Natural Electrolyte Replacement Fluid: Coconut Water

My 7-year old daughter has always been susceptible to cramping in her legs and arms when she is dehydrated and her electrolytes are off. Last night, after spending a weekend in the sun at altitude in the mountains, she complained of cramping in her forearm and I realized she needed some electrolyte replacement therapy. After just half a glass of coconut water, her cramps abated and she was able to return to bed.

You didn’t think I’d give her something like Gatorade, or even Pedialyte, did you? Popular “sports” drinks like Gatorade top my list of Fake Health Foods with their additives like sucrose, Aspartame, citric acid, “natural flavor” (which, as we know, is not so natural), modified food starch (a highly processed questionable additive), food dyes, and even high fructose corn syrup. These florescent chemical brews are anything but healthy, especially when a 20 oz. bottle can contain the equivalent of 8 teaspoons of sugar.

Coconut water, on the other hand, is nature’s own electrolyte replacement therapy. It makes me think of vacations spent languidly sitting on a beautiful sandy beach sipping the liquid inside a chilled coconut through a straw. Not only is it unbelievably refreshing, but coconut water is full of nutrients to replace what you lose while sweating in the sun. With more potassium than a banana, and calcium and magnesium, too, coconut water has what it takes to replace lost fluids in humans.

At home, I keep handy individual size serving boxes of coconut water on hand for emergencies like this one. Coconut water is also really effective for alleviating diarrhea and other stomach upsets. Remember this the next time you suffer from Montezuma’s Revenge in a tropical place and drink coconut water to feel better.