Liquid diets are growing popular as a means to improve health and wellness. Whether you are planning to lose weight or recovering post-surgery or illness, a liquid diet provides all the nourishment you need. The healthiest electrolyte drinks fuel your body and keep the energy flowing.
Why liquid diets?
A liquid diet is essentially a liquid with various nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and herbs. Such a diet becomes a source of wholesome nutrition while reducing the load on your body. Another specialty of liquid diets is that they don’t necessarily aid in weight loss since they can be made low on calories.
When is a liquid diet recommended?
Medically, a doctor will put you on a liquid diet when the load on your digestive system must be reduced.
Pre-surgery, post-surgery recovery, and certain illnesses are the common conditions where a doctor would put you on a liquid diet.
Apart from these, liquid diet drinks are becoming popular among the fitness community as an effective means to lose weight.
For weight loss, the most common drinks include fruit juices, vegetable juices, and smoothies. Detox waters such as lemon water also form an essential part of liquid diets for weight loss.
What constitutes a liquid diet?
A liquid is anything taken in a liquid form. The typical liquid diets include
- Soups and broths
- Infused waters
- Flavored waters
- Fruit juices, smoothies, and shakes
- Vegetable juices
- Green smoothies
- Electrolyte drinks
- Energy drinks and sports drinks
- Herbal teas without milk and sugar
- Coffees without milk and sugar
- Health and protein shakes
Liquid diet drinks for fitness:
Till sometime back, liquid diet drinks were mostly recommended during surgeries and as a convalescence diet. Today, though, the definition of a liquid diet is changing.
It is becoming an essential component of a health and fitness regimen.
Athletes, sportspersons, and bodybuilders frequently opt for electrolyte drinks and sports drinks as a part of their pre-workout, mid-workout, and post-workout regimens.
Importance of electrolyte drinks and sports drinks:
Electrolyte drinks are a rich source of electrolytes and an excellent means to help you tide through dehydration.
Dehydration is a fairly common condition that occurs due to a shortage of fluids in your body.
Let’s say you live in sweltering climates and sweat a lot. With sweat, you lose a lot of body fluids and the dissolved electrolytes as well.
With this loss, you will start feeling various consequences of dehydration.
Dehydration and the common conditions that can trigger it:
We already know that dehydration is the loss of body fluids and nutrients. It can occur due to a wide variety of conditions.
- When you are sick or are having vomiting and diarrhea, dehydration ensues.
- Dehydration is common among athletes, sportspersons, and bodybuilders.
- Training, workout, and tournament sessions lasting more than 30 minutes can trigger dehydration.
- Very hot and very cold climate conditions, along with excessive sweating, are responsible for dehydration too.
What happens when you are dehydrated?
Nearly 60% of the human body is composed of water, which is present at various levels.
You can see the presence of water in the blood, cells, tissues, organs, etc. This water is responsible for carrying out various body functions and ensuring that you function normally.
Electrolytes are an integral component of water. Electrolytes or minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and manganese are crucial for body functioning.
With not enough fluid and electrolyte supply, your body will experience various symptoms such as
- Excessive thirst
- Fatigue and a changed heartbeat
- Muscle cramps
- Reduced urination
- Dry eyes, mouth, skin
- Dizziness
Sportspersons will experience these symptoms with more severity as the body burns up into their energy reserves to compensate for the loss of calories during rigorous activity.
Burnouts, fatigue, and cramping are common among sportspersons and athletes.
To counter this, those participating in endurance activities depend on electrolyte drinks and sports drinks to keep their energy levels up.
Best liquid diet drinks- Things to look out for:
The best beverages for overall health and fitness must fulfill certain criteria.
They must be rich in electrolytes and minerals and support electrolyte balance and hydration.
Natural homemade electrolyte drinks are an added advantage since they can be easily made from the ingredients available in your kitchen.
For professionals and athletes, sports drinks and energy drinks are the best sources of health and fitness.
The added caffeine and caffeine substitutes help improve endurance and muscle recovery.
Homemade sugar-free energy drinks are an excellent option and help reduce the intake of unnecessary calories. If you have diabetes, homemade sugar-free energy drinks help keep your energy levels up, fight fatigue, and improve your health in general.
List of best beverages for your health and fitness:
- Coconut water
- Chocolate milk
- Lemon water
- Electrolyte drinks and sports drinks
- Infused waters
- Detox drinks
- Fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies
- ORS drinks
At the very basic level, water can also be counted among energy drinks. Different kinds of waters, such as mineral water, alkaline water, and black water, contain minerals and, in some instances, added nutrients.
Water is the purest form of hydration, one of the best detox drinks, and is widely available.
Bottom Line:
When looking for the best liquid diet drinks, you have a wide variety of options to choose from. Depending on your current health conditions, your end goals, and specific requirements, you can select the best beverages.
Choose energy and electrolyte beverages that help maintain your energy levels, add to the nutritional quotient of your body, and, if possible, be made of natural ingredients.