O.N.E. Coconut Water: A Review of Nature's Sports Drink

Good morning cyberspace and blog land! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. And you know what the best part about this week is? It's a three-day weekend followed by a four-day work week! "Three-Day Weekend" - - ahhh like music to my ears.

A while ago, after I wrote about how I love drinking coconut water on my long runs,(click here) lovely Lucy from O.N.E Coconut Water generously offered to send me three different kinds coconut water to test out on my runs. Woohoo! Thank you so much Lucy!

~Check out the cute t-shirt too~

I have now had the chance to test out O.N.E Coconut Water on two long runs. But before we get much further, what is coconut water?

Coconut Water:
(According to their website:)

Coconut water is different from coconut milk, the white, creamy liquid used in pina coladas and curries and stuff. Yuck. I would NOT want to be guzzling coconut milk on a 16 miler! ick!

Coconut water is the water inside of a young green coconut that is extracted before the white meat grows. Since the water is filtered out before the meat grows, it has none of the fat coconut milk/coconut flakes have. That's why the plain coconut water is a mostly clear color.

Why Coconut Water on Long Runs?
We all know hydration and electrolytes are VERY important on long runs.
Coconut water is great because

• 100% natural
• has 5 important electrolytes:calcium, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and sodium
• No preservatives
• Naturally sweet and low calorie (60 calories per 11 fluid ounces)
  
• It is a natural isotonic beverage and "contains a similar level of electrolytes found in human blood"
• Rich in potassium; and potassium helps with cramping and other non-fun things
• non-allergenic
• Apparently, it can even aid in dissolving kidney stones! (unrelated to running I know, but you never know when this kind of info can come in handy!)

Basically, I like to think of coconut water as Nature's Sports Drink.
Nutrition facts: Per one 11 fluid ounce serving:
60 calories, 0g fat, 0g cholesterol, 60mg sodium, 670mg potassium, 15g carbs, 14g sugars, 1g protein, 40mg calcium, 17mg phosphorous, 25mg magnesium.
Ingredients: 100% natural coconut water

So.... what do I think?
I think O.N.E Coconut Water tastes fabulous! When you first taste the plain coconut water, you might be surprised to discover it tastes nothing like what you expect. It doesn't taste like what you think stereotypical coconuts taste like. It's not rich, creamy, or tropical tasting. It tastes more like a light sports drink. I think if I had to compare it to anything, it would be like a watery white Gatorade flavor, but without that chemical, fake aftertaste.

When running, I will either add two coconut water packs into my handheld bottle, or dilute one pack with cold water. I really enjoy the light, refreshing taste of coconut water, and prefer it over the plethora of other drinks I have tried. It has this nice, natural sweetness that for me, is just right. I also find it has less of an aftertaste than other sports drinks.

I also got to try the Guava flavored Coconut Water and the Passion Fruit Coconut Water.
The Guava Flavor is my absolute favorite!
I've always had a soft spot for guava juice, so no surprise that I LOVED it. The Guava flavor is sweeter than the plain flavor, so it does leave more of a sugary aftertaste than the plain one. One way to prevent this is to dilute it with water, or mix one guava flavor with one plain flavor. Whatever floats your boat :) I put two guavas in my handheld for my 10 miler this weekend (see photo to the left), and I looked forward to every single sip!

The passion fruit was equally tastey, but for running, I think I prefer either the plain or the guava. But I might just be biased about the whole guava thing. ;)

The only downside to coconut water for me, is the price. It definitely is more costly than giant bottles of Gatorade you can buy for a buck. So I usually end up diluting coconut water with strawberry-kiwi flavored Gatorade or water.

O.N.E the Company:
I was impressed to learn that O.N.E grows their own coconuts and own all their plantations so they can guarantee the quality of the products, as opposed to other brands who purchase coconuts on the open market. I was also impressed to learn that O.N.E is making efforts towards sustainability by supporting non-profit organizations like the Brazil Foundation and Healthy Child Healthy World.

O.N.E also sells Amazon Acai drinks, Coffee Fruit Drinks, and Cashew Fruit drinks. They all seem curious and intriguing to me, but I have never tried them nor seen them. I wonder what a cashew fruit drink is? (you can check it out on the website)

I recently created a "My Favorite Products: Products I couldn't run without" page, and coconut water is definitly one of those products :)

Again, I would like to thank Lucy from O.N.E One Natural Experience for this opportunity to review their products. I will be continuing to run with coconut water for my next training cycle :)

What's your favorite hydration product?