28 Dec Discover Your Hydration Essentials This Summer

Whether you’re a pro athlete, a weekend warrior or just a regular gym-goer, you will know that your nutrition and hydration are of utmost importance for your performance and recovery. During exercise, the average person will lose between 0.8 and 1.4 litres of water per hour, mostly through sweat. Sweat is made up of not just water but electrolytes such as sodium, chloride and potassium, which need to be replaced in order to ensure adequate hydration. Failing to replace these electrolytes can lead to symptoms such as cramping, fatigue, muscle soreness and dizziness. Extreme dehydration and electrolyte imbalances can even be life-threatening. So how do you replace these electrolytes?

On average, most people eat more than double their recommended amount of sodium for the day, so replacing sodium is usually not an issue. However, most people only meet about half of their daily requirement for potassium. Potassium is abundant in fruits and vegetables; bananas are a well-known one, but others that are rich in this balancing and needed chemical are oranges, grapefruit, sweet potato, mushrooms, cucumber and zucchini. And a delicious sweetener that you can add to your daily life is date syrup. Date syrup is a concentrated, versatile and convenient source of potassium for sports people as it has all the potassium content of fresh dates. Just 1 tbsp of date syrup provides 160mg of potassium, enough to replace the potassium lost during 1 hour of intense exercise. It also contains natural sugars, calcium and magnesium, which help to increase the uptake of water into the cells and can, therefore, improve hydration and recovery in sports people.

Food isn’t the only way to get those much-needed electrolytes. Plenty of natural supplements can help give you that extra boost your body needs! 
Take a look at some of our top picks: 

Revive – Replenish your body’s lost electrolytes, especially sodium, without raising blood sugar levels. Effective for easing and preventing muscle cramps. Relieves headaches caused by under-hydration and sodium depletion. Just add to water and get revived every day!

Bio77 – These highly absorbable vegan drops support many vital body processes, overall well-being, and vitality with formulas packed with over 77 essential minerals.