Electrolyte Replacement

[Goonky]

I typically hike with powdered gatorade, as I find water and food alone is not enough. I need some type of electrolyte replacement.

I find the gatorade powder a little heavy.

I was looking at something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Emergen-C-Supe.../dp/B00016RL9G

Just wondering what other people use as an electrolyte replacement.

[Mobius]

I've seen Succeed S! Caps recommended by many ultra runners. No vitamins but a lot more sodium. It'll depend on what you think you need.

[Venchka]

Back in the day, many sports nutritionists suggested diluting Gatorade in a bottle 1:1 with plain water. The same worked for powdered Gatorade, 2 water to 1 powder. Your Gatorade just lost half it's weight.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Slo-go'en]

I use Propel, but their current selection of flavors isn't much to my liking.

[MuddyWaters]

I use sqwincher Kwik stick lites. They add a bit of salts, and a bit of flavor to water, at 0.1 oz each. Plus, they taste decent.
To buy a variety I have to find someone on ebay that puts together varieties and sells them. Who needs 200 of one flaveor?

[Sheriff Cougar]

I typically hike with powdered gatorade, as I find water and food alone is not enough. I need some type of electrolyte replacement.

I find the gatorade powder a little heavy.

I was looking at something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Emergen-C-Supe.../dp/B00016RL9G

Just wondering what other people use as an electrolyte replacement.

Here is a home recipe. The 'lite' salt is important because it is pure potassium. Not sure how much it weighs.

1 Kool-Aid packet
1/4 tsp Morton Lite salt
1/4 tsp sea salt
heaping 1/2 cup sugar
2 quarts water

Throw it all together and stir. Chill it and prepare to guzzle it down when you're sweating a ton from sports or working outside on a hot day.

[OCDave]

The original Lemon-Lime Gatorade - nothing else compares. For me, it is worth the weight. I love the taste, I love the color. Placebo or real? It keeps me hiking.

[ScareBear]

I am surprised that nobody recognizes that the ingredients in the original AlkaSeltzer(the one without aspirin) are identical to commercial(and expensive) rehydration salts. Try some AlkaSeltzer on the trail. Two per day ought to do it...

[daddytwosticks]

Powdered blue Gatoraid while hiking. Diluted like explained above. That plus all the salty crap food you usually take on a hike. I love my Fritoes corn chips!

[pipsissewa]

I am surprised that nobody recognizes that the ingredients in the original AlkaSeltzer(the one without aspirin) are identical to commercial(and expensive) rehydration salts. Try some AlkaSeltzer on the trail. Two per day ought to do it...

Interesting. What you're referring to is called "Alka-Seltzer Heartburn". "Alka-Seltzer Original" contains aspirin. See the ingredient list for Alka-Seltzer Original:

Alka-Seltzer Original.jpg


Here's the ingredient info on "Alka-Seltzer Heartburn" (citric acid, baking soda, potassium, magnesium and sweeteners):

Alka-Seltzer heartburn.jpg

Thanks for the idea; I never would have thought of that. I might be more inclined to try Sheriff Cougar's recipe because of the various Kool-Ade flavors and the real sugar (for energy).

[ocasey3]

I use a product called NUUN. Comes in tablet form and kinda works like Alka-Seltzer. Some flavors are better than others but we like that the taste isn't too strong and that there is no sugar.

[Starchild]

I have used powdered Pedialyte on occasion and keep some in my first aid kit, most 'normal' flavors are pretty good and when you need it it works fantastic. Smaller and lighter then the sports drink mix and with more electrolytes as it is a 'pediatric electrolyte medicine' not a 'sports drink'. It is also more expensive.

[colorado_rob]

Powdered blue Gatoraid while hiking. Diluted like explained above. That plus all the salty crap food you usually take on a hike. I love my Fritoes corn chips!

This, exactly. Don't forget that the "weight" in Gatorade powder is sugar and most importantly calories, about 100 per ounce, no heavier than your other sugar-based energy snacks. I also use that Nuun product occasionally, though some of the flavors reek...

[soulrebel]

electolyte tab of choice plus potato chips...

[Malto]

This, exactly. Don't forget that the "weight" in Gatorade powder is sugar and most importantly calories, about 100 per ounce, no heavier than your other sugar-based energy snacks. I also use that Nuun product occasionally, though some of the flavors reek...

Thank you, I was waiting for someone to point this out.

In point three of the post below you will find a recipe for electrolytes that mimic some VERY high priced electrolyte products. I both mix this in with my Malto mix and fill capsules. This allows me to tailor the dosage and not overdo or underdo electrolytes in the process of fueling.
http://postholer.com/journal/viewJou...entry_id=19697

[bigcranky]

I take the Gatorade recovery packets, usually the "light" version which has both sugar and some sort of low-cal sweetener. They supposedly make 16 oz of drink, but I dilute it to make 32 oz and it seems to work pretty well. In particular, I notice that I don't get leg cramps at night when I drink this at the end of the day.

[peakbagger]

I carry the Nuun. I find that the flavor isn't overwhelming and I can drink a lot more over the course of a day in place of sugar containing drinks. Nuun seems to be quickly absorbed and can really cut down on leg cramps.

I also occasionally mix up some home made electrolyte mix per the prior recipes.

Please note Morton Lite Salt isn't pure potassium chloride, its a 50/50 blend with regular salt, (sodium chloride).

[Papa Al]

A newbie at this hiking thing I have plenty of year experience under this old and long belt ultra running on trails, that being sad I would strongly recommend succeed E caps.

[Odd Man Out]

I too was going to point out that the weight is all sugar, which is not a bad thing. I would not want to use a low calorie electrolyte solutions that uses artificial sweeteners. In addition to the calories you need anyway, re-hydration mixes include sugar because this is important for the electrolyte uptake. Specifically, these use glucose (aka dextrose). The sugar you buy in the store is really sucrose. If you wanted to make hydration mix with glucose, you can get it at store that sell beer making supplies (sold there as corn sugar). I see that Gatorade Powder is sweetened with a mixture of sugar (aka sucrose) and glucose. Emergen-C is sweetened with fructose. This allows it to be lower calorie because fructose is almost twice as sweet as sucrose, so you can use less and have the same sweetness. I do not know how fructose or sucrose would function as a replacement for glucose in hydration salts. Although glucose, sucrose, and fructose are different in terms of sweetness, they all have about the same number of calories per gram. You could make a lower weight/lower calorie version of the home made recipe above that uses Kool-Aid by using fructose (half the amount) instead of sugar. You can usually find fructose in the grocery store along with the other sweeteners. BTW, glucose is a little less sweet than sucrose so you need a bit more of it to give the same taste. Many soft drinks are sweetened with HFCS or high fructose corn syrup. Here they use corn sugar (glucose) and convert some of it to fructose. They blend the two get a mix that has a calorie and sweetness level that is similar to sucrose. One last sugar term you might see is invert sugar. This is a 50/50 mixture of glucose and fructose. It is made by splitting sucrose (which is a disaccharide made from one glucose and one fructose).

[flemdawg1]

Go to Kroger and get the store brand Hydration drink mix.