Gut Check!
By Kevin Rail

 
Kevin Rail, Wellcoach/Fitness Pro
The Lean Berets Co-Founder

Oh man, my shoulders are a smart’n right now. No, it’s not because I had a kick ass workout this morning (although I did). It’s because I went for a one and one half hour ripper today on my fifteen year old GT hard tail. Which I might add is a hell of a bike and I highly recommend GT bikes any day of the week. http://www.gtbicycles.com/usa/eng.  Now back to the pain. It is not sore muscles that I am referring to. It is the epidermic layer that’s hurting. I guess this is to be expected when you live your life outside the grain and you refuse to wear a shirt in Park City , UT in the summer time. But I feel it is justified. Up here in my hood, the sun is strong, the humidity is low and when I board my two wheeled weapon of ground pounding destruction, the intensity is HIGH! I need to stay as cool as I can. I just put my head down and go.

You may be asking yourself what relevance my savage trail rippers have to do with this week’s Check. Well you need to make a big salad and take a patience pill my fine feathered Lean Beret in training. We are going to explore the wonderful, wacky world of sports drinks which are sure to be spotted in the hands or bottle holders of many a bike rider right on down the street from you. Look out your window if you don’t believe me. I am going to give you the straight dope as always, and this week I am going to separate your Liquid Assets from your Liquid Liabilities. Sound fun? Well I’m only getting started. I am also adding a new fun filled feature to the Check this week. It is a “byte” sized morsel of MUSICAL nutrition called Rock the Walk! Are you thirsty? Great! Then without any further ado, grab your bottles and let’s hit it!

Do you know why a sports drink is called a “sports drink?” It’s really not very complicated. They are designed for activities lasting in excess of sixty minutes; which most SPORTS do. Up until this point, water suffices just fine. Sports drinks replenish glycogen, electrolytes and B-vitamins. Glycogen is just a fancy word for stored carbs. Your electrolytes consist of potassium, sodium, chloride, and bicarbonate. All of these together are your ultimate fuel sources when you are exercising. Understand? Good.  I’m not going to complicate it any more than that as there is no need to.

After you have been exercising for about an hour these key elements have been severely depleted and you have a tendency to do this thing called “bonking,” or “hitting the wall.” To grade two this for you, you basically feel so fatigued that you can go no further. That’s where the sports drink takes the handlebars. This is supposed to replenish you on the fly so you can keep up the intensity and hammer along. Just think Underdog when he takes the magic pill from his ring.  When utilized properly, they can be a life saver, literally, in many a man’s tool box. Notice I said “utilized properly.” Other than bagels, I can’t really see any other substance that is more wrongly abused than sports drinks. I see everyone from all walks of life and every age group gulping down bucketfuls of this stuff every day of the week, every hour of the day gluttonously, like a thirsty traveler who just came back from the Ugandan Dessert and hasn’t seen a drop of liquid in thirty days. These are just senseless calories that are often times swept under the babushka of many deceased Lithuanian grandmothers spanning the globe today. This brings me to an interesting story about how I learned so much about this electrolytic jungle juice.

You see, I used to be one of those recreational drinkers. Actually, I was more like an accomplished power drinker of this fruit flavored beverage, to the highest exponent. I use to drink this stuff like it was going into remission. I drank it with lunch, I drank it with supper, I snuck it into the movies, and I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash at the idea of guzzling down 32 oz of Gatorade right from the fountain of a local Convenient Mart at 1:00 AM, minutes after I washed my last grease laden dish at Elby’s Big Boy. What must I have been thinking? Well, I was at that indestructible age when I felt impervious and bulletproof to any food or drink you threw at me.

Of course, there were times when I drank it while partaking in high intensity activity as well. Like when I use to throw hail bails all day in the scorching, humid, Northeast, PA heat on my friend D.J.’s farm. Whew, I remember the sweat soaked clothing clinging to my body like it was yesterday. But that was more of a coincidence than a pre-orchestrated event. At that time I had no clue about carbs, sugars, B-vitamins, sodium, potassium or High Fructose Corn Syrup; nor did I even care. All I knew was, it was wet, it was cold, it was sweet, I was thirsty and it was going into my belly. Then it happened. I found All Sport.

