Electrolyte Replacement
(33 posts) (20 voices)-
Mick
MemberI've seen tennis players take a swig of water and a mouthful of banana between games. IIRC, bananas are high in potassium. I suppose you could take a tiny pinch of seasalt, too.
Basically, I'd have thought skip the drinks and have water and just a little something to eat with it.
Alternatively, Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions has got recipes for a number of lactic-fermented beverages in it:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0967089735/
Those might be worth trying, if you're game for the work of making them. They apparently have plenty of mineral ions in them, and they have lactobacilli, which are good for the gut. She says they were traditional drinks for people doing physical work in several parts of the world, and if that's so I suppose they'll have proved themselves over time.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Coconut water. Just make sure you don't get one with added sugar.
Posted 7 months ago # -
I just get the little packets from the health food store. They store in your purse or pocket and have zero added sugars, etc.
Just open, dump in a bottle of water and voila!
Posted 7 months ago # -
Ultima. Sugar free electrolyte replacement drink.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Endurolytes, by Hammer Nutrition
http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD.ID=4037#info4
the powder form has no sugars of any kind.
Posted 7 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberI was at UF when the original work was being done under contract with the military to find a way to stop heat exhaustion in the troops. The football department was obviously interested. Summer practice in Gainesville is brutal, 95 and 95 temp and RH. That year no player dropped from heat exhaustion, neither in practice or during the season, IIRC. The Gators had a secret weapon.
Gatorade works by a simple principle: Put back into your body what you sweat and urinate out and add some fast sugar carbs for energy.
I used to make a version of Gatorade at home. I reversed engineered the real product by using the calories and mg's of salts to get something really close.....and very, very cheap. a packet of unsweetened Kool-Aid (yeah, yeah), some salt, some salt substitute (for the potassium)and some type of sugar.
You also need a sweetener or some source of quick carbs. Gatorade's biggest ingredient is sucrose, and the second is dextrose. The latter (also known as maltose) delivers its energy much slower than sucrose. You could get some of these slow release results by using brown rice syrup.
Comments on the above post: There is no potassium in table salt, sea or otherwise. Electrolyte packages may or may not be fully effective, depends on your energy needs. You can get all the electrolyte you need from salt and salt substitute. The only metals you need to replace are sodium and potassium.
Posted 7 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberOTOH http://www.snopes.com/food/origins/gatorade.asp and virtually every other site I found about the history.
Not saying that there wasn't precedent at FSU - although no self respecting Gator will ever admit to it. But even before Gatorade everyone knew to use a lot of salt at meals or take salt pills when you sweat a lot. Very few scientific advances are 100% original.
Maybe the origins at UF have become the stuff of legend, who knows? Dr. Cades died about a year ago, BTW.
Posted 7 months ago # -
CaveGirl
MemberI would go with VitaCoco. Its pure coconut water (nothing added) and it has more electrolytes and much more potassium than most commercial sports drinks. Plus its yummy (and I guess can be considered primal if Grok was in a tropical area with access to coconuts, it makes sense if he ate the meat/oil that he wouldn't just throw out the liquid inside.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Gatorade is a croc, personally I wouldnt touch it with a barge pole. ingredients listed, table salt. table salt? the one thats been stripped of any nutritional value? hfcs? huh, I get it, its CARBOHYDRATE replacement for those brain washed, arm chair sports people to sedate them further.
"water, sugar, table salt, carbohydrates, electrolytes (110 mg sodium, 30 mg potassium, 93 mg chloride), high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, glucose, fructose, and sugar.
Gatorade was designed to keep athletes hydrated during competition. The "unique blend of fluid, electrolytes, and carbohydrates" creates a drink that hydrates better than water during times of active workouts.Because of the amount of carbohydrates in Gatorade, over consumption can cause obesity."Posted 7 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberTo move from conjecture to fact, coconut water is water comes from immature coconuts. (Coconut milk is the result of hot water and mature coconuts. Two very different products.) To this day, a Grok descendant whacks the top of the "nut" off, or punches a hole in an "eye" and drinks.
It's carbs, 1/3 fiber and 2/3 sugars. a bit of fats, surprisingly good proteins, and very good potassium. About 18 times that found in Gatorade.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3115/2
I don't think the brand matters, it shouldn't. I guess you could be on the lookout for preservatives or something.
And BTW, if one does go the Gatorade route, use the powdered. The liquid uses HFCS first, and sucrose second. The powder of course has no HFCS and also has slower release dextrose.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Get Primal
MemberMy athletic background is as an ultrarunner. The best way to maintain electrolyte balance (IMHO) is with water and Succeed caps (http://www.succeedscaps.com/main_scaps.html). Succeed are specially formulated electrolyte capsules that provide the correct amounts of sodium, potassium and other electrolytes. The website has great information about how much to take, etc. Any commercial drink with enough sodium to make any significat difference isn't going to be pallatable.
