It’s never too late to start working on [your diet]. It starts off with something simple like kicking soda or cutting back on the Oreos. You just start to feel better a little at a time and go from there!
– Enzo Cautela
DIY energy drink.
This drink is gunna put Monster out of business, trust me, it's an absolute beast. Not only does it keep your energy levels up during those long sessions and enhance recovery, it also tastes amazing, and can definitely be a part of a healthy diet.
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It's been crafted to tick every box you might want to tick. It's got carbohydrates to supply energy for your session, salt to restore electrolytes and a blast of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory foods, all working together to reduce the damage you accumulate whilst you skate and speed up recovery.
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drink tech.
For sessions that are up to 60-90 minutes long water is all you need and you won't notice any change in performance with this drink, but past that 60-90 minute mark is when this drink starts to work. From that point getting some carbohydrates in will maintain your energy levels, postpone fatigue, keep you skating at a better level for longer, speed up recovery, and reduce the damage long sessions can have on your immune system. Carbohydrates are the "energy" that's going to keep you going.
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On average we can absorb about 30-60 grams of glucose (a form of carbohydrate) every hour, but if we combine glucose with other sugars, for example fructose then that amount goes up. I went for 50 grams of carbs in this drink split between the honey, sugar, and kiwi, but you could go anywhere between 30-80 grams depending on how much energy you need. Mess around and see what works best for you. Also, if you're trying to lose weight you might want to ask yourself what's more important - your performance or weight loss as this is just adding extra calories.
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"Electrolytes" are little legends that live in and around your cells, that are essential for your cells to work and for you to stay hydrated. When you're out skating you lose electrolytes through your sweat, which is why they need to be replaced. The extra salt in this drink is what restocks the majority of them, but you also get some in the other ingredients. How much salt you need to add depends on how hot it is and therefore how much you sweat. If it's extra cold and you aren't sweating at all, you probably don't need any salt in the drink. But as it gets hotter and you sweat more it's important to add them in. Different people sweat different amounts, so they lose different amounts of electrolytes. If you're a sweaty bastard then you're going to want to add more salt to the drink.
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In reality if you're going for a super long sessions you should drink one of these bottles every 60-90 minutes beyond those first 60-90 minutes. If this seems like overkill then you're underestimating how much stress going skating for hours and hours actually puts on the body and how much energy it requires.
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If you want to learn more about skate nutrition then click the link on the left. A quick recap for now
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shopping list
- 500ml (16oz) green tea
- 500ml (16oz) water
- 1 lemon
- 1 kiwi
- 25g (2 teaspoons) honey
- 15g (2 heaped teaspoons) sugar
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 fat thumb of ginger
- 15g optional protein powder
how to make the drink.
1. boil ya tea
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Boil 500ml of water, add 2 teaspoons of green tea and let it sit for 3-4 mins, then remove the tea. Not much else to say here.
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2. prepare the paste
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Start off by peeling the ginger and cutting it up into smallish pieces. Add it to the blender.
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Next, spoon out the 2 halves of the kiwi and add them to the blender
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Then add the juice from 1 lemon - squeeze the juice through a sieve so you don't get seeds in your drink and choke on one at the skatepark.
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3. add the energy & salt
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Add the following to the mixer:
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25 grams of honey (2 teaspoons)
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15 grams of sugar (2 heaped teaspoons)
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¼ to ½ of salt, add more depending on how sweaty you are. I used pink Himalayan salt but any will work.​
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4. get blendin'
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Blend up the paste til it's all just a big mushy pasty mess
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Then add the green tea, blend it with the paste
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Here you can add the optional 15 grams of protein if you want (check the mid-sesh nutrition page for why you might want to)
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Add everything to your bottle
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Finally, get the extra 500ml of water into your mixture
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Put it in the fridge til it's iceee cold and then go skate!
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