A good sports drink is more than just a colorful bottle of liquid. The best of them offer fairly healthy means to a more hydrated end, often throwing in replenishing ingredients like potassium in the mix. Gatorade and Powerade jump to mind, of course, but there are equally good and decidedly healthier options out there.
These drinks can help you recover, putting back in what you sweat out during that lengthy bike ride, jog, or workout. And while something like Pedialyte might just be the most effective option (as a good hangover cure, too), we should be able to enjoy what we’re drinking. You deserve solid flavors and a reasonable amount of vitamins to get your engine humming again.
Turns out, there are some great Gatorade alternatives. Here are some of the best sports drink brands to get your rehydration on with.
Bodyarmor SuperDrink
Bodyarmor decided to eschew the whole subtlety thing when they called their line of sports beverages “SuperDrink,” but there’s enough good stuff going on here to overlook it. Its “Lyte” line of sports drinks is available in five different flavors, and each 16-ounce bottle has only 40 calories, plus 10% of your daily recommended allotment of potassium. The Lyte SuperDrinks are 10% coconut water, and that flavor really comes through, which is great if you like coconut water, and not so great if you don’t.
Roar Organic Electrolyte Infusions
As the name suggests, these highly hydrating beverages from Roar are organic. As the name also suggests, they are a great source of electrolytes, which your body needs to make muscles contract properly and for your nerves to fire, as well as to prevent cramps, among other things. Also, there are lots of B and C vitamins in these drinks, which come in 25-calorie, 18-ounce bottles. The flavors are unique blends, like Pineapple Mint (loved it), Strawberry Coconut (also good), and Cucumber Watermelon (not so much), to name a few.
Gnarly
While you have to batch your own, don’t fret, all you’re doing is adding water to the powder. Gnarly excels at electrolyte content, with 40 servings per bag and great flavors like ruby red grapefruit, orange pineapple, and even salted margarita. The generous and tasty servings deliver 90 milligrams of magnesium, 250 grams of sodium, and 5 B vitamins. Get a big cooler, create a large batch that will last you a couple of weeks, and have it at the ready for some post-exercise replenishing.
DEFY Performance Drink
A 16-ounce bottle of DEFY Performance Drink has 140 calories, which, as you’ll recall, is the same amount as a 20-ounce bottle of Gatorade. So why is DEFY on the list? Because it also has 20 milligrams of “Performance Spectrum Hemp Extract,” which can also be referred to as CBD, or cannabidnoil, an extract from the hemp plant that’s not psychoactive, but that may well help reduce inflammation, lower stress levels, and help with focus and muscle recovery. Now, aren’t those all things you appreciate in a sports drink or any good CBD drink? So go ahead and allow in the few extra calories; you’ll burn them off in no time, anyway.
Stance Supplements BCAA Complex
The only powdered sports beverage on our list, Stance Supplements’ BCAA Complex is designed for rapid delivery of BCAAs, which are branched-chain amino acids — essential amino acids your body uses to build proteins and muscle tissue and that assist with energy production and regulation during exercise. And they are called “essential” because, like certain other types of amino acids, your body can’t produce them, it must ingest them. A single scoop mixed with 10 ounces of water has just five calories and yet loads you up with five grams of BCAAs. You can also try one of our other favorite protein shakes.
Still thirsty? Check out our favorite bottled water brands and top coconut water choices. When it comes to hydration, options are a wonderful thing.
