<b>Ladies and Gentlemen</b>, welcome to <u>my first official product review</u> - FitAid! I've had so many things to talk about that I've kind of just put off reviewing things, but today I have something I'm really excited to get out there. So...without further ado...

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Let's talk about this little drink called FitAID. Long story short, they sent me a 4 pack to try out, I gave it a whirl, and I was very impressed. There's a lot to this versatile little drink - I had it before and after both a run and a strength training workout. Now that I've experienced it, I'm ready to talk about it!

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<img class="size-medium wp-image-567 alignright" src="http://sothisisfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/IMG_20130812_132634_341-170x300.jpg" alt="FitAid Box Image" width="170" height="300" />
<h4>So...what's the deal with FitAid?</h4>
FitAID is <i>not </i>an energy drink - it is a "synergy drink" (the company likes to be very clear on this point). The box has lots of artwork and information on it all about the benefits of the drink... including a <b>"Paleo Friendly"</b> stamp. I'm going to cover the "Paleo" thing in a future article <em>(EDIT: 3 years later...still haven't covered it. whoops)</em>, but suffice it to say: it strives to remove everything "processed" from your life and bring things back to <u>caveman-basics</u>.

As you can well imagine, a hardcore nutrition plan like that would pretty much put the kibosh on most, if not all, pre-workout supplements and energy drinks. Paleo has more or less been adopted as the go-to nutrition plan for CrossFit (which has become massive)...so that left a <b>GAPING </b>hole in the fitness/nutrition world for someone to fill. Lo and behold - FitAID came along.
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<h4><img class="wp-image-568 alignleft" src="http://sothisisfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/IMG_20130812_132656_038-271x300.jpg" alt="FitAid Box Image" width="245" height="271" /> While there are a lot of great things in this drink,</h4>
what I think is just as important is <b>what isn't in it.</b> They say this product is 100% natural and they <b>mean</b> it. Right on the top of the box it lists off several things that DO NOT appear in this product: sucralose, aspartame, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, crystaline fructose, "artificial anything". <b>This makes me very happy, </b>and it should make YOU happy too. Why? <em>Who</em> cares? Well, for one, aspartame - an artificial sweetener - has well-known ill-effects on your health, high fructose corn syrup is just bad news, and the general lack of artificial "anything" is just great.

Think about it - your body has to <i>do something</i> with everything you put into it. If you're putting artificial things into it, your body has to figure out what to do with it - <b>our bodies aren't designed to process artificial things...we force our body to do it. </b>Many of these artificial things we put in our body on a regular basis end up hanging out for a while. Ever hear of someone doing a "detox"? More often than not, they're trying to flush the remnants of these artificial things out. <b>How about we just don't introduce them into our bodies in the first place.</b>

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<h4><b>So let's talk about what IS in FitAID.</b></h4>
<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img class="size-medium wp-image-569 alignright" src="http://sothisisfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/IMG_20130812_133025_495-300x227.jpg" alt="FitAid Box Sidepanel" width="300" height="227" />It's pretty important to understand what exactly is <b>in</b> this drink that's helping to power you through your workout, and helping your recovery after. There's a pretty big range of ingredients in here! There are electrolytes and vitamins (like many other drinks contain), there are lots of amino acids (including L-Glutamine, which is HUGELY important for muscle recovery), and there are other things such as glucosamine, tumeric, CoQ-10, bilberry...some of these aren't things you generally see in a "fitness drink" or a "pre/post workout drink", but they are part of an overall supplementation picture that FitAID is going for.</div>
<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These ingredients support flexibility, joint health, cardiovascular health, balance, provide antioxidants to your body...I've never seen such an all-encompassing range of body-health ingredients in a drink! Check out the label below:</div>
<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-572" src="http://sothisisfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/91YkeZO8FoL._SL1500_-277x300.jpg" alt="FitAid Supplement Facts Label" width="277" height="300" /></div>
<b>Remember how I mentioned there's no </b>aspartame, sucralose, HFCS, etc? <b>So it tastes awful, right?</b> <u>No</u>. It actually tastes really good. <b>How, you ask?</b> It's sweetened with Blue Agave Nectar...just 9 grams of all-natural sweetening in this thing. 45 calories total in the drink. Pretty awesome if you ask me.
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<h4><b>Actual Experience With The Drink Please? </b></h4>
<img class="size-medium wp-image-570 alignright" src="http://sothisisfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/IMG_20130821_115725_432-170x300.jpg" alt="FitAid Poured" width="170" height="300" /><u>Take a look at that drink.</u> That's right after pouring it into the glass. <em>(Yes, you're meant to drink it from the can, I just did it to see the color, carbonation and clarity.)</em> That fizz died down pretty quickly - FitAID is very lightly carbonated to aid with absorption of all the supplements in it. The yellow/orange color is simply a result of the ingredients - there are NO artificial OR natural things added in order to color it. No dyes, no beet juice, no nothing. That's just what color it ended up being.

