The Great Gatorade Alternative - PLUS: Nuun Hydration GIVEAWAY!

Since this week is dedicated to the Health & Fitness portion of my blog, I thought it would be fun to giveaway one of my favorite products, Nuun hydration tablets.

(Just FYI, I'm this is NOT a paid advertisement.  I'm not fast enough or cool enough for that.  I just love this stuff and thought you might like it, too!)

Last year, when I was training for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, I asked several of my super runner friends to give me their best advice when it came to training.  They all emphasized the importance of hydration and electrolyte replacement.  Thankfully, my awesome friend, Katie, suggested that I try Nuun hydration tablets.  I can't tell you how much I loved using Nuun throughout my training and even on race day!

Football season is up and running! Andrew practices for 2 hours each night in hot summer temps, so he loves to take a water bottle filled with his favorite Nuun flavors to every practice!

But, Nuun isn't just for runners! It's for everyone! My boys love it, too. They are all very active and participate in a wide variety of sports, so having a great electrolyte replacement is important.
Most young athletes don't need an electrolyte replacement unless they are doing a moderate to intense exercise for 60 minutes or longer. If this isn't the case, good old fashioned water is all they need to stay hydrated.  

Unfortunately, there's a lot of hype surrounding drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade, especially amongst young people.  These drinks are really high in sugar (21 grams in a 16 oz. bottle!) and sodium, two ingredients that kids (and adults) just don't need.

I can see why Gatorade and Powerade are hard to resist.  Their product advertisements are undeniably amazing and they are everywhere. Watching their "Is it in You" commercials, sort of makes you want to throw down a six pack of Blue Frost just to see if your burpee endurance or 40 speed improves. It took a little bit of convincing to get my kids to understand that bigger isn't always better, and once they tried Nuun, they were hooked.

Nuun just makes sense to us.  We like to drink things that don't contain creepy stuff like artificial food coloring, stabilizers derived from wood, preservatives, excessive sugar, and other ingredients that I'm too phonetically challenged to pronounce.

Why do we LOVE Nuun?:

• It's portable. The little tube goes where you go - pop a tab in your water bottle and you're good to go.
• It's delicious.  No funky aftertaste or sticky lips here. With 12 Yum-Yum flavors, I promise you'll find one you love.
• It's sugar free. Yep. Sugar Free. (And no wacky artificial sweeteners. Bam!)
• It contains no artificial colors or flavors, and no high fructose corn syrup.
• It's less expensive than the leading electrolyte replacement drinks. Gotta love that!
• It rehydrates your body faster than Gatorade or Powerade. Sweet!

One of the most important characteristics of what you drink while you're active is the speed at which your body can absorb it. The concentration of dissolved salts and sugars (osmolarity, for those more technically inclined) determines how fast the drink can cross from your digestive track into your bloodstream, where it can re-hydrate and replenish you. Nuun branded products produce a hypotonic solution, so your body absorbs Nuun faster than the leading “sports drinks” or even water alone. This gives your body the ability to restore optimal water and electrolyte balance quickly and efficiently.

Now for the giveaway! After browsing all of the yummy Nuun flavors, I couldn't pick just one, so the only solution was to give the lucky winner a variety pack! The box includes one tube each of Grape, Fruit Punch, Strawberry Lemonade (my favorite!) and Tropical.

The winner will be announced on the 

Sole Searching Mama Facebook page on Monday! 

Good Luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway