coconut water

if rihanna drinks coconut water, we ALL should drink coconut water, right? not so fast. although it has been referred to as the "natural sports drink," the clear juice inside of young coconuts (aka coconut water) lacks essential ingredients that sports drinks like gatorade and powerade have.

when you sweat, you lose water, but you also lose sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. if you remember anything from 9th grade biology (or was it chemistry?), our cells use sodium-potassium pumps to regulate cellular volume. remember this diagram?  when you lose sodium (by sweating) you need to replace it, so that's why gatorade and powerade have sodium in them. if you were to replace your sports drink with coconut water, you'd be missing out on the sodium that your body desperately needs after a workout.

stick with water or gatorade when you're doing any kind of strenuous exercise, but don't feel like you have to toss your juice box just yet. coconut water is still good for you (and it's tasty) - it just shouldn't be your go-to for post-workout replenishing!