Brownies and Zucchini

Full Disclosure: The company sent me this product for free to review, but I am not being compensated for this post and the opinions are completely my own.

I know I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not very good at hydrating properly. I never have been.  When I played soccer as a kid I would come home with massive headaches, which looking back at it I’m sure it was because of my sunlight sensitive eyes, and the fact that I pretty much had to be forced to drink water.  I’ve gotten better at it since then though, that’s for sure.  I now keep a water bottle at my desk at work, and right next to me wherever I am at home.  On days that I plan on running, or doing other vigorous activity, I really try to concentrate on drinking more water than ever – which really for me is not that extreme of an amount.

There are times when I get back from a run and feel that same blah headacey feeling that I remember feeling after sporting events when I was younger. Although I am a frustrated with myself  that I know it has at least partially to do with my hydration, I try to do the quickest most effective things that I know how to do to recover from it instead of just letting the headache take over. One of those things is to drink lots of water (duh) to rehydrate myself.    I’m a fan of water, but drinking so much at once can be a little bit of an overload for me.

A few weeks ago the nice people at Vita Coco offered to send me some of their coconut water to try and review.  I have been wanting to coconut water for a while now, so I figured this would be a perfect opportunity! I know some people love it, and some people think it tastes like dirt – which, of course, is why I was a bit hesitant to try it in the first place.  Plus, I’m just not a huge fan of the coconut flavor in general.  In the spirit of trying new things, and to see if it really has such amazing hydration effects as it claims, I thought I’d give it a try.

I was lucky enough to sample a few different flavors – 100% Pure Coconut Water, Peach and Mango, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, and Acai and Pomegranate.  I, of course went for the flavored waters first since I was still not sure that I would like the plain coconut flavor at all.  The first flavor that I tried was the Acai and Pomegranate.  I was not a fan.  I took one sip, and it tasted just like how I was afraid it would taste, and I was super disappointed.  I think it was maybe just that flavor though, because the next one I tried was the pineapple flavor and I LOVED it.  I don’t know what it is about pineapple flavored drinks, but they always remind me of sipping Pina Colada’s in Mexico. I was definitely pleasantly surprised.

Once I decided that I liked at least some of the flavors I started to drink them more frequently, including after I ran.  I can’t say that it was 100% the coconut water, because I did drink regular water too, but I really feel like they helped me recover from runs.  I felt less sluggish, and if I was on the verge of a headache before I drank it, it was gone soon after.   I am definitely a fan of coconut water, and actually have bought it to drink during a particularly sluggish workday too! My favorite flavors are the Pineapple, and Passion Fruit, and the original 100% Pure Coconut Water isn’t so bad either.

So that was a success! I can now add Coconut Water (along with asparagus and fish) to the list of food things that I enjoy!  Thanks Vita Coco!

*Some of the links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links so if you click and buy the product through them you are doing a small part to help keep B&Z up and running. Thanks for all of your support!*

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Filed under: Product Review Tagged: | coconut water, Hydration, Product Review, vita coco