If you look closely, you'll notice its not crystal clear...it's kind of "cloudy". The company actually talks about this on its site, saying this is because it's so packed with supplements - 2343 mg of supplements and active ingredients, to be exact. They challenge you to ask why other sports performance drinks <b>aren't</b> cloudy (they're implying its because other drinks aren't packed with good stuff, in case you were wondering).
<h4>One of the things FitAID is clear on...</h4>
...is how large an amount of supplements is actually crammed into this little 12 oz can. Most vitamin drinks and sports performance drinks have relatively trace amounts of these things. The levels of concentration in FitAID makes it something you can take before an intense workout and <b>actually feel confident you're getting a boost. </b>This drink was designed by former athletes to power people through CrossFit - if it's good enough for them it's good enough for ANY workout. <b> In case you were worried - </b>there was no sediment in there...while it WAS cloudy, there was nothing floating, no sediment, and nothing separated out...it really was just cloudy because of how saturated with supplements it was. <b> </b>
<h4><b>TASTE?</b></h4>
It's pretty yummy, I have to say. Kind of a faint orange taste, just sweet enough, not too sweet. They really nailed the taste in spite of all the nutrients they crammed in...most other performance drinks I've tasted are either too sweet or too bitter/chalky...I'd drink this for taste on an off-day. Can't say that about other performance drinks.

<img class="size-medium wp-image-566 aligncenter" src="http://sothisisfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/fitaidxfit2-300x125.jpeg" alt="FitAid Promo Image" width="300" height="125" />
<h4><b>So How About The Run You Tried It On?</b></h4>
I was kind of an idiot that day. It was an early afternoon run - I was in an awkward post-breakfast pre-lunch time and I had not eaten enough, mainly because I kept delaying my run being distracted with other things. I also found out about a mile into the run just how dehydrated I was. I felt worn out through my run, had to walk more than usual, and was kind of slow all-around.

<b>FitAID is probably the only reason I finished the run.</b> It was hot, humid, and I was dehydrated and under-nourished...I shouldn't have been able to make it through that. I should have had to walk all the way home. Somehow, I finished. I'm fairly certain that FitAID is the only reason I actually made it. My muscles weren't fatigued (Thanks FitAID) and I had the focus, drive and determination to get it done. My problems were a direct result of being so dehydrated. I had a second FitAID after finishing the run, and I have to say I felt pretty good. After having the second drink and hydrating, it was like the run never happened (in terms of negative effects)...I felt good, great recovery. <b>Chalk up a win for FitAID.</b>
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<img class="size-medium wp-image-565 aligncenter" src="http://sothisisfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/fitaidxfit-300x212.jpg" alt="FitAid Promo Image" width="300" height="212" />
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<h4><b>FitAID During Strength Training?</b></h4>
I used FitAID before my Body Beast Tempo: Chest &amp; Triceps workout. For those who don't know, Body Beast (by Beachbody) is a pretty intense strength training program. Tempo Chest &amp; Tri is all about the tempo with which you do the moves, up and down. You go much slower, which gives a great isolation effect on the muscle you're working and ends up making you feel like you've REALLY hammered on that muscle. Oh, and going so slow on the reps...is <b>hard!</b> I took FitAID instead of my usual pre-workout and let me just say... <b>I Felt Like A Champ.</b> I felt the burn, I powered through the struggle, and it felt <b>great</b>.

To be honest, though, I was a little wary of going without my traditional N.O. boosting stimulant-filled pre-workout...but I felt great with FitAID! There's something to be said for a pre-workout without stimulants...it was a completely different feel to the workout. I wasn't working any harder, I was just deriving my power from somewhere else. It felt more...<b>natural</b>. Like I was more in-tune with my body. That's a great description of how I've felt with my nutrition plan as a whole, so it's nice to experience that in my workout too. I had plenty of gas to get through the workout and the weight I was using didn't suffer for lack of N.O. / Stim-filled pre-workout. I had it after the workout as a recovery drink and y'know what? <b>I'm not sore today. </b>I feel like I worked out, but I'm not sore. <b>Chalk up another win for FitAID.</b>
<h4><b>So...the verdict?</b></h4>
FitAID is great for runs, it's great for strength training...what CAN'T this little drink do? It's loaded up with things your body wants, needs, craves, and even some things it might not know it needs, and there's <b>NOTHING </b>in it that you don't need or shouldn't have. Tastes great, designed to fuel you, and it's not CRAZY expensive. My recommendation? <b>Buy this.</b> No, they didn't pay me to say that. They just sent me a four-pack to try. Pretty brave of them, considering I could've torn it apart and said it was awful. <b>They must be confident in their product</b>. Now I am too.