What does your body really need after a workout? Robin Shobin, founder of Charlotte’s Book, couldn’t find something that was hydrating, low in sugar, and high in electrolytes, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. Working with a team of experts and advisors that included dermatologist Dr. Whitney Bowe, integrative medicine doctor Amy Shah and dietician Keri Glassman, Shobin created HALO Sport. Made with a powerful combination of electrolytes, trace minerals, and antioxidants, this drink replenishes the body post-workout without the added sugar and calories. We asked Shobin to tell us more about her new wellness venture...

Let’s start with the basics, tell us what HALO Sport is...

HALO Sport is a certified organic hydration beverage specifically engineered for today’s wellness warrior. It’s filled with electrolytes, over 70 trace minerals, and antioxidants. Each bottle has only 10 calories and 2 grams of natural sugar. It also tastes awesome.

It starts with a base of organic lemon juice (something I drink everyday because the experts on Charlotte’s Book tell me to!) and then we add natural sea salt, trace minerals that we source from the Great Salt Lake of Utah and electrolytes. Plus, we use the extract of Amla Berry so each bottle also has antioxidant properties.

How did you come up with the idea to create a hydration drink?

The community on Charlotte’s Book are interested in anti-aging, looking their best and working out. Together we realised that despite all the products out there, there wasn’t a hydration drink that was low in sugar, organic, low calorie, and had a full suite of functional benefits.

A delicious berry smoothie sounds healthy — it’s filled with antioxidants, but it’s also filled with sugar. So is coconut water. There is no added sugar, but it’s still sugar and a lot of calories. After a workout, I really didn’t see any option out there. And I was being exposed to all the new product launches, yet still didn’t see anything that filled this gap that I wanted to drink every day. What drink can you reach for after a sweat session that has a serious level of electrolytes, minerals, and antioxidants without all the sugar?

I decided to do something about it!

Why is it important to replenish after a sweat session?

Simply, electrolytes are salts. Once they are in your body they dissolve into negative and positive charges. These charges have two main functions: regulating the flow of water in and out of cells, and sparking nerve impulses.

When you workout, you deplete your body of electrolytes through sweat. So, it’s important to replenish them to regulate blood pressure, breathing and cell hydration.

Can you get this from water? Yes, but it would take a while. And whilst we still advocate heavily for your 8 daily glasses, HALO Sport will hydrate and replenish your lost electrolytes in the most efficient way possible. Plus, you won’t get the level of magnesium and minerals and the antioxidant value in a glass of water.

What are the common mistakes people tend to make when trying to recover from a workout?

What I find is that today’s modern wellness warrior often reaches for a coconut water to hydrate after a workout when they are looking for something “more than water” to hydrate with. Personally, coconut water just has so many calories and sugar, it’s pretty much negating my workout. I do drink it now and then, but not as an everyday hydration beverage for me because of the calories and sugar.

What ingredients stand out? Why did you incorporate these?

The ingredient profile was built leveraging all the learnings and insights gleaned over the years from Charlotte’s Book. Every nutritionist and health expert I speak to starts their day with lemon water (as do I). So that’s why I decided to use that as the base of the drink. We then add in our bespoke formula of electrolytes where I made sure we included magnesium which is considered a ‘miracle mineral.’

I also learned that 90% of the US population is mineral deficient so we now start with purified water and re-mineralise with 72 trace minerals, to help people address this deficiency in an easy way. Our antioxidant blend includes vitamins A, C and E but also Amla Berry, a powerful superfood dating back to ancient Indian ayurvedic rituals and is 75x more powerful than a pomegranate. Between the trace minerals, electrolytes, and the Amla berry, there is nothing like HALO Sport on the market.

When you’re telling someone new about Halo Sport, what are they most surprised to learn about it?

In my experience, when people taste how good it is, they’re always surprised to learn that it has only 10 calories and only 2g of sugar for the whole bottle. We are also the only sports drink on the market that has over 70 trace minerals. I challenge everyone I know to drink one everyday for a month. You will actually feel better.