Book Review: First in Thirst
If you participated in any sport as a kid, are involved in them now or take part in more vigorous exercise there is no way you escaped the influences of Gatorade. I just recently finished reading the book First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat into a Cultural Phenomenon by Darren Rovell. It is a short, to-the-point book about the history of Gatorade including its creation and marketing throughout the years. My husband read it first and knowing my conflicting views of the product encouraged me to read it.
I don’t mean conflicting to be negative. I’ve always felt the drink had its purpose, however, in many of the publications I’ve written, especially, those about physical activity in youth, I’ve felt the need to identify just when it is necessary and when it isn’t. For example, I, and many other nutrition professionals I know, feel that for exercise less than one hour water is sufficient to rehydrate the body. For exercise lasting more than an hour a drink, such as Gatorade, that replenishes and restores electrolyte balance can be beneficial.
The book provides an eye opening account of the marketing of the product. While certain characteristics are necessary for promoting and selling a drink, Gatorade has remained relatively true to their original purpose, although things have changed and progressed throughout the years. According to the book, it is important to keep the drink only in the sports arena and not open it up as a casual beverage such as a soft drink or fruit drink. I personally find this pretty respectable considering how they may be able to increase sales by promoting the drink to the general public in addition to athletes and exercisers.
Upon finishing the book my husband asked me right away what I now thought of Gatorade. He drinks it during his long runs, especially in the intense heat we experience in Brazil. He knows my concern with processed, fake foods and how I’m trying to eliminate packaged goods from my diet. My response has remained the same – Gatorade serves a purpose in the exercise and athletic world.
My main concern, which was addressed in the book, is with the calories. I’m talking about the average exerciser who puts in a 30 minute session a few days a week and wishes to lose weight. Drinking back your calories isn’t beneficial in this type of situation. However, when you are working up a sweat through hours of training, the few calories the drink adds isn’t going to matter much. Again, it has its purpose.
I should mention that I’ve learned that liquid Gatorade now contains high fructose corn syrup. A very surprising addition considering the original development of the product. The powdered variety does not contain it, so if you are going to drink it at all, I’d go for the HFCS – free variety.
I think this book is a good read for anyone who is an avid exerciser or athlete. It provides the positive details of the brand, but also covers concerns of critics. I am big believer in learning more about what we put into our bodies and this book is a good resource for doing just that.
If you’ve read the book or have an opinion about sports drinks, I’d love to hear about it.
(Cross-posted at Fake Food Free)
Gatorade is one of our local Team in Training sponsors. We get big vats of the powder donated to the cycle team. But I can’t drink it – causes major stomach upset. A couple of my friends have the same problem. I usually use Motortabs or Nuun hydration tablets, I don’t have any stomach issues with those two products.
Lynn – Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’ve been hearing from a lot of people that they can’t drink it or don’t like. It surprised me. I do like it and can tolerate it, but still don’t drink it a lot because I don’t want to drink back the calories I’ve burned during my workouts.
MotorTabs have 65 calories per tablet and Nuun have 5 calories per tablet. I usually use 1 1/2 tablets of either brand in each 20 ounce water bottle. Not sure how that compares to the calories in Gatorade and the other powders I’ve used in the past such as Powerade, Accelerade and GU2O.
I couldn’t agree with your post more especially about packaged food. I too just found out recently that Gatorade had changed their liquid formulation (added HFCS) – which I had found disappointing to say the least. (Even though they defend this change on their website.) When I use Gatorade now, I will buy the powder and mix it.
It was interesting to see that there is a book dedicated to Gatorade, though – I didn’t know.
Thanks!
Hi Lianne – Thanks so much for your comment. I found it very disappointing too. I hadn’t checked out their site to see the defense. I need to do that, but I have heard from fellow health blogger that it is not a great of one. We stick to the powder too. Although, I’m living abroad at the moment and what we can get here is still the more original recipe. No HFCS.