Two of My Favorite Things

For the last few years I have been doing research on sport companies with a social conscience or mission.  I want to put my money into companies that stand for something, whether it is making a smaller environmental footprint, sourcing natural ingredients, using safe and fair labour practices, or helping to clear landmines in formerly war torn areas of the world.  It has become more and more important to me to put my dollars into companies that are trying hard to make a positive global impact.

As well, throughout 2017 I was testing out a variety of nutrition products to use during my training for the Chicago Marathon.  I found that it became increasingly important to me to know exactly what I was putting into my body.  I want to be able to pronounce the things I eat.  My search brought me to two products in particular.  Endurance Tap Energy Gels and nuun Hydration.  My love for these products led me to their ambassador programs and I have been helping to promote them ever since, and not for the discount but because they are truly amazing companies and products.  As I elaborate please understand that much of the information comes from their websites but the opinions are my own and I am writing this because I want to (there is no obligation from either company).

nuun Hydration

No!  I didn’t miss the capital.  That’s the way they write it.  This is a company who’s principles are as important as the product they make.  They believe in a clean product, a clean planet and a clean sport.  

Let’s start with the clean product.  It is an electrolyte drink that is vegan, gluten, soy and dairy free.  It uses non-GMO sourced dextrose and contains less than 1% sugar and it has a light flavor and very little colour.  I am pretty sure that the colours and flavors are not artificial but I could not find any info on their site about that specifically. The taste is light and delicious and there is a fun effervescence to help with the absorption of the electolytes. 

As for the clean planet they source and package to minimize their carbon footprint and only source sustainable ingredients.  They aggressively promote the use of reusable water bottles and often give away a free nuun bottle with the purchase of three containers of nuun at race expos.  In fact I just signed the nuun Hydration Clean-Planet 30-Day Challenge Pledge which is my promise to only use a refillable water bottle for 30 days.  This was a no-brainier for me because that is all I ever use but it shows the companies commitment to making a difference.  

In regards to Clean Sport, the pro athlete that represents nuun is Kara Goucher who is well known in the running world for her amazing talent and her desire to clean up the sport of running.

You can buy nuun hydration in a few stores like Sportchek but if you follow my Instagram account @dreruns I post friends and family discounts whenever they are dropped by the company that you can use on the website (USA www.nuunlife.com  or Canada www.nuuncanada.com)

Endurance Tap Energy Gels

This is a Canadian company in the truest sense of the word.  Each pouch of Endurance Tap delivers 100 calories of the highest quality nutrition for endurance athletes with just three simple ingredients: Canadian maple syrup, sea salt and ginger. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t, it’s real food. 

The added salt brings the levels up to the same amount of sodium found in other gels on the market and the ginger aids in digestion.  I have tried so many other products.  Some are too thick to swallow, some leave a bad taste for miles after, some make your stomach feel bad, and some have all of these problems.  With Endurance Tap I actually look forward to cracking the seal and sucking it back.  It is so delicious!!!!  Some mornings I can’t wait to get my long run started just so I can have some Tap.  It is that good.  Seriously!

If you would like to try it for yourself you can find it at some health food stores and Mountain Equipment Coop or you can use my 20% discount code TapThatRun on their website(www.endurancetap.com)

So there they are; two of my favorite nutrition products.  Next time I will write about some of the gear that I love, from companies with a heart.  Stay tuned.