Sports Drinks Will Help Satisfy Sugar and Salt Cravings After Exercise

It seems like the more I exercise the more I eat.  And I eat a lot! 

I usually run in the morning.  Right after I run I am not that hungry.  However, as the day goes on I eat a lot.  And when I start eating I can’t stop.  I eat my normal breakfast, lunch and dinner but I also can’t stop eating sweets and salty food.  I eat bowls of Very Berry Cheerios to satisfy my sweet tooth and I also eat many, many Tostitos that taste so good because they are salty.  

It is known that electrolytes and carbohydrates must be replenished after a run.  So no wonder I crave these snacks.  

Friends drink Gatorade during and after a long run so I decided to investigate.  

Sports drinks are designed to provide carbohydrates (sugar) for energy plus minerals to replace lost electrolytes (salt-sodium, potassium) in your sweat.  Sports drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and All Sport are will rapidly replace fluids and increase the sugar (glucose) circulating in your blood. 

Recently I tried drinking Gatorade after a long run to see if it would satisfy my salt and sugar cravings.  It did!  Plus it tasted good and the cold liquid was satisfying.  

However, I was concerned about drinking something with added sugar.  Typically I do not drink soft drinks, fruit juice or any other drink that contains sugar.  I was curious about the difference in sugar and salt in the Gatorade as compared to Cheerios and Tostitos.   See chart below (values are from labels).

	Lemon-Lime Gatorade	Very Cherry Cheerios	Tostitos
Sodum (mg)	160	135	115
Potassium (mg)	45	110	42
Total Carbohydrates (g)	22	22	19
Sugar (g)	21	9	0
Calories	80	150	140
Serving Size	12 fl oz	3/4 cup	7 chips

I was surprised:

Cheerios have more sodium than Tositios but they do not taste salty
Cheerios did not have as much sugar as I thought because they are so sweet
Gatorade has the least calories although the sugar was the highest

I checked my text book* and found out that 22 grams of carbohydrates is reasonable.  On page 114 the book indicated that a person who exercises should have 5 to 6 g carbohydrates / kg of body weight.  So for example a 240 lb man would require 654 grams carbohydrates per day and a 135 lb women would require 366 grams carbohydrates.

Based on the table above it looks like my fear of sugar in Gatorade is unfounded.  I have started to drink Gatorade after exercising and I am enjoying it!  Also, I have not been getting salt and sugar cravings like I used to.

*Coburn, Jared W., Malek, Moh H., ed. NSCA’s Essentials of Personal Training. 2nd ed. Human Kinetics, 2004.