Unless you're running for hours you don't need calories during exercise...no matter what the drink companies tell you. When it comes to being primal, nothing beats water and pure electrolytes.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Cayenne
MemberThank you all ! "Get Primal", I am definitely going to follow-up with Succeed caps. It sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, (even though I thought I wanted to create something homemade,) and I completely agree with you that, " Unless you're running for hours you don't need calories during exercise...no matter what the drink companies tell you. When it comes to being primal, nothing beats water and pure electrolytes."
Posted 7 months ago # -
I found an electrolyte homemade drink on a health food site some years ago and I use it here in our very hot and humid climate (where we sweat a lot!!!) It works for me. Juice of half a lemon and a small teaspoon of sea salt in a glass of water. I put a little bit of hot water in with the salt and let it dissolve and then add cold water and the lemon juice. Very cheap too as we grow our own organic lemons.
HTH
MarloePosted 6 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberMarloe, I hate to tell you, but there is nothing in that recipe that old fashioned, not so effective, salt pills do. It is devoid of potassium, which is the other macromineral lost by sweat.
I "reverse engineered" Gatorade once to arrive at the amount of salt and salt substitute to use to make my own. I used unsweetened Koo-Aid for the flavoring, and if I felt like it, some honey. Sorry, I don't have the recipe any more.
Actually, just normal sweating in a hot clime (me, too) doesn't require electrolyte replacement. A decent diet gives you all the sodium and potassium that you need. In fact, you probably get way more sodium than you need, you just need potassium.
It's only under severe heat and exercise load does something like Gatorade starts to be effective. Think UF Gators. If you aren't sweating like they do during practice or a game at this time of year, you do not need electrolytes.
Worst case, salt up (sodium)and salt substitute(potassium) your food.
Posted 6 months ago # -
My 14-year-old son just joined the cross-country running team, and his coach recommended drinking diluted Gatorade. My husband bought him some - the only useful things in it are sugar (but it's HFCS), sodium, and potassium. The rest is crap. We will not be buying it again. My local food co-op carries a product called Recharge, which is a health-food Gatorade alternative; it contains water, fruit juice concentrates, and salt. It has more potassium than Gatorade does, without any potassium on the ingredient list. I checked some bottles of plain fruit juice, and they all contained potassium. From what I learned from reading labels, I think that some fruit juice diluted with water and a tiny pinch of salt would give you all the sugar, potassium, and salt you would need.
Posted 6 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberI think you are on the right track, Annika. Yes, Gatorade is truly crap. The powdered version just subs fructose for the liquid HFCS.
When I was drinking juices - and yes, I do miss them - I always diluted my grapefruit juice about 1:1 or even more. It was much more refreshing.
So why not a nice plum or banana and water?
Posted 6 months ago # -
Water and a whole piece of fruit would be even better in my opinion - unless you are still running. A few swigs of diluted juice takes a few seconds to drink, while fruit takes a couple of minutes, and might not be as easy on the tummy if you are still pushing yourself really hard. I'm not athlete, so I'm just guessing!
Posted 6 months ago # -
jostle
MemberPickle Juice, the left over juice in the pickle jar, is the best homemade sport drink to replenish your electrolytes without the sugar. A small swig from the jar has always worked for me in the past to relieve/prevent cramping. The only time I get around to drinking it now is long endurance rides.
Posted 6 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberPG, Grok only drank water (and some blood and things...) but look how bad the economy was. No jobs, everyone scavenging for what they could eat.
But today, well, thanks to Corporate America convincing wannabe athletes that they need all kinds of thing from expensive shoes to electrolytes, our economy is booming.
Oh, wait.........
Posted 6 months ago # -
DO THIS: throw a pinch of natural salt into your water. it has all the electrolytes you need.
electrolytes are important, if you sweat for more than an hour you should replace them. it shouldn't matter if you're not sweating heavily or you're exercising for less than an hour. electrolyte include sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate.
Posted 6 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberSam, salt, even your much vaunted natural salt, does not have potassium in it and it is the other half of the big two of electrolytes. Chlorides are just tag along molecular parts, they are not electrolytes, and bicarbonate of soda (presuming), NaHCO3, is just sodium again. The hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen do nothing. It is not an electrolyte and no different than table salt, it just supples sodium.
Posted 6 months ago # -
OTB, thanks for the sass. Natural salts DO in fact contain potassium. I appreciate your more biological discussion though, it's true that I do not understand the mechanisms by which electrolytes work and am just relaying information from trustworthy sources.
Posted 6 months ago #
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