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Since��Gatorade helped popularize sports drinks in the mid-sixties, companies have concocted an assortment of��beverages to help athletes replenish electrolytes and carbohydrates. While many of the drinks succeed at that main goal, they’re often loaded with dyes, sugar, and additives. Kevin Sprouse, a sports-medicine physician based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and head of medicine for the , bristles at the idea of an athlete fueling with poor-quality food��and drink. “It seems illogical to me that someone would��engage in an activity for their overall health��but fill the body with unnatural chemicals,” he says.

One alternative to these��highly processed beverages is to��craft��your own. It only takes��a few minutes and��simple ingredients.��We asked some experts��and athletes��for their favorite go-to drinks that are��rich in hydrating nutrients and restorative ingredients and a cinch to make.

Pro-Am Electrolyte Drink

Each September, Blackberry Farm, a luxury resort��in Walland, Tennessee, holds a grueling, three-day bike race known as the Blackberry Pro-Am Classic. To keep��athletes fueled, Blackberry keeps a ready supply of a chilled homemade��sports drink available during both breakfast and lunch. While Sprouse concedes that there’s��no such thing as the��“perfect sports drink,”��he says��that this recipe��would work for many athletes, even if the sodium concentration may be��a bit light. That’s an easy fix, though: just add more salt when needed.

• 8 cups water, divided in half
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup juice (cherry, watermelon, or orange)
• Juice of 2 lemons and 2 limes

Bring four cups of water to boil in a pot over high heat. Lower to a simmer, and add honey and salt. Stir until dissolved. Combine mixture with remaining��four cups of cold water in a large pitcher. Add final��ingredients and chill. Makes nine eight-ounce servings.

Coconut-Citrus Electrolyte Drink

This recipe is a favorite of Amy Marolf, a Denver-based fitness and nutrition coach. Coconut water is good source of potassium, and the��honey provides simple sugars��in the form of glucose and fructose, says Kat Sweatt, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist in Birmingham, Alabama. The raw ginger may also be especially good for more strenuous exercise, as Sweatt notes that consuming the root could��help alleviate muscle cramps.��She��recommends alternating between this drink and water when working out.

• 1 1/2 cups 100 percent coconut water
• 1/2 cup filtered tap water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons organic honey
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4 slices��of a one-inch piece of peeled, fresh ginger (to float in drink)

Mix all ingredients, except for ginger,��in a pitcher or water bottle until honey and salt are dissolved. Add ginger. Can be made the night before and chilled. Makes one 16-ounce sports drink.

Watermelon Refresher

Hannah Green, an ultrarunner based in��Silverton, Colorado, makes this��postworkout refresher when she’s home and near a blender. Sprouse suggests that athletes enjoy the recovery beverage with a small meal rich in protein and carbohydrates.

• 1 cup frozen watermelon cubes
• 1 cup coconut water
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• Lime to taste
• A dash of salt (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender, blitz, and serve. Makes one 16-ounce serving.