*Thank you to Katie of Wellness Mama for another great post! Remember you can also find Katie here at her own amazing blog. Now read and enjoy!
For a Paleo athlete (or any athlete) drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, etc are not a good option. Sure, they restore glycogen, but most are high carb or filled with questionable chemicals, or both!
Most of the time, plain water is all we need for good hydration, but those who compete in endurance sports or high intensity competitions (or have labors as long as mine!) occasionally need an electrolyte boost.
Even at these times, there are better options than conventional sports drinks. 
Gatorade, for instance, contains: Water, sucrose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, citric acid, natural grape flavor with other natural flavors, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, red 40, Blue 1. (This is from a picture of the grape flavored Gatorade label.
If you ever compete in high intensity or endurance activities that sometimes require an some additional electrolytes, but want to avoid things like “sucrose syrup,” a homemade sports drink is easier, cheaper, and much, much, healthier.
This is also a good alternative to give your kids occasionally, as it has a lot of natural vitamins and minerals.
Natural Sports Drink Ingredients:
- One Quart (32 ounces) of liquid: herbal tea, coconut water or plain water. (I use nutrient dense Red Raspberry Leaf Tea brewed with Stevia for the natural vitamin boost)
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of Himalayan sea salt (regular salt will work, but doesn’t have the added trace minerals)
- 1/4-1/2 tsp calcium magnesium powder or crushed tablets
- 1/4 cup of juice (lemon, lime, grape, apple, etc)- optional
- 1 tsp sweetener (honey, stevia, etc) – optional – I brew stevia leaf into the tea so that no additional sweetener is needed.
How To Make Natural Sports Drink:
- Brew tea or slightly warm base liquid.
- Add sea salt and calcium magnesium powder and shake or stir to dissolve.
- Add juice and sweetener, if using.
- Cool and store in fridge until ready to use.
Note: The easiest way I’ve found to make this is in a quart size canning jar. Just add warm tea or liquid, pour in salt and cal/mag powder, put the lid on and shake well.
Other Natural Sports Drink Alternatives:
- Plain Coconut Water
- Vitamin C Powder in Water
- Water Kefir Soda
- Kombucha
What’s your favorite natural sports drink? Or do you just stick to water? Weigh in below!
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About Katie
Not really a sports drink but very refreshing…In a tall glass filled with ice squeeze 1/4 of a lemon or lime, 2 tsp of raw, organic apple cider vinegar and stevia to taste (optional) add water or sparkling water, stir and enjoy!
I LOVE getting my salt from all of those saltwater bodies in the Himalayas!
Bet it would be awesome with some distilled agave nectar (TEQUILA!!!!)
This came at the PERFECT time. I have dragon boat races this weekend in 90+ weather, and I live in Oregon so this is hot for me…and I was asking around for a paleo electrolyte drink. THANK YOU!
So glad it was helpful… hope the race went well!
Great recipe, thank you! I am a homebirth midwife assistant and we often suggest people buy Recharge, a natural version of gatorade, by Knudsen’s. But I know that many mom’s would prefer to make their own! I’ll be passing this blog post on.
You have one of my dream jobs! I’m a doula in training, but I’ve used midwives with all of my births and love them! This is the recipe I use in labor too, and it seems much easier to stomach that gatorade.
Hi Katie –
I’m a doula too. Just helped a lady a few days ago while she labored. She had a similar homemade drink that she called ‘labor-aide’. Have you heard of it? Baking soda was an ingredient.
Your recipe sounds great! Can’t wait to try it.
thanks!
I’ve just started running half marathons and have had pretty good luck with coconut water mixed with unsweetened cheery juice. I should probably add some salt to it, but it seems to work just fine for the 9 or 10 mile runs. I also like it afterwards for recovery, especially if you blend in a frozen banana and blueberries in with coconut water (or coconut milk!) for a yummy smoothie.
Gatorade kills the thyroid b/c of the bromated coloring. Bromides, fluorides, and chlorides all compete with iodine, blocking iodine from reaching the thyroid.
Nice, thanks, really needed an after run drink.
Only a doubt. Aren’t suggested sweeteners (honey, stevia, etc.) really Paleo? I mean, don’t they rise your insulin blood level, introducing raw glucose and breaking, then, the ketones mechanism of feeding our cells, brain etc.?
With such a small amount of honey/stevia and used immediately after a workout, I personally wouldn’t worry about it but if you want to avoid it altogether, I’m sure Katie would suggest simply leaving it out.
Yep… sorry, I was out of town for part of the weekend. If you prefer, you can leave the sweetener out. It has a slightly salty taste, but not bad at all.
I would also suggest nettle as an herbal option. It is tremendously nutritive and tonic. Maybe even half and half with the red raspberry leaf!
Make sure to get the raw honey from your local farm stand and not the garbage they sell at the grocery store.
this is a great recipe for bike riders as well. Glad to find a good recipe with calcium in it.
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless
I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog
post or vice-versa? My website discusses a lot of
the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you happen to be interested feel free to
shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you!
Awesome blog by the way!
Like it! Gonna try it with Bancha tea… somewhere I read it is rich in Calcium.
Is ascorbic acid powder just as appropriate as vitamin c powder?