We have been getting a lot of questions from you lately about how Hydration can fit into the sports activities you do.
You also ask whether there should be sugar in it after all.
In the following article, we address both issues and outline the best strategies for using Gaminate Hydration in specific cases.
Let's start with:
GAMINATE HYDRATION BEING AN ISOTONIC DRINK, IT IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE 2 MAIN FUNCTIONS:
- how best to hydrate
- replenish electrolytes and vitamins lost during exercise (but not only, as we lose them all the time during the day)
Both of these things it does very well, as confirmed by our clinical hydration efficacy studies and a comparison of similar products on the market (which everyone can also do themselves), which shows that Gaminate Hydration has a huge advantage in this area.
An additional feature of Hydration that is extremely important and therefore strongly emphasised by us is the absence of sugar.
Despite the lack of sugar, we have managed to achieve an isotonic osmotic pressure of the drink, which ensures that the processes of hydration and replenishment of electrolytes and vitamins take place optimally.
SUGAR during and after exercise
But back to sugar itself, as it is a highly controversial topic in some circles, which we will touch on more extensively here - we do not use it because we consider it to be an ingredient that is generally detrimental to health (it is one of the main factors responsible for the current epidemic of obesity and metabolic diseases) and we strongly encourage everyone to limit or even avoid its consumption altogether.
The commonly held paradigm of the benefits of consuming sugar-laden isotonic drinks when undertaking any sporting activity is totally HAPPY for the vast majority of you!
More than 99% people who are in any way active in sport absolutely do not need to consume sugar either during or after their activity. Not only will it not help you, but it will also undermine your efforts to improve your health, performance or body composition. It is worth mentioning that the average isotonic drink contains as much as 30g of it!
The only case in which the use of monosaccharides during exercise can be justified is for endurance athletes subjected to prolonged (more than 1.5 hours) intensive effort (long-distance running, cycling races), who are also focused on achieving a specific result. During such efforts, in order to be able to continue with maximum efficiency and effectiveness, we need to provide the body with an additional source of energy and only then consumption of sugar is justified and will not have a negative impact on our health.
As long as you are not this type of athlete (and these are probably less than 1 in 1000 active people) - for your own good, forget about using sugar and carbohydrates at all both during and immediately after exercise.
The second case where sugar intake is not detrimental to your health is when you are lying unconscious in hospital and a glucose drip is temporarily your only means of nutrition, but this is certainly not a state you wish to be in 😊
POST-EXERCISE CARBOHYDRATE SUPPLEMENTATION
Here, too, there is a widespread and pernicious belief that immediately after exercise we need to replenish the glycogen we have used up, and the best way to do this is by drinking an isotonic drink with sugar, or by consuming some sort of carbohydrate gel or bar.
Well NO!, there is absolutely no need for this, just as there is no need to consume protein immediately after a workout geared towards building muscle mass - we have a few hours after training to do so, and in this time we will certainly consume a normal meal that will completely (often even in excess 😊) meet our body's needs arising from the need to rebuild glycogen stores.
And even if you already need to replenish carbohydrates immediately after intense exercise, because:
- You are the 1 of 1000 active people who do long-distance running or cycling and do it with the intention of achieving a specific result
- are you on a low-carbohydrate or keto diet
It is definitely better and, above all, healthier, but also more enjoyable to eat fruit or a carbohydrate meal which, in addition to empty calories, will provide us with some valuable nutrients.
So consuming sugar after exercise is not justified in either case.
OPTIMAL STRATEGIES FOR THE USE OF GAMINATE HYDRATION DURING AND AFTER EXERCISE
Let's now turn to the core issue, which is how (when) to use Hydration so that it brings you the most benefit.
All people - because for everyone, regardless of whether or not they do any physical activity, consuming a drink such as Gaminate Hydration will be beneficial to their health - We will divide them into 3 main groups:
- Not involved in sport at all
- All practitioners of all activities and sports with the exception of individuals belonging to group 3 - i.e. probably the vast majority of you 😊
- The aforementioned individuals engaged in sports involving prolonged, high-intensity physical exertion aimed at achieving a specific result.
And now moving from group to group in turn:
Re 1) Even if you don't do any sport, having a drink that is rich in electrolytes and vitamins and that doesn't provide you with unnecessary sugar and empty calories will be beneficial to your health. You can drink it simply to quench your thirst.
And it is certainly advisable during times of increased perspiration (e.g. hot weather) when both water and electrolytes are lost at particularly high levels.
Re 2) Consume Hydration during physical activity, and if you have anything left in your bidon/shaker afterwards, top it up as you need it already 😊.
This is the optimum time for you to make the most of all its benefits. During and immediately after exercise, you feel naturally thirsty and it is also during this time that you lose the most ingredients, which you are ideally able to replenish by drinking Hydration.
Also, on days when you don't train (most of us don't train every day), it's a good idea to replenish water, electrolytes and vitamins, because we consume them whether we train or not (of course, we consume more during exercise).
Ad 3) Here, the question of use strategy becomes more complex, as each athlete of this type has his own nutrition and hydration protocol tailored to his specific needs. It is different during training and during competitions. Each athlete likes to stick to their own nutrition protocol.
When it comes to training, the vast majority of the endurance athletes we know (including ultramarathon winners) carry out their workouts without 'nutrition' (unless they last more than 2h, or are extremely gruelling) and all they do is rehydrate.
In this case, of course, Hydration works perfectly both during and immediately after training (some runners do their training without even taking any drinks with them).
When it comes to competitions and very intensive training, during which athletes use nutrition such as gels, bars, soups, etc., energy is drawn from them. When it comes to very intensive competitions where athletes use nutrition such as gels, bars, soups, etc., the energy is drawn from them, while Hydration is ideal for hydration and electrolyte replenishment, no longer supplying the sugar they have consumed during "nutrition".
However, if you are an athlete for whom the nutritional strategy during extreme exertion is based on liquid carbohydrates and such a protocol serves you, we can recommend Hydration as a post-exercise drink to replenish lost electrolytes and vitamins, which you certainly won't do with 'ordinary' isotonic drinks on the market, as they are simply very poor in these ingredients.
TO SUM UP:
More than 99% of you should absolutely not consume liquid sugars either during or after training. Not only can your body cope perfectly well without it, but for its own good you should avoid it (sugar) and meet your carbohydrate needs with normal (preferably as healthy as possible, of course 😊) meals or fruit.
And that fraction of a percent of you who subject your body to really extreme efforts and support yourselves with liquid carbohydrates should absolutely not forget to replenish all electrolytes (not just sodium!!!) and essential vitamins, and for this Gaminate Hydration 😊 will be ideal.
