Healthy drinks to help with training

Over 75% of the body is made up of water, when you sweat some of this water seeps out of you. Without fluid your body dehydrates, that’s why we need to drink, your body needs fluids to keep it running smoothly. However, there are some drinks that are better than others so what should you drink on a daily basis? We look at ‘good’ and ‘bad’ drinks in this latest blog and tell you what to avoid if you want to stay healthy.

Good stuff

Water – One of the best ways to rehydrate your body and give it energy. Drink plenty of water, the guidelines are eight 200ml glasses per day for women and ten 200ml glasses for blokes. That seems a lot but water cleanses the body, it flushes out toxins, doesn’t have any calories and there’s no sugar in water either.

Milk – Packed with calcium for healthy bones, avoid full fat milk and drink a cold glass of semi-skilled milk instead. Have a glass of milk with a meal as a change from water, it’s lovely and refreshing poured straight from the fridge.

Fruit juice – Squeeze your own fruit juice for breakfast. Steer clear of shop-bought juices, if you do buy supermarket brands check the ingredients on the back. Many so-called ‘health’ juices contain large amounts of sugar, squeeze your own and you know it’s safe.

Smoothies – Even better, make your own smoothies by blending all your favourite fruits. Smoothies are packed with vitamins and minerals, they’re easy to prepare and they taste great as well.

Bad stuff

Alcohol – Packed with calories, sugar and not very good for your head if you drink too much of the stuff. Moderation is the key with alcohol, if you are serious about training though, cut it out altogether.

Fizzy drinks – Again, fizzy drinks are loaded with sugar, they’re bad for your teeth and bad for your waistline too.

Tea and coffee – Beware of the caffeine content in tea and coffee. It’s okay to drink as part of a balanced diet just as long as you drink plenty of water and other healthy liquids as well.

So there you go, that’s our list of drinks. Some are good and some are bad, we know what we’d rather drink when we’re training for a competition.