All-Natural Water-Enhancers from Nuun, Bevology and Glowelle
April 20 2009
Latest stats from the Container Recycling Institute show that 60 million plastic bottles end up in American landfills every day—an increase of 600% since 1997. The Earth Policy Institute estimates that making bottles to meet the U.S. demand for portable water requires more than 15 million barrels of oil a year—enough to fuel 100,000 cars.
Yikes.
So by now all the EcoStilettoistas we know are religiously carrying around stainless-steel reusable water bottles. We fill them up in the morning, tote them with us to work or workout, drain them of water and—then what? If there’s a filtered water system, we’re golden. But what about those times when all you can find is the icky-tasting water fountain? Those times call for on-the-go, all-naturals that pop into your bottle to add taste—and benefits—to your water.
nuun was developed with what we’ll call the Gatorade Principle in mind: Electrolytes and sodium facilitate efficient rehydration for athletes who are sweating through serious exercise. Some days our serious exercise is simply getting up from the computer chair, but either way we like the way these tabs taste. And because they’re all sugar free, weighing in at a mere seven calories per 16-ounces, we’re happy to drink them all day long—sweat or no sweat!
In fact, according to nuun, adding flavor to water encourages you to drink 40% more than normal, and adding electrolytes can up your intake by 90%. Fittingly, nuun (pronounced “noon,” in case you’re hitting a marathon any time soon and want to ask for it by name) contains four essential electrolytes—sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium—to help you hydrate faster. Slightly fizzy, with a pink color that comes from beets, Nuun is sugar and caffeine free—but still tastes yummy.
Zenergize and Superfly are two tablet brands from Bevology, which seems to be looking to put VitaminWater and Red Bull out of business, respectively. Zenergize has nine flavors to choose from, all of which address specific concerns from immunity to weigh loss to hydration to energy. The Orange and Pomegranate Immunity tab, for example, delivers 1,500 miligrams of vitamin C, plus 20 vitamins, minerals and herbs and no sugar—the entire line is sweetened with stevia, and weighs in a just a few calories each as a result. As for the scary looking Superfly, we can’t figure out just what’s in the stuff, but we’re guessing it contains caffeine. A lot of it.
Conveniently, all of these tabs are all designed to flavor 16 ounces of water, and all are sold in recyclable tubes that fit in your gym bag or purse—right next to the stainless steel water bottle.
Finally, formulated with no artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners, Glowelle isn’t so much about the taste as it is about what it delivers: a gigantic dose of powerful vitamins A, C and Lutein and heavy-duty antioxidant botanical extracts like cocoa, pomegranate and goji berry, designed to give you glowing skin from the inside out. We have to admit, it’s better in juice than straight water, but we’ve been using Glowelle for about four days now and against all skepticism we’re really seeing a difference.
Or maybe that’s from all the water we’ve been gulping.
