I’m not eating and I need to keep my electrolytes up. I’ve been trying different drinks and there pretty much all awful. The best I’ve had so far is pineapple coconut water. The worst is Powerade Zero fruit punch.
It seems like whatever stuff they put in there in these drinks is the problem because many of them have this horrible bitter taste they try to hide with flavoring.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
And yes, I know Brawndo has electrolytes. Very droll.
I am going to second making your own. Most electrolyte solutions are only sodium chloride, potassium chloride and sugar.
Morton’s makes a thing that is literally this without the sugar. It’s called “lite salt”. https://www.mortonsalt.com/article/morton-lite-salt-mixture-nutritional-facts/
Any “lite salt” should do the trick. You will also need a multivitamin/multimineral as well but if you are just looking for an “electrolyte” replacement drink… It’s just lite salt, water and sugar. If you want to get fancy you can add magnesium and calcium.
Is it salty? Yes. It’s salt. Electrolytes are salts.
How do I make it not salty? Add sugar.
Why are the things like propel bitter? Fake sugar + salt tastes bitter to some people. Most Gatorade/propel blends also need to be low cal so they use fake sugars. Gatorade originally had like 60grams of sugar in a bottle. That doesn’t sell well anymore. You, however can go nuts and use as much sugar as you like.
Is there electrolytes that don’t taste salty? No. They are salt.
What other options do I have? Pills. But if you aren’t eating you might not absorb them well.
Edit: after reading some other posts I am going to add the following.
Gatorade is potassium and sodium salt + sugars, artificial sweetener and flavors. You can check the nutritional facts. It only provides sodium and potassium… No calcium or magnesium. Gatorade is literally “lite salt” plus sugar, flavorings, artificial sugar and water.
Monk fruit, stevia and the like all have bitter aftertastes.
Personally my favorite artificial sweetener is erythritol. Incidentally it is the only artificial sweetener that doesn’t cause an insulin response. Monster zero energy drinks are sweetened with it for a flavor profile.
Morton’s lite salt contains magnesium carbonate, which is an over the counter laxative. I tried using lite salt in lemonade as a sports drink while exercising in really hot weather and the results were… explosive.
Interesting. I wonder how much you used? I can imagine that a 1/4 tsp of the salt has enough magnesium carbonate to be effective… But I don’t know how much is in it (otherwise it should be on the label since magnesium does have an rda)
Quite a lot. I was road biking long distances in the summer in the American southeast and replaced all of my table salt with lite salt thinking it would help with recovery. It was 3-4tsp per day, about half in food and half in lemonade. The drink would set me running for the can.
Potassium citrate mixed that with table salt for a recovery drink wound up working really well instead. Based on that, I assumed it was one of the other minerals from the lite salt that was setting me off. Magnesium being the most likely suspect.
Brawndo of course.
Just get Pedialyte or Liquid IV packets. They work wonders for me.
For the Pedialyte, pour a third of the bottle into about a liter and you’ll get more out of it.
For Liquid IV, a half packet into a liter of water is probably enough to not be overwhelmed by flavor. But you can use more or less depending on your taste.
Not a doctor or a medical practitioner, but I’m not in favour of sports-drink from Prime, Gatorade and G-Fuel, owing to their unhealthy amount of sugar and caffeine, and would prefer the ORS electrolyte.
Tender coconut is pretty good, but you can also try overnight-soaked basil seed with raisins. Add sugar as per your serving, but raisins will provide you with sweetness anyway.
Another good recommendation is pomegranate juice or banana smoothie. You can also not go wrong with custard-apple milk shake, but it might be a little tiring to de-seed them.
Coconut water, definitely. I like the kind with turmeric and ginger in it.
If someone is very dehydrated though, you want oral rehydration solution, which everyone with a kitchen should know how to make:
- 1 liter (quart) of clean water
- 70 grams (6 tablespoons) of white sugar¹
- 3 grams (½ teaspoon) of table salt
If you have them, also add some other electrolytes (or have the dehydrated person eat a banana, which contains potassium bicarbonate):
- 2½ grams (¼ teaspoon) of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
- 2½ grams (¼ teaspoon) of potassium chloride (sodium-free “salt substitute”)
¹ This is what the official recipes say, but it’s probably okay to cut it in half if the dehydrated person doesn’t also need the calories.
I’m not a nutritionist by any means, but I was under the impression that coconut water is a mild laxative. Not sure if that’s the case with commercial products though.
I see your posts around quite a bit. Sorry to hear you’re going thru this.
Gatorade used to be made with pickle juice.I like to cut the brine from lacto-fermented pickles into water, 1 part brine to 3 parts water. Plus there’s natural probiotic yeasts in there and extracts from the vegetables. Lots of salt, but that’s probably not the top of your concerns right now.Take care!
Gatorade was made with pickle juice? Really?
And thanks.
Oops, evidently not. I’m repeating some bad info. Still, there have been studies that pickle juice does help with dehydration. Plus it’s yummy.
Happy to see someone else posted pickle juice. But I prefer pickle juice straight from the jar.
I buy boulder salt and add it to water with mio-type flavorings. Boulder Salt Electrolyte Powder and Hydration Pack | Oral Rehydration | Natural Alkaline Salt for Energy and Stamina | No Sugar | 8oz Bag | 113 Servings https://a.co/d/eNwrtPS
Isn’t it salty though?
Not bad. It’s only a small amount.
Now, admittedly I was born and raised in Florida, but Gatorade yellow, orange, and red have simply never been improved upon.
The old ones in glass bottles… talk about god’s nectar. On a hot day as kid nothing beat it.
You could just feel the electrolytes being replenished, LOL. Plastic bottles are still fine, but it’s not quite the same.
Pokari Sweat.
I survived on that stuff when I did a one week Kebdo training camp in Japan. It’s fantastic!
There’s this like knockoff Pedialyte brand called electrolit I really like some of the lighter flavors of. Coconut, think there’s a cucumber lime etc