syrup sugar instead of G2's potentially cancerous compounds. It's a tough call!
Is there any sports drink that manages to keep calories down without artificial sweeteners? Yes . . . I think.
Though it's new to the market, VitaminWater10 has yet to meet any chemical criticism. This is because it uses stevia, a new sweetener on the market that comes from nature, not a test tube.
For a medium-intensity workout, I would recommend it (if you don't mind spending up to $2 per bottle).
In my experience, I've found that usually Hopkins students consider price just as much as nutrition when they consider sports drinks.
"If Gatorade was free, I'd drink it all day long," senior Brendan Vandor said.
Vandor was aware of the fact that he would be filling his body with thousands of calories. "Who cares, it tastes good!" he said.
Luckily Vandor doesn't have enough cash to support this idea and therefore sticks to water while maintaining his muscular physique.
If you're someone who avoids artificial sweeteners due to their fake taste or potential cancer risk, avoid drinks that seem too good to be true. These include Aquafina's FlavorSplash water, or SobeLean. Both are packed with sweeteners that keep them calorie-free.
In the end, though, the most important thing is to get your exercise. If that means chugging down 125 extra corn-syrup calories, you'll still probably do more good than harm in the end.
But I would still recommend skipping the sports drinks and eating frozen yogurt instead.
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