In part one of our hatefest with Gatorade, we show you how to ditch Gatorade by making your own variety.  Now, for those of us who don’t feel like making our own, we have found a fantastic alternative.

Why do we hate Gatorade so much?  Simple.  It is sugar water (of the worst kind) that is marketed as some sort of miracle energy maker.  Let’s compare the latest Gatorade, G2, with the Knudsen Recharge of the same flavor.  First off, G2:

Ingredients: Water, sucrose syrup, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, sodium citrate, salt, monopotassium phosphate, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, red 40.

[sarcasm]Now that is exactly what an athlete needs to perform at his/her best.  Nothing will rehydrate you better than some HFCS, and sucralose.[/sarcasm]  Now let’s take a look at Recharge’s ingredients:

Ingredients: Filtered Water, White Grape and Apple Juice Concentrates, Herbal Tea (Water, Hibiscus Tea), Natural Flavors, Natural Orange Extract, Sea Salt.

As many of you know, electrolytes is just fancy talk for salt and potassium.  Gatorade gets its potassium from “acesulfame potassium,” and Recharge gets theirs from the naturally occurring potassium in oranges (Orange Extract).

Also worth noting is that while Gatorade is touting their G2 as a low calorie alternative energy drink, the calorie count for both G2 and Recharge is 70 calories per 8 FL. OZ. (240 mL).  And somehow, Recharge manages to do it without that nasty sucralose.

Lastly, the difference in taste is quite noticeable.  The G2 was overly sweet, and it felt as though I should probably brush my teeth after drinking.  I also had a slightly sore throat from drinking after a long bike ride, and craved a good amount of water to wash it down.  The Recharge was slightly sweet, and very refreshing.  I didn’t feel like I just downed a bunch of sugar water, and didn’t have the urge to wash it down with a glass of water.  I personally liked the grape flavor of Recharge the best.

I know this article looks like a massive advert for R.W. Knudsen products, but I was given no compensation for writing this (not even a coupon!).  I picked up a few 32 OZ. bottles of Recharge from my local Co-op for roughly $1.69 a bottle.

Click here to read go to the G2 webpage and confirm the nasty nutrition info (though the ingredients list is no where to be found there).

Click here to go the the Recharge website.