What Coconut Water Has That Sports Drinks Do Not

The edge that coconut water has over traditional sports drinks is that it packs fifteen times more potassium—it contains about 470 milligrams per 8 ounces—than Gatorade or Powerade. To put things into perspective, a medium banana has 422 milligrams of potassium. Potassium is a key player in rehydration because, along with sodium, magnesium and calcium, the electrolyte helps maintain fluid balance in the body. Potassium is also crucial to smooth and skeletal muscle contraction, and can help prevent muscle cramps So Is Coconut Water the Ultimate Sports Drink? What Coconut Water Doesn't Have Coconut water falls short when it comes to sodium content. It has only a third of the sodium—30 mg per 8 ounces—that traditional sports drinks contain. This isn’t a deal breaker if you’re drinking coconut water during a light workout or a workout lasting less than an hour. But if you’ve got a vigorous gym session on the books, keep in mind that with intensity comes sweat. And with sweat, your body loses sodium. In fact, just one liter of sweat can flush out 1,300 milligrams of sodium, making the mineral an important ingredient to include in your post-workout beverage—and a traditional sports drink a smarter choice. The Bottom Line If your taste buds just can’t take another sip of tap water, choose coconut water. If you’re heading to the gym for a light training session or going for a leisurely bike ride, grab coconut water. If you’ve just wrapped up an intense workout or logged more than an hour of exercise, a traditional sports drink will help replace the sodium you lose through sweat. Potassium (mg) Sodium (mg) Coconut Water (8 oz) 470 30 Sports Drink (8 oz) 30 110

Your Health POWERHOUSE...TESTOSTERONE

WHERE DOES T COME FROM? As its name indicates, testosterone is mostly produced by the testicles. However, few guys realize that a tiny amount is also made within the outer portion of the adrenal glands ( the adrenal cortex ), located on top of the kidneys. Even though the bulk of your T production takes place down south, it's actually your brain that triggers the process from up above. It starts with your hypothalamus, the part of your brain that's considered its "command centre." Responsible for mediating many of your endocrine, autonomic, and behavioural functions-including controlling your body temperature, determining how hungry or thirsty you feel, and even what type of mood determination how hungry or thirsty you feel, and even what type of mood you're in- your hypothalamus steers your ship by sending signals via hormones to your pituitary gland, the part of your brain that controls your body's balance of wide variety of hormones (including testosterone). WHATS CONSIDERED A NORMAL LEVEL? The average amount most men have flowing through their veins is between 300 and 1,000ng/dl ( nanograms per decilitre of blood ), depending on how old they are. But after you hit 40, your body hits back by reducing the amount of testosterone it produces by about 1-2 percent each year. Anything below 300ng/dl is not only considered low, but it could be in indicator that your likely a candidate for hypogonadism, a medical condition in which the sex glands produce few or no hormones. THERE'S NO "T" IN AGGRESSION If your worried that turning up your testosterone will turn you into a self-centered, antagonistic, antisocial brute? Despite testosterone's long-standing bad boy reputation, there's no concrete evidence that the male hormone is the root of all aggression or violent behaviours. According to new research by Swiss neuroscientist Christoph Eisenegger, Phd, testosterone may actually cause people to act more fairly and behave more altruistically in certain situations. P.S. Go to Bodynriched.com for your Best kept Secret! Thanks, Richard Gayle