I got an interesting e-mail about a week ago from “Tammy”. She started off good, telling me how funny I am and how much she loves my blog (flattery will get you everywhere with me) but then took a sharp turn off into Marketing LaLa land. You might recognize this place – land of fabled 6′ 120 lb supermodels who eat cheeseburgers instead of salads & drink vodka at 9 am in the pool while the rest of us are working & then walk their dogs if they get to feeling a little puffy. If there are any children present, and there rarely are which is in itself odd considering how much simulated sex is going on, they are motionless mannequins wearing coordinating stainless outfits (top H&M $16.99, skirt Prada Jr. $1,345.99) ignored by a person who looks too young to actually be their parent. Sound familiar? Yeah. We’d all like to live there.
And according to Tammy, Propel Fitness Water might just be your one-way ticket to Shangri-La. To be fair to Tammy, whom I have never met and for all I know is a perfectly lovely gal that shares my taste in too-bright purses and obscenely high-heeled shoes, she was not that heavy handed. Her segue was actually quite good: “With me, I try not to deprive myself of the occasional treat – it’s all about portion control and reading the nutrition labels carefully. That said, I wanted to share with you and your community some interesting information regarding the range of calories found in many vitamin enhanced waters.” See? Straight from my “You’re An Idiot” Diet post to Propel. Bravo.
I totally agree with her thus far. I read nutrition labels like they’re The Da Vinci code of nutrition. And I also know some interesting information about calories in water: I don’t like them. Water should not have calories. If it has calories then it is officially not water.
Tammy continues on to extol the virtues of low-cal Propel and to “shock” me with how many calories Vitamin Water has. Here’s my shocker Tammy – I take my water straight up, on the rocks. Occasionally, if I’m feeling Carmen Miranda-ish, I’ll whip a lime out of my hat and magically slice it before it drops into my glass.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy an occasional sugared-up beverage. I adore a virgin margarita (it’s a lime thing) or an Italian soda. But the difference is that a) these drinks are an indulgence and b) they all contain actual sugar rather than some artificial sweetener or the granddaddy evil of fat-kids-with-no-heads-in-cnn-pictures – high fructose corn syrup.
Rad! Oh, wait. What?!?
Sweeteners
I love sweet stuff. A good hit of jelly beans or Ben & Jerry’s can make a warm breeze blow even when there’s two feet of snow. But I do not like man-made sweet stuff. I think that they play with our minds and mess with our innards until we don’t properly know when we’re sated and we’re about to become the next headless-fat-person-in-a-picture. (Seriously, why CNN? It’s dehumanizing. Stop it.)
So I kindly wrote back to Tammy and asked her if the magic to keeping Propel so light in calories and yet so “full of flavor” is an artificial sweetener. She e-mailed me the nutrition label. It would be Splenda. Splenda gives me headaches. According to some people, Splenda might also be the end of the free world. Your call.
At any rate, artificial sweeteners do not help you lose weight. If you just like the zingy aftertaste of aspartame then feel free to stick with your Diet Coke but if you drink it (or eat practically any “light” product) to help your waistline, you may be doing yourself more harm than good.
Fitness Water
Aside from the sweetener problem, I take issue with something being labeled a “fitness water.” Fitness water is plain H20. I do understand that in some cases it is necessary and even performance enhancing to take in a simple carb drink/gu/gel/etc. during exercise. Long distance runners mainline the stuff. And it helps. But Splenda isn’t a simple carb. It’s not even found in nature. Marketers of these products (not just Propel but all the “fitness” drinks) lose me when they try to sell it as a need, rather than a want. With the exception of a long endurance workout or race, you never need anything other than water.
I get that people think water tastes plain. We like our fruity flavors. So just use fruit. Or if you must, use sugar. But don’t tell me my body needs any of that stuff. Even for my post-workout snack, I’d rather eat whole foods than any specially formulated drink.
How You Lost Out on Free Stuff
(although you can still enter this giveaway until Sunday!)
Tammy then concluded by asking me to advertise her product on my site. She even dangled the possibility of freebies – powder packets all around! (No, don’t snort it! Drink it!) But I can’t endorse it. (Although I just did give them some free publicity – you’re welcome Tammy! Call me if you want to go shoe shopping.)
I don’t like it. I don’t think it is good for me. I don’t think it will help my fitness goals.
But that’s my rant. I want to know what’s in your sports bottle. Besides mold – really, you should wash that thing every once in a while. Do you guys swear by any sports drink? Do you flavor your water at all? Are you a bottled guy/gal or does tap water reign supreme? (Personally, my fave is the drugged out tap water. There’s one way to cut down on medical costs!) Because I actually am deeply curious as to what you drink when you work out, I’ve provided you with a poll (feel free to use the comments to explain yourself):
So true about fitness waters! My friend was trying to get in shape once, and she would buy those waters without second thought.
