Since Tanya moved to New York and opened a pizzeria with her new hubby, in addition to bringing new life into her acupuncture practice, and Diana is expanding her Yoga for Mindful Eating series, we decided to produce two newsletters a year instead of four. We chose as our first issue the space between the summer solstice (June 21st) and fall equinox (Sept 22nd).

This issue is full of ideas meant to make the transition seamless, from treatment modalities to aid wellbeing during a potentially allergy-filled time, achy bodies as the air chills, and yummy recipes to enhance the change from the dog-days of summer to crisp and dry fall and to make the most of healthy living.

Blessings of Love and Light,
Diana and Tanya

Sports and Energy Drinks or Water-
Which to Choose?

With an abundant supply and variety of sports drinks available coupled with media advertising, you would think that you should ALWAYS drink sports drinks when you're active – plain old water just isn’t cool any more.

Whether it’s Gatorade, PowerAde, Cytomax, or another brand, all sports drinks function on the same premise: they replace electrolytes and carbohydrates during and after intense and long-lasting exercise. INTENSE exercise being the key!

Sports drinks contain a mixture of ingredients meant to replace nutrients your body loses during intense exercise. Most drinks contain a specified amount of carbohydrates, electrolytes, and some contain protein (and now vitamins as well). These ingredients are also meant to help prolong exercise and improve performance, some of which has been proven true. However, research suggests supplementation with sports drinks during exercise greater than TWO HOURS. That said, if your strength training workout, Zumba class, or yoga session lasts an hour, reach for water instead. You don't need a sports drink!

Water is a fantastic fluid – and the preferred one – during exercise less than two hours. The reason for consistent sipping throughout is to stave off dehydration. Water replaces the fluid lost through sweat. Water also contains trace amounts of minerals and electrolytes.

The biggest drawback for some is that water is bland so the sports drink companies claim you won't drink as much. Flavor aside, water has no calories or sugars in it. During exercise lasting longer than two hours, a sports drink can boost your performance and reduce fatigue because of the carbohydrates (sugars) in it; however, some drinks contain caffeine, which may be counterproductive in preventing dehydration.

Bottom line: for most exercisers, water is just fine. And it’s preferred!

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