North State Parent September 2019

for health By Amy Gonzales, MS, RD
The How-to on
Hydration for Your
Little Athlete
Your little sports enthusiast has been practicing hard in the late-summer
heat of northern California for an hour. Your athlete runs over to you, smiling,
sweaty and thirsty. You reach into the cooler and hand over a nice cold
bottle of...liquid sugar. Wait. What? Yes! If you’re handing out a sports drink, essentially
that is what you’re doing. While sports drinks have some added electrolytes, they are
also loaded with sugar or, if you get the diet or “zero” version, synthetic sweetener. So
what is the best thing for kids to drink when they’re playing hard in hot weather? Good
old-fashioned water!
Marketing gurus can be geniuses at getting us to think our children need sports
drinks after an hour of playing soccer or baseball. The original sports drink, you know
the one that starts with a “G,” was created in the 1960s for The Gators, the University
of Florida football team. It’s a fact; you can Google it. It was specially formulated for
elite athletes who practiced for many hours in the humid Florida heat, not for kids.
Water is the best way to keep your young athlete hydrated, although not always as
popular as a blue or red or lemon-lime sports drink.
11
(l to r) Chico soccer players Eelyn Pedersen, age 6;
Leo Gonzales, age 7; and Bree Pedersen, age 10,
bring healthy drinks for every practice.
10 North State Parent • Serving Upper California Since 1993