..not to mention they usually taste horrid! Yuck.
Have a great day 🙂
I chose the Michael Jordon option but the true answer is "it depends" Which, apropo of nothing, is also the answer I give when anyone asks me a legal question. 😉 Anyway. I drink almost all of them depending on the circumstances: When I run more than an hour, I get have those Michael Jordon type drinks, cause my body DOES need the replinishment. If it is under an hour (or something not as strenuous) then I stick to water. And if I want a snack or sweets, then sometimes I will go for a vitamin water type drink as the better alternative(especially if it is a weekday evening and I would prefer some wine!)
But I never use those "flavored" waters as a real water replacement.
– Yasmin
I don't get these strange waters. I understand for marathoners who need fuel as they go, but for an hour of aerobics? I go on long 7 hour hikes, and I still drink only water, though I also tend to eat cherries and pistachios, maybe a pb&j sandwich. All bases covered, though I don't think there's a chance I've ever burned through my glycogen.
plain water.
always.
I so have my vices (coffee in am and one Mommy Merlot aka Dr ANYTHING a day) but in the water bottle? always water 🙂
I will admit to adding something to my water.
Ice.
(A neat trick is to pour orange juice into ice trays, freeze, then add it to your water. I don't actually do this, as I like my water plain, but it adds a nice orange-y flavor for those who like that.)
I also don't understand adding all sorts of artificial crud to water. I don't run marathons, so I don't need the sports drinks. Which is good, 'cause to me they taste like liquid jello, and I hate jello.
Plus, I think my clients would freak if I started sweating purple.
I didn't vote because I didn't see "other", which is usually an ounce of pomegranate juice mixed with green tea.
Which reminds me…I never remembered to tell you about the Zola drinks I won from you a couple of months ago. There were four smoothies, and three juice blends.
The juice blends were good, but not spectacular. The smoothies, however, were out of this world.
However…I would not drink any of them on a regular basis because:
1. They're expensive.
2. Although they're loaded with anti-oxidants, they're still tons of sugar and calories.
My husband's work cooler broke, so he's been using the Zola portable soft cooler. So, the Zola company is being thanked by my husband walking around with a product endorsement all day. And thank you, too!
Amen! My sports bottle has only water, although occasionally I'll add a packet of Emergen-C after Bikram yoga to replace lost electrolytes.
Did you know that B&Js uses HFCs to sweeten their ice cream? It was tough breaking up with Cherry Garcia, but he just wouldn't change and I couldn't handle him like that anymore. 🙂
I"m with you 100%. It's H2O people, not H2O+some stuff we won't talk about to make nothing taste like a "diet" drink.
I always crave more, more MORE after drinking anythin with artificial sweetner anyway. Waster.
The only thing I like about the frankenwaters is the creative names. Smart water is my current favorite.
Now I have an Intelligence tennis racket (Head). It plays really well, but I don't think I bought it because it would make me smarter, did I?
Only water in my bottle, thank you very much. I couldnt agree more with you about Splenda and artificial sugars. Our bodies think its the devil and sugar is way better. My husband also gets headaches from Splenda and I am so glad to hear of others it affects as well. Good for you for sticking to your guns about who you advertise!!!!
Crap. I use the propel. Mainly because I sometimes find myself working out on an empty stomach (after my crazy-early training appointments), and need somthing with some Calories to stop that icky nauseated/dizzy feeling. Although I always dilute it way more than the box says (it's too sweet unless you use at least double the water they suggest).
In the future, I'll be trying the green tea/pomegranate juice drink dragonmamma suggested.
I put both plain water .. and yes, Propel in my water bottle. Now, saying that, when I do use propel, it is half water & half propel. I like a little flavor with my workouts a few times a week. Some days plain water, others days the half & half. I am one that has no probs with Splenda & more probs with the natural sweeteners like Stevia so… For those that might want a little flavor, you can go the half & half way….
The best thing I could ever do for myself (other than have central air installed) was to switch from cans or bottles of Mountain Dew to good old tap water. The amount of useless calories in a drink of any kind is just er..Useless. If you really want to go out on a limb, you can purchase a water filter and really clean out the stuff from the tap, but bottled stuff from a vendor, not today.
Miz – "Mommy merlot"!! Hahah!
Azusmom – thanks for the ice cube trick!
Dragonmama – Thanks for the update on the Zola stuff! I totally agree with your assessment!
Granite Gourmet – That is the most depressing news I have heard all day! Nooooo! Not my B&J's!
Jody – love your moderation approach!
Tom – Great point about just getting rid of the soda!
99.9% of the time it's plain tap water. Although yesterday, when I attempted to run 7 miles in 90+ degree heat, I had a bottle of half water and half Gatorade. I don't think it made much of a difference but with a sample size of one run it's hard to tell.
99.9% of the time it's plain tap water. Although yesterday, when I attempted to run 7 miles in 90+ degree heat, I had a bottle of half water and half Gatorade. I don't think it made much of a difference but with a sample size of one run it's hard to tell.
99.9% of the time it's plain tap water. Although yesterday, when I attempted to run 7 miles in 90+ degree heat, I had a bottle of half water and half Gatorade. I don't think it made much of a difference but with a sample size of one run it's hard to tell.
I will admit that I drink a lot of water whenever I work out, and msotly throughout the day. I've upped the intake of actual water now that I've cut out my four Red Bulls per day. It took a week to wean down to nothing, but I've been Red Bull free now since 4pm Monday, June 22. Tuesday just absolutely sucked. Plain and simple. Excedrin Migraine to the rescue, two pills; yes, I know it has caffeine in it, but it's less than the Red Bull. Had only one pill yesterday, and today, so far, none, though I'm anticipating a need for 1/2 a pill this afternoon so I don't get the shakes. To get the sugar intake to offset, I switched to 1 Sprite per day (haven't had an actual Coca-Cola since December 31, 2005). So, now — again, excepting the one Sprite per day (regular, not diet; aspartame gives me instant migraines) — I'm on water. Not a water diet, but I'm only drinking water throughout the day. When I stopped drinking Coke I lost 14 pounds in two weeks; only water, no exercise. I'm gearing up for something of the same thing. Getting over that Red Bull hump was hard, though; especially on my head. But, it saves me $40, yes $40 a week.
Water, just water for working out. Green tea for sipping during the day. I would rather eat my calories and if I am going to drink them, it is better left for champagne or something really yummy.
Just to share too much – I had to have a colonoscopy in January and the prep was this nasty stuff mixed into Gatoraid or Propel – I begged to just mix with water but the doctor insisted. I couldn't tell which was worse – the nasty meds that clear you out and being forced to drink 64 oz. of propel – yuck –
I normally drink just water. But as a long distance runner, in the summer I sweat like nobody's business and end up salt crusted (seriously I look like a football plater) I really do NEED something with electrolytes, sometimes that means I drink Smart water (no cals, no sweeteners, just electrolytes ) but after a really long run (15+ miles) or a really hard long hot workout Gatorade is where it's at.
But I agree with you the normal average gym goer doesn't need anything but water. Those people who barely break a sweat in the gym after 30 min and then guzzle a sports drink are undoing their workout and maybe even then some.
Also, I'm trying to kick my splenda habit (I love diet soda) but I'm pretty sure they put an addictive substance in it…maybe there's a 12 step program…
I usually drink only water. Plain. I could not possible workout with the taste of that sort of stuff in my mouth. Too fake, too sweet.
And if I am going to ingest calories then I prefer to have something to chew. I'm not wasting calories on a beverage, I want real food!
Although, I will drink wine – but it doesn't happen often. It's a rare indulgence. I make that one exception. 😉
OK. In the course of my 1-1.5 hour workouts I normally drink between 1-2 quarts of water. Do you know what that cost in special waters over a week? Over a month?
Do not even mention the added load to the landfills.
I drink tap water. And refill often from the water fountain at the gym.
I can't stand the taste of artificial sweeteners either, & don't see the point of caffeine-free/sugarfree sodas. I am switching to more water instead of caloried drinks, but still need some variety occasionally.
And seeing the reference to HFCS, here's something that's recently occurred to me (literally, last night): (1) The relative percentage of fructose to sucrose in table sugar vs. HFCS isn't actually all that different (as I recall, 49%:51% versus 51%:49%). (2) And fructose is generally considered a better sweetener among the available choices (lower glycemic rating than sucrose, recommendations to substitute fruit or fruit juice for sugar/sugar items). (3) So, ignoring the calories for a moment, wouldn't something with HFCS be a not-so-evil choice when I want something sweet?
etinca
YAY for how many people vote plain water!
I'm so with you about liking sweet stuff but not the manmade sweet stuff.
