Blood Glucose levels & Sports Drinks Body Armor Lyte versus Gatorade Zero

Back in November 2021 I collapsed in front of my wife one morning. My wife drove me to Urgent Care in which my blood pressure @ 180 / 92 and glucose was elevated @ 123. Back then what I thought I was eating was healthy actually wasnt. The doctors told me I need a complete lifestyle change? Huh? Once I learned about added sugars that was it for me. No more Quaker Oats Life, straight Gatorade and I limited my ingestion of 2% milk to a whopping eight ounces a day. Milk is loaded with sugar.

So last December 2022 I had my bloodwork results as I changed to drinking Body Armor Lyte, instead of regular Gatorade. Somehow my sugar went from 104 to 123 mg / dl. The only change to my diet at that point was Body Armor Lyte as all else remained post November 2021. I quit Body Armor Lyte cold turkey in December 2022 and went to Gaterade Zero.

Today I came back from the doctor. Blood Pressure was 126 / 78. Same as December 2022. Glucose [Glycoylated Hemoglobin] was 5.5%. Normal is > 5.7% and the mg / dl value came in at 111 mg / dl as compared to 123 just under four months ago.

The stuff they sell today in the USA is so hard to differentiate as to what is good versus not good is tough. I am not a sweets junkie, fast food ~ McDonalds maybe once a month, we drink diet pop and cook my hand made meatless pizza on the grill each friday. I will surmise the New World Order may give me an award as to "Eat More Musrooms". I would load a pizza picture but that function still isnt working for me.

In this thread my point is that Body Armor Lyte failed me whereas Gatorade Zero passed my sugar blood test. Both are sold as sugarless. My blood sugar dropped almost 10% in 3 months. So, its wassin those chemicals FDA?

Note to ATS, I have all my test results

I am a happy mn again.

I don't know. I do LMNT for the magnesium it adds. It has no sugar, just some stevia.

a reply to: ketsuko

I saw a nutritionist who worked with NFL prospects Combine several years ago three weeks ago. She was saying that try to eat at least 30 different vegetables-fruits-nuts a week as they are also finding that different bacteria in our gut only feed on certain foods.

Much has been written on same lately

a reply to: [post=26977155]WaterglassStevie.

Me: Notes I am chowing on a salad with a mix of greens including spinach and chard, a mix of veggies of different colors, and topped with sunflower seeds, pepitas, Asiago and Parm shavings and a hard boiled egg, and dressed with house made cilantro line dressing.

Swapped to IF with salad lunches to prep for Districts in June. I want to take title in both sparring comps this year.

a reply to: Waterglass

As to "sports drinks," I avoid them. They are essentialy watered down, flat soda pops with a few electrolytes added. And the "lite" versions are no better, filled with poisonous artifical sweeteners.

At the risk of seeming pedantic, may I suggest a few really good and healthy alternatives to commercial "sport drinks?"

1. First, when I need something more than just water I make my own. I'll typically mix water with a small amount of other ingeredients:

>fruit juice. (I'll use lemon or a bit of orange usually, something citric. Maybe some pureed mango or even half a banana blended in on ocassion)
>a small amount of RAW natural sweetner. (I only use real raw brown sugar, not the refined white sugar that has been bathed in molasses. Where I live, I can get chunks of what we call piloncillo, a hard brown sugar made from boiled sugar cane with absolutely no processing. It's a Mexican and Latin America thing and you can probably find it in a Mexican grocery store if there are any in your region. Being unprocessed, it is full of the natural minerals and vitamins that the sugar cane plant has.)
>A pinch of salt if I am sweating a lot and need a mineral boost. (I use unrefined sea salt as it will have minerals that pure processed soidum chloride won't have.)

Mix these ingredients in porportion to taste.

I have given this to friends who were really wasted from heat and work and have seen them revive in a matter of a few minutes. I most remember an overweight friend with whom I'd walked quite a distance on really hot day. He needed to walk another couple of kilometers to his home and didn't think he'd make it. After sitting for a few minutes and downing a big glass of this concoction, he immediately felt better.

2. Another drink that I find is most helpful is ayran. Ayran is extremely popular in Turkey and a product of Turkish nomadic heritage and history. You can find bottles of it in convenience stores along side soft drinks. It may sound nasty to the western palatte, but it's really not bad and it is incredible as a rehydration and energy drink.

