Orbana Healthy Energy Drink

A lovely lady called Annabel Lee at a new start-up sports nutrition venture called Orbana very kindly sent me some samples of their new energy drink to try out. Many of my followers will know that I am not one to get enthused by commercial sports nutrition products, all of which seem to claim that their product will be your answer to improved performance/recovery because of its unique blend of carbohydrate, minerals, protein etc etc. I find that most of these drinks and gels wither play havoc with my stomach or make me gag. They also tend to leave a sweet and sickly artificial taste in your mouth. I am much happier with the home made variety – you know exactly what is in it and it usually tastes better. Lots of recipes in my book, Go Faster Food for these…

Sometimes there is no alternative to a commercial drink – Why is that?

1. It’s what’s on offer during races and it is always advisable to train using what you are going to be drinking during the race. I remember learning that lesson at my first ever marathon – New York – drinking for the first time some kind of green concoction provided at the drnks stations (Gatorade, I think)…..well, needless to say that my stomach said “no way mate!” and over 5 minutes were wasted sitting on portaloos along the course!! Not nice. No, not at all nice.
2. There is a limit to the amount of carbohydrate your body can store, so you will need to keep your carbohydrate stores  topped up during any endurance over about 90 minutes, no matter how well you have carbo-loaded beforehand. Your body will also work better with a steady intake of important vitamins, minerals, electrolytes etc to prevent a decrease in performance, fatigue and cramping. Commercial products claim to contain what we need in right proportion.
3. It is sometimes just simply more convenient to use something pre-prepared – for training at work or when you are travelling, for instance.

So what did I think of Orbana, healthy energy?

In a nutshell – IT’s LOVELY and IT WORKS!!!

Handy little bottle

First of all, it is very different to any other sports drink I have come across. It comes in a little bottle containing just powder to which you then add water. This keeps the ingredients fresh – the vitamins and amino acids lose their potency over time. This bottle is easy to run with if you have small hands and of course, very light if you are travelling with it. You can also buy Orbana as a powder and then add it to your own sports bottle – it is more economical to buy it in this way and I will probably take this option to use for my marathon training.

Sports drink, energy drink, hydration drink, recovery drink and fruit drink all-in-one

A true “superdrink” then! Take a look at what is in it – http://www.orbana.com/inside.html – Orbana is packed with energy, B vitamins, antioxidants, branched-chain amino acids, minerals and electrolytes….and per 100ml contains 9.3g complex carbohydrate and 5.4g simple sugars, which is more than leading brands of more sickly-tasting sports drinks.

It is difficult to tell without trialling the drink for weeks, but the couple of long runs I have done with this drink have been really good ones! No fatigue, feeling light on my feet, finishing as strong as when I started.

It tastes nice!!!!

I have to admit that it tastes really quite pleasant – a nice citrus flavour, clean and fresh with a bit of a tang and certainly not too sweet. What I like about Orbana is that you can get your fix of nutrients and then top your hydration requirement with plain water.

Sustained energy release – helps delay fatigue for up to 2 hours.

Really high in complex carbohydrates, Orbana gives you a steady release of energy without the spike or crash that you can get with other very high Glycaemic Index drinks and gels. Yet it still contains some simple sugars to top up depleting glycogen stores quickly during a long endurance session/race.

No bloated feeling and no loo stops…

Luckily Orbana has not give me the usual violent reaction that other drinks can give me….

And….it’s good for you!

Orbana has no artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colours or caffeine and is drug, stimulant and contaminant free.

I will definitely be using  Orbana again.