I thought I reinvented the butter knife the first day my lips met this frosty beverage. At this time, I was heavily addicted to that foul substance I spoke about in an earlier edition called soda. All Sport was basically glorified soda. You see, it had all the bells and whistles of a sports drink, plus the addition of carbonation. I bet there were days where I’d go through a gallon of this stuff. The lemon lime was my favorite. But that’s where this love story comes to a screeching, ugly break-up.

It had occurred to me that I was getting unbelievable heart burn and at times, I would just start shaking. I wasn’t on crack, I wasn’t under stress, I didn’t have a crazy ex-girlfriend trying to run me down in cold blooded murder; I was having a bad reaction to All Sport. So I did the smart thing. I changed to Gatorade. Yeah, that will fix that problem in a jiffy. Well, guess what? Same problem, different substance. Whaaaaaaat?  Let me tell you what. They were Liquid Liabilities.

Liquid Liabilities!

Damn man. Liabilities are things that are disadvantageous, that actually hold you back. There are nine thousand sports beverage companies out there today that are all fighting for YOUR dollar and trying to tell you how good they are and how they are number one. Well I honestly group them all into ONE category… Liquid Liabilities. The reason why I was getting the “elephant sitting on my chest” feeling that I described earlier was because these things are loaded from front to back with sodium, HFCS, artificial colors, and artificial flavors. Some of them are calorie free so they resort to aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, and neotame to destroy your bladder, liver and kidneys while they attempt to rehydrate you. Granted, I drank mass amounts of this stuff. That would equivocate to a lot of excess sodium. So that could explain the heart burn I was getting. But as far as I’m concerned, there is no explanation for all the other poisonous ingredients they pile in there. Damn them I say! These drinks are SUPPOSED to be good for you. I don’t care how many events or teams they sponsor or how many athletes sing there praises, they are all fraudulent in my book.

As I said earlier, I am going to give you the straight dope. Remember our rules of the roadway; look to the left and right, then cross. Well do the same with sports drinks. Look at the ingredient labels first, and then move along with caution. So with that in mind, I am going to take some guesswork out of the equation for you. Here are the top Liquid Liabilities to your system: Gatorade and all it’s spin offs – G2/Propel/Edge/Recovery Shakes, All Sport, Powerade (an absolute atrocity!), Accelerade and Cytomax to name a few. Remember your key check points; you want no HFCS, no colors, no numbers, no artificial sweeteners, and no abbreviations in the ingredient labels. In the event you feel my comments are out of line and untrue, that’s cool. I would like to cordially invite you to check the ingredients of any one of the above mentioned products. I promise you you’ll find at least one hairy substance in ALL of the ingredient labels. I am training you to be aware of what you are being fooled on. You deserve better than that and I will personally see to it that you get it! Or at least do whatever I can to help you along the way.

Now let’s change that look of disappointment on your face from my honesty assault on your favorite sports beverage to a great big, bright, shining smile.

Liquid Assets

I would be willing to bet that most of you know what an asset is. It is a something that works for you. It is a friend, a useful thing, a valuable item, a trustworthy resource. Something you can always turn to that won’t let you down. Well I happen to have a bunch of them in the arena of our topic of the day - sports drinks. There happen to be tons of wonderfully delicious alternatives out there to your over hyped, over commercialized treasonistic torture temptations that you probably haven’t even heard of. I am going to give you your Liquid Assets. These are all natural, no artificial flavors or colors, no preservatives, and have NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. I have spent many long hours on my bike over the last month deliberately depleting my energy stores so I could try all these out and they ALL meet the Lean Beret Seal of Approval. Do you see what sacrifices I go through for you? I’m not looking for any pats on the back. Besides it’s sunburned. That would hurt. All I’m asking is that you support these people and drink their products. They are the Good Guys. So here we go…

Recharge. This is a great tasting beverage by the R.W. Knudson Family. You can’t go wrong with any flavor. They also have a ton of other beverages to their credit from juices to juice boxes for the kids to spritzers.   http://www.knudsenjuices.com/products/default.aspx

Blue Sport. This is a tasty beverage from the Blue Sky Company that is similar to Recharge. They also offer an array of natural soda options including a “lite” soda that is only 50 calories per can. Another great attribute they have is there involvement with community fundraising such as the Save Pets Send Tabs program. http://drinkbluesky.com/products/index.php?cat=3

Cliff Shot Electrolyte. I’m sure you’ve all heard of Cliff right? Well you may not know this but they have a tasty little powdered formula that has a clean bill of health. As a matter of fact, I love all of Cliff’s products because they have an organic and all natural message. You can’t go wrong by choosing them. They are truly one of the Good Guys. The only down side to the Electrolyte formula is you have to mix it. Get over it. Think about the extra 10 calories you’ll burn in the ten seconds it takes. http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_shot_electrolyte

Vitamin Water-Energy. This is a tasty beverage by a company called Glaceau. They are gaining all kinds of momentum and exposure these days. They have a ton of beverages for a ton or purposes but the Vitamin Energy that I mentioned is your hook up for the trail. http://www.vitaminwater.com

OK, are you folks ready for the Yokozuna? For those of you that don’t speak Sumo that stands for Grand Champion. Of all my travels and all my research for the best sports drink on the market, I came across something that you never would have even dreamed of. Drum roll please… COCONUT WATER. That’s right. Sip for sip, coconut water trumps every other sports drink formula on the market. It has more electrolytes, it promotes digestive health, it helps to hydrate the skin, it’s non-allergic, it has the least amount of calories and it has a pleasant thirst arresting taste. That’s not to say that any of my other Assets aren’t good. They are all a huge step up from the liabilities. It’s just that coconut water is the BEST. Here are a few of my favorite companies: O.N.E. They offer up a handful of delicious other beverages as well including cashew juice, Amazon Acai, and coffee berry juice. Don’t ask questions. Just go try them.
http://www.onenaturalexperience.com/?gclid=CP3guPTGrJQCFR0ZagodMUsvtg

Vitacoco. Mmm mmm. These guys have five lip smacking flavors for your drinking pleasure. I think the coconut water with passion fruit is my favorite. http://www.vitacoco.com

Harvest Bay . Last but not least, we have a company that specializes in functional foods. In addition to their signature coconut water, they also offer up Acai juice, coconut oil, and dehydrated fruit. http://www.harvest-bay.com/functional_foods.aspx

Lean Beret Recap

Whew, it’s been a great ride. I trust you are all thirsty right now and are ready to go get yourselves around some Liquid Assets before you pass out. If not, then get back on your bike and keep peddling.

Remember, calories still count even if they are in liquid form. The best time to use your assets is when exercising for periods of time that are longer than 60 minutes duration. Up until this point, water will do just fine. If you’re going to drink sports bevs recreationally that’s OK. That’s no skin off my sacrum. Just be cognizant of your daily total caloric goals. You wouldn’t want to sabotage your hard earned efforts by overdosing on a liquid substance.

Rock the Walk

I’m going to keep this short and simple. I am going to recommend one of my favorite songs that you can always turn to when you need to kick ass or get through a tough workout. You all have iPods, you all have MP3 players, or if you’re like me, you all have Walkmans. I will give you one song each month that you need to download and put into your musical device of choice.

This month’s song… 30 Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday. 

For next month’s Check I want you to get your ear up really close to the record player as I am going to analyze the first cousin of Sports Beverages… Energy Drinks.

Remember, exercise first, and ask questions later…

My name is Rail. I tell it like it is and say it like I see it!  

Learn more about Kevin Rail

*This article was featured in Coach RJ Health e-News!

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(Updated 7.15.08)

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