A staple of my workout regimen is coconut water – lovely, nutty, slightly sweet coconut water. Not to be confused with coconut milk, coconut water is the water from young green coconuts. It is an expensive staple. I am constantly seeking out sales and best buys for 100% unflavored coconut water in local stores and online and I only drink it before and after workouts.
So why the love affair? Why spend the money? The reason is if you buy 100% coconut water (not any of the flavored varieties which can have added sugar and other not so favorable goodies), you get a luscious drink that contains a whopping 600 mg of potassium in one cup! This coupled with the 100 mg of sodium found in one cup and you have a formula for the ultimate all-natural sports drink to help replenish any electrolytes lost after an intense workout or – um – after bouts of digestive distress if you get my drift (I really don’t like mentioning the “D” word when discussing something yummy, but it is worth noting).
Also, even though we generally do not count calories on the Paleo diet, I can’t help but to mention that each cup of coconut water only contains 40 to 45 calories, if anything, to further emphasize how wonderful this drink is!
I have low blood pressure, like too low, not the good kind of low. Before I was diagnosed, I was passing out especially after intense workouts, which could be quite embarrassing. After I was diagnosed, the cardiologist told me that I needed to be sure to drink a sports drink before and after working out. This did the trick but then more and more bad stuff started coming out about the ingredients used in a lot of commercially available sports drinks and then I got on a Paleo diet. What to do, what to do? Well, I walked into a Nature Origins close to our house and they were giving away free cans of coconut water. I tried it, liked it and read up on it, and I have been hooked ever since. Honestly, if I drink a cup of coconut water before a run, I feel like my performance and stamina are better during the run than when I would drink a comparable amount of a regular sports drink before a run. Did I say I love this stuff?
Of course, being somewhat of a pessimist, I am waiting for the other shoe to fall, for something horrid to come out about coconut water, but everything I have read and researched so far appears to be favorable. Hopefully it will stay that way! The big con is the price. It is definitely E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E! Hence, why I only use it for my workouts, and why I am selfishly and frugally thankful that my family does not share my enthusiasm for the wonderful, coconutty taste of the water. That may be another con – the flavor may not agree with everyone, but I am looking at it as a glass half full in my case. Also, while it is technically compliant on the Whole30®, Melissa Hartwig mentions on the Whole30® site that she is not big on it and favors plain old water instead, at least for the Whole30®.
So, give it a try some time if you haven’t already. If you have, what do you think? Is it the bee’s knees* or were you less impressed?
*Bee’s knees – When a bee goes from flower to flower, the nectar sticks to their legs. This is why the phrase “bee’s knees” means something really good, because the bee’s knees are where all the sweet goodies collect.
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