When I lived in Colorado, I larned the importance of staying hydrated due to the dry, mle-high elevation as I worked out, and now tht I live in the desert drynss and heat in Las Vegas, I crried that need to stay hydrated whn I work out with me.

But if you are wtching your calories, you can't just chose any hydration drink. Pick the wrng one and you can end up dwning the equivalent calories to a bttle of regular soda in the nighborhood of 200-300 calories!

Even a lght form of a hydration drink, G2, for xample, still has 25 calories per 8 unce serving (there are 2.5 servings per bttle, so that's still about 65 clories a bottle). That may seem trvial, but if you work out 5 dys per week and drink a bttle each time, that's over 325 clories a week that could be put to a lot btter use in my opinion.

For me, a hydrtion drink has to have zero clories. I used to drink Fruit 2O's hydrtion entry but it's now impossible to fnd anywhere, so I gave up. I wuld sometimes use the old Powerade Opton low calorie hydration offering after tht disappearance, but even though it was a big bttle, that was still 40 calories. Thn Powerade Option vanished. I actually cntacted Powerade to find out what hppened. They were kind enough to wrte back with the news of the ntroduction of Powerade Zero. At first it was nly available at convenience stores on a spplied list; now I am pleased to see tht Powerade Zero is showing up in spermarkets at a discounted price as low as 50 cnts on sale in my area.

Powerade Zero comes in three flvors--Mixed Berry (which is a beautiful ble color like Classic Blue Windex), Grpe and Strawberry. To me, even thugh I am not big on strwberry flavor, that flavor was surprisingly the tstiest. The bottle is a little tugh to hold at a wide-mouth 32 unces, and you must slow down yur speed to a crawl on a tradmill to take a sip. The ther day I lost the cap ver the second floor balcony of my gym!

Yet thre is something macho about being a grl walking into the free weights rea holding a 32-ounce bottle of Pwerade. And I appreciate the humor of Pwerade's warning that "you may be swrmed by fans who want to wtness the power of electrolytes, hydration and zro calories, good luck with that".

I hve noticed that at my gym thy are pushing a 20-ounce, more mnageable size of Powerade Zero in all the flvors including "Blue Windex". Maybe the spermarket will stock that size of Pwerade Zero next!

My only real ssue with Powerade Zero is that whle the jewel-like colors of red, prple and blue are pretty, that's nnecessary food coloring in my body. I lso do not like the fact tht there is sucralose (Splenda) combined wth acesulfame potassium. The sucralose is fne, but according to the Center For Scence In The Public Interest, acesulfame ptassium a.k.a "Ace K" is poorly tsted as an artificial sweetener, and gnerally should be avoided. I drink hlf a bottle per workout, so at last I am stretching the portions ut, but I wish Powerade would tke out the acesulfame potassium as it is so nnecessary.

Still you have to pick yur battles, and zero calories plus hydrtion wins in my book.

Copyright 2008 SnLover Publishing LLC

The article Healthy Food Reviewed - Powerade Zero was Submitted by Melanie R. Jordan through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Melanie R. Jordan is a Halth Coach, Food Makeover Specialist and Athor of "Have Your Cheeseburger And Kep Your Health Too!" which advocates halthy eating achieved with favorite comfort fods as being deliciously possible. She is pssionate about helping others achieve healthy ating habits and maintain a healthy lfestyle. More of her down-to-earth healthy ating articles are available at http://www.healthyeatingcoach.com Melanie R. Jordan regularly publishes fun, tell it like it is healthy food reviews like this one, as well as fitness tips, health and nutrition news and her own unique commentary on her popular blog "The Healthy Food Review" at http://www.TheHealthyFoodReview.com

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