Yeah, I'm off the whole "fitness water" business, as well as artificial sweeteners (other than an occasional Diet Coke…workin on it). And Propel is no better than anything else, it's just trying to recruit those of us who drink water when they'd rather have a flavored drink but think it's too many calories. Propel isn't very good anyway, I've tried it. I have some powder packets I'm dying to give away! Although I guess I'd do someone a favor if I'd just chuck em. 🙂
Oddly enough, my water bottle contains…Water! Bottled water since our tap water tastes like chlorine and I don't like the taste of filtered water (which means I'm choosy about my bottled water as well).
If I want a treat I will have a real treat, and I don't consider anything artificially sweetened to be a treat. Blech.
I drink lots of water, only plain water, during the day. When I run I'm such a salty sweater that I need the electrolyte replacement with my fluid. The sugary ones make me nauseous so I use the ones that claim to use only natural ingredients and no artificial sweeteners.
Of course, I'm aware that "natural" shouldn't be a selling point since some things found in nature are worse than what's been designed by people!
I drink water. The only liquid I drink that I have to pay for is alcohol, and that is obviously only as a treat when I go out or whatever.
Even then it's either beer or hard liquor, which I do NOT mix with pop, just throw it on some ice with a little water and I'm happy.
I have no need for pop, I used to use it for a mix with alcohol, but only if it was caffeine-free and diet, but with all the talk about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, I came to believe that you're better off with the sugar. However I also believe strongly that I would rather eat calories than drink them if at all possible, so in the end I went from rarely drinking pop to not drinking it at all.
And don't even get me started on caffeine…if the stuff had been discovered today instead of forever ago, it would be classified as an illegal drug. It disturbs me to see how many people are addicted to the stuff, and how much of it kids are allowed to consume.
Once in a while in the wintertime I might have a cup of decaffeinated tea, but not very often; I bought a small box years ago and it's not empty yet.
I don't even drink juice…again, prefer to eat my calories when it comes to day-to-day living (as I said, alcohol is a treat).
So it's just water for me, when I have visitors I have nothing else to offer them. And I'm hardcore too, I absolutely refuse to pay for water when it comes right out of the tap! Yay Brita filter!
I was reading a magazine interview which said "Fergie drank Skinny Water at the photo shoot" Excuse me? "Skinny Water" And yes this is a zero calorie-flavored-antioxident-franken-whatever drink. I just can't get over the name though….Skinny Water. I bet the marketing guru's were just salivating once they came up with that one.
Plain tap water is my personal choice. I flavor it with lemon or cucumber slices. In college I lost 10 pounds after I gave up all coke/pepsi/etc products. I could never stand the taste of artificial sweeteners, they make me want to barf.
i heart the plain h2o. if i'm drinking it at any other time than a workout, toss a lemon or lime wedge in there, but for working out? plain. old. water.
the only exception i make to that rule is when i'm outdoors cycling. then i'll have two water bottles – one with water and another with diluted gatorade/powerade. but really, the second bottle is only because i hate hate HATE the taste of warm water. toss some power/gatorade in there? magically it's not quite as crappy.
When I work out – always water, so that's what I voted. I don't want to train myself to need sports drinks while running. I'd rather get my sugar by ingesting something more foodlike (mentally it gives me a kick) when I'm going the distance.
Occasionally I'll have a soda or some crystal light, and I have one cup of decaf coffee or tea in the morning, but it's always sort of in place of food – I want something flavored, but don't really want to eat. If I'm feeling mouth hungry at 3pm and I've already had tons of water, sometimes I'll have a soda and it does the trick.
Propel is pretty yummy, but it's definitely not something I'd drink while working out. No way.
Amen! Nothing but water here – usually filtered to taste better. When I want something fruity I add a handful of frozen raspberries to the bottle: they act as ice to keep your water fresh plus when they melt they give a berry flavour to the water. And when your bottle is empty you even get a mushy fruity snack! lol
I'm a tap water girl. However, I did learn my lesson about electrolyte imbalance. If you are sweating a lot, make sure to add some salt to your diet, and then replenish after each workout without either a low sugar electrolyte drink (I like Eletcro-Mix powder from the makers of Emergen-C), or coconut water if you're rolling in some cash.
I know it's lame, but I take a bottle of the Kirkland (Costco) Vitarain to work with me every day. I drink it in the AM and then refill it all day from the cooler or the hot-water part of the coffee machine, depending on whether I'm feeling hot or cold. (Usually I'm cold, so it's hot water, teabag way optional, maybe once or twice a week.) I know Vitarain's got Nutrasweet or some such garbage in it, but I like the taste, it's got some vitamins (not that I need them with all the supplements I take), and I am a creature of habit and it's a cheap habit. Sue me.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with fitness or nutrition, it's just a lesser-of-evils kinda choice.