The basic ayran recipe is this:
>300 ml good quality yoghurt
>200-300 ml very cold water
>salt, to taste

Use a good, quality, unsweetened yogurt according to your pallate. I like mine a little more tart. If you use something like a Greek yogurt, you'll need more water to thin it out more.

You can mix it by hand or in a blender. In traditional homemade Turkish cusine they like to have some foam on top, so that blender may give you that. Adjust the proportions to your taste as you might like it a little thicker or a little thinner.

For variety, you can add a bit of lemon juice or some mint leaves to it. I most often add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. You can skip the salt, but it's part of the traditional recipe and, if you use a good unrefined sea salt, will help with rehydration and mineral uptake. The salt also makes for a more complex flavor profile.

When I worked construction, I found that on hot summer days I didn't feel like eating at lunch. Instead of a meal, I'd bring a couple of liters of ayran to work with me. I'd have one liter for lunch and sip on the other liter throughout the day and this sustained me until quitting time, providing all the energy I needed, helping with hydration, and not leaving me feeling heavy or full.

3. Lastly, a drink made with lemon juice and finely chopped or blended cucumber is also an amazing rehydration drink. You could add a dash of sugar if you need to, but I find that it is tasty without any added sugar. In deed, if you want it for rehydration, a dash of unrefined sea salt is good.

Maybe these will serve you better than those commercial chemical concotions and be better for you overall health. I'll challenge you to try them out and see how they work. I'd like to know your take.
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a reply to: Waterglass

All of those sport drinks have absurd amounts of sugar and other synthetic crap in them.

Unless you are a professional athlete doing rigorous training, you don't need them. Just drink water.

When I was in the military, I only drank gatorade if I was running around in the desert wearing full gear doing crazy stuff.

Pickle juice is great though.

a reply to: Waterglass

Genes play a role in how well you can handle sugar spikes too.

For example, My mom absolutely hated sugar, couldn't eat any of it. She grew up at a time where "sweets" consisted of red beans. Anything western sweets would be vomit inducing for her.

Me...........I got my dads European sweet tooth, chocolate, candies, bread, sweet sweet southern tea.
I love it all. By some miracle, I think thanks to Mama's genes, it totally doesn't affect me. I can eat massive amounts of sugar and no spike, no pre-diabetes, etc, where others can simply look at what I'm eating and get a spike.
I can also eat massive amounts of salt without any issue, as I have a little low blood pressure.

You mentioned gut bacteria and I think that is the other key. Asian foods have a lot of good bacteria and I pretty much eat something Asian every day, Kimchi, Miso, tofu, other fermented foods, dried fruits etc.

a reply to: Waterglass

I would suggest avoiding sports drinks altogether, especially considering you have issues with blood sugar. Whether it is low-calorie or "diet" does not make it healthy. They contain so many additives, which can affect the body significantly. For me personally, artificial sweeteners increase my hunger.

Pure water is the best for the body. There are also many different kinds of teas, which provide additional taste. Coffee (up to 4 cups per day) has shown health benefits. Natural (without preservatives) juices also tend to be good, but can contain lots of calories.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I missed the sweet tooth somehow - good for the waistline, but I have trouble maintaining my electrolyte balance. I am a massive saltoholic, but I need to be. If I don't stay on it, I start getting leg, toe, foot cramps and migraine troubles. Salt and potassium alone deal with the first, but I need the magnesium to stabilize the last.

a reply to: Waterglass

Do you have any bottles of the body armor lite to look at the ingredients? Are you drinking the one that contains Stevia? Most of the varieties of gatorade contain sucrose, which is just regular sugar. Maybe it has something to do with that. Don't drink powerade though, most of those contain high fructose corn syrup. Oh I just looked at it seems like Gatorade zero has sucralose instead of sucrose like regular gatorade. Don't know if that plays a role.

Have you ever tried or look into Sole Water??? Hydration electrolytes... Use Redmond real salt OR Pink Himalayan salt

What Is Sole Water, and Does It Have Benefits? LINK LINK2

14 Benefits of Himalayan Salt Sole Water + How to Make It

originally posted by: TarantulaBite

When did Mike Rowe grow a beard. That looks like Mike Rowe!

Oops!

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: JAGStorm

I missed the sweet tooth somehow - good for the waistline, but I have trouble maintaining my electrolyte balance. I am a massive saltoholic, but I need to be. If I don't stay on it, I start getting leg, toe, foot cramps and migraine troubles. Salt and potassium alone deal with the first, but I need the magnesium to stabilize the last.

