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How many times have you been to a high school sports game? Have you ever noticed the amount of sports drinks they consume during a 40 minute basketball game? Have you ever wondered how much of that stuff they may drink in a day, even a week? Perhaps everyday for many years. Did you ever think it may cause Type2 Diabetes? I never did until it happened to me.

In high school I played three sports and lifted weights everyday. I was very active and healthy. My body was not overweight, although I ate like most teens do. Fast food, junk food, whatever I could call a meal.

Fast forward ten years. I was now over weight. I did not play sports anymore and I was still eating the same meals as before, Fast food. It was the same lifestyle I had ten years before, but without the exercise. What happened next was I got Type2 Diabetes.

This may sound a little odd. After many talks with my doctor , we concluded that sports drinks may have been the underlying cause of my Type2 Diabetes. While I was in high school I consumer a huge amount of sports drinks that were loaded with sugar. By a huge amount I mean close to a gallon a day. That may seems like a lot , but drinking a 32 oz sports drink four times a day is easy.

Now if you have never looked at the label of a sports drink let me share some facts with you. In a leading sports drink 12oz bottle there are 310 calories and 42 grams of sugar. In a 32 oz bottle there is almost 930 calories and close to 126 grams of sugar. Multiply that by four and the numbers are sickening. My doctor believes that I consumed so many sports drinks that it destroyed my pancreas, giving me type 2 Diabetes. Drinking a sports drink that I thought was good for me.

What really concerns me now is that teenagers have taken to these exotic energy drinks that are loaded with caffeine and huge amounts of sugar. Five times the amount of a sports drink. Could there possibly be a diabetes epidemic in 10 years? Sixty percent of people between the age of 25 and 35 with Type2 diabetes in the year 2017? I think it is really a possibility. Can we stop this before it happens? Most likely not. Can you prevent yourself or your child athlete from getting Type2 diabetes? The answer is yes. Drink water instead of sports drinks. It will do more for you than what the sports drink label say their product will do.

Exercise is also the key to staying healthy. Just because you have left high school and the opportunity to play sports are limited to you does not mean that you have to stop being active. In almost every town there are adult recreation leagues. Basketball, weight training , roller hockey, are almost always available to adults. Just going for a walk after dinner for 20 minutes is better than nothing at all.