Your posts are hilarious.
I drink plain water. I also drink coffee and tea. And milk. Sometimes whole (Heh, I'm doing it all wrong, aren't I, Tammy?). The only thing I don't drink is sugary water (aka vitamin water and energy drinks and the like)… because I avoid refined/added sugars. I go for a diet soda or crystal lite pretty often and put splenda in my daily cuppa joe. During/after workouts, though, it's strictly water.
Can I come shoe-shoppin with you and Tammy?
well I have actually been known to get on the Nordic Track (don't judge) in my living room while drinking my beer (really… don't judge.)
But that usually STARTS with drinking and ends with an "oh wouldn't THIS be funny…."
As for fitness water…. I drink a few liters of plain filtered water a day, and that's it. If you just cannot stand the taste of water, a few brands sell water with the splash of fruit juice already added (and I mean a splash, and no extra sugar). One of them, I think it's called "hint of" or something, is sold at our local health food store.
I recently got so dehydrated I was very, very sick. Normally I HATE the taste of gatorade or anything as similarly chemical tasting, but I found myself craving it. I figured that meant something and listened to my body and got actual Gatorade, one of the originals, with fluids and electrolytes and sugar but no fake sweeteners. I hadn't run a marathon but I had done physical labor outside, in almost 100 degree weather and high humidity, all day with very little water. And after chugging two of the biggest bottles I could find, I did feel a lot better. However, that was the true sport drink – not the watered-down and even more chemical-ed up baby sister of sports drinks. (I consider powerade and gatorade "real" sports drinks… vitamin water and propel and those others are like diet sports drinks, which really just makes no sense if you think about it.)
Anyway… I think the "diet" sports drinks are sort of like the new Starbucks. 99% percent of the people who drink them are just doing it as a splurge/for the status/for the identity, etc, and the drinks that most of them drink have so many added chemicals, flavors and sugars that they're not much like the original. (Compare Gatorade, admittedly somewhat chemicaly, to Propel and the others… and think about a flavored latte compared to plain coffee.) Not to mention both are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overpriced…
I don't like artificial sweeteners at all either. I just don't like the way they taste.
But in the century I just finished they offered HEED Subtle Berry flavored drink of some sort.
I accidentally filled up one of my water bottles with it instead of water. It uses xylitol and stevia, but it didn't taste horrible (it's not very sweet at all). Well, at least it didn't taste horrible until 3 hours into the ride, in which case the berry was no longer "subtle."
Anyway, it wasn't as "flavored" as most drinks, so it might be okay if you're one of those people who needs a flavor.
Me, I prefer to just down a gel every so often and get my grossness in short concentrated bursts.
Ha! I've been discussing this very topic with a trainer friend of mine because her client always drinks a sports beverage, even for the shortest work out.
But your blog is wonderful! And your writing style is high quality, your graphics high-caliber, and your ethical standards high minded. What's not to love?
P.S. Ever considered naming your child Merry? Great name. Just saying.
I sometimes will throw a couple of EmergenC packets in my water bottle, especially before hot yoga since lots of sweating can make you lose electrolytes (i.e. magnesium, potassium etc.) and those packets have lots of those for 5 calories.
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Depends how close I am to start time of whatever class I'm going to when I race out the door. If I'm on time, water with ice and lemon (*fancy*) in my fave cancer-causing plastic squeezie bottle. If I'm late, i.e. most days, bottle o' water straight out the fridge. (landfill….I know….I'm working on it)
Love the post (as usual)! Here's my 2 cents…
I totally agree with T: 98% of the time plain water when exercising. when I work out outside in the summer for more than 2 hours I either use Clif Shot Bloks or Honey Stinger Passion Pomegranate chews or add Gatorade or Accelerade Lime (dislike all other flavors) to ice water. I prefer Accelerade (I believe the hype about protein), but it isn't as readily available, i.e., gas stations don't carry it around here.
When not working out, I drink ice water (must be really cold : ) with a splash of 100% juice – cranberry.
I don't like the taste of plain water generally, but when I'm working out it doesn't bother me.
On 60 – +100 mile bike rides or >10 mile long runs, I definitely notice the difference in performance if I don't replace the electrolytes.
On long bike rides I like to have a little Gatorade mixed in with my water (about 1/3 of my water bottle topped up with water) but the rest of the time I'm good with straight water. I hate really sweet stuff when I'm working out anyways.
I HATE artificial sweeteners and spent the better part of last year looking for energy gels that weren't superprocessed to get me through my marathon training.
Applause for taking a stand!