Give ayran a try. Recipe and origin in my previous post.

originally posted by: Waterglass

Glucose [Glycoylated Hemoglobin] was 5.5%. Normal is > 5.7%.
m .

Point of clarification: Normal for HgbA1C
is < (less than) 5.7%.

Congrats for bringing it down. As A1C is a long term view of blood sugar levels, rather than a snapshot, it takes time and effort to bring it down. No easy feat.

The best thing to do is experiment on yourself to find what causes your problems like you did Waterglass.

My blood sugar is usually around one eleven now, it used to always be about one hundred in the past. But my sugar can crash, and so can my BP. I have tachychardia and in the best of shape my blood pressure was between 130-140 0ver eighty.

I can get the head spins if my heart rate goes under seventy eight. Usually it ranges between one ten and one thirty when sitting or walking.

My blood pressure goes up when they put the cuff on and take my blood pressure, I can feel it going up and up to try to keep up the circulation in my arm which is actually normal. If my blood pressure goes into the normal range, I get pins and needles when I kneel down or sit on the toilet for a while. I have discussed this a lot with doctors over the years, the tachychardia, hypoglycemia, hyponatremia, and hypovolemia are all related and my blood pressure will always be somewhat high because of a hereditary condition I have. But every time I go to a new doctor they want the stress test done which I hate doing, they won't even look at the old conclusive tests I have had over the years. I burn lipids better than sugars and carbs I guess and am trying to experiment with figuring that out. My blood pressure does not regulate right if I eat fried chicken and from personal testing on my self, with two cups of coffee it jumps up to one eighty on the top and when I start to pee every five minutes after the third cup it goes back down to one forty over eighty. One point seven percent Inuit or eskimo genetics on my paternal side is probably the reason for all those abnormal conditions I listed above.

When I get up at night to go pee, I have taken my blood pressure and heart rate. Heart rate is at sixty and blood pressure drops down to around one ten over seventy...below seventy on the low side and I am staggering to the can. When I get up it is about one twenty over seventy five till I have one cup of coffee then it jumps up thirty on the high side quickly. I have worn out about four blood pressure meters and used many batteries to do all this testing over a five years time. Presently, I need to buy a new one again, but it doesn't matter, if I go into the doctors office, it jumps way up because I don't like going into the doctors office...stress will jump it way up...part of the fight or flight normal response.

originally posted by: rickymouse
The best thing to do is experiment on yourself to find what causes your problems like you did Waterglass.

My blood sugar is usually around one eleven now, it used to always be about one hundred in the past. But my sugar can crash, and so can my BP. I have tachychardia and in the best of shape my blood pressure was between 130-140 0ver eighty.

I can get the head spins if my heart rate goes under seventy eight. Usually it ranges between one ten and one thirty when sitting or walking.

My blood pressure goes up when they put the cuff on and take my blood pressure,...

I check my blood pressure at home regularly. I have found that I can - at least I think I can - often intentionally manipulate my blood pressure. If I focus on lowering my BP while taking it, it will actually go down. (I usually take 4 to 6 readings and average them.) I don't think that that the drop is even semi-permanant, but I'll be darned if I've not seen that effect on numerous occassions.
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originally posted by: incoserv

originally posted by: rickymouse
The best thing to do is experiment on yourself to find what causes your problems like you did Waterglass.

My blood sugar is usually around one eleven now, it used to always be about one hundred in the past. But my sugar can crash, and so can my BP. I have tachychardia and in the best of shape my blood pressure was between 130-140 0ver eighty.

I can get the head spins if my heart rate goes under seventy eight. Usually it ranges between one ten and one thirty when sitting or walking.

My blood pressure goes up when they put the cuff on and take my blood pressure,...

I check my blood pressure at home regularly. I have found that I can - at least I think I can - often intentionally manipulate my blood pressure. If I focus on lowering my BP while taking it, it will actually go down. I don't that that the drop is even semi-permanant, but I'll be darned if I've not seen that effect on numerous occassions.

I learned enough about it over the years that I know that stress or a cup of coffee brings my BP up quickly, But I get stressed at doctors offices and I won't go anywhere without a cup of coffee.

a reply to: rickymouse

Coffee has a pretty profound impact on mine. I try not to drink it too close to a doctor visit. My BP is normal to slightly low, but my systolic really spikes with coffee and will push up to the low 80s.

a reply to: davegazi2

Thanks.