Feuling up post workout

Electrolyte is a term for salts*, mainly sodium and potassium. When you exercise, you lose electrolytes through sweat. Though water is your best friend throughout the day (80+ ounces you gym rats!), during and post workout you need to replenish your electrolytes. If you don’t, your body is left feeling tired, and hungry, which can lead to overeating and ruining your whole gym trip that day.

Sports drinks are one way to recoup the lost electrolytes, but I’m not a huge fan of the way sports drinks are made (have you ever read the back of a label!?). Plus, if your not careful, many are loaded with calories you just worked so hard to burn off.

Here are a couple of my favorite NATURAL ways to replenish electrolytes:

1) Whole wheat toast (or rice cake) with peanut butter & a whole banana (you get the salt through peanuts; if you choose bread it’s usually also got some of the other key ions)\
2) ZICO coconut water (tastes a bit watery at first but then awesome), only 60 calories! http://www.zico.com/
3) Make your own electrolyte drink (see recipe below)


Whatever you chose, just don’t forget to give your body what it’s really craving after a workout!


Natural Electrolyte Drink Recipe
Pinch sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tsp cream of tarter
1 tbsp sugar
1 liter of water
1T orange juice or 2t lemon juice for flavor


*The major electrolytes are as follows:
sodium (Na+)
potassium (K+)
chloride (Cl-)
calcium (Ca2+)
magnesium (Mg2+)
bicarbonate (HCO3-)
phosphate (PO42-)
sulfate (SO42-)

Read more at How Stuff Works - http://health.howstuffworks.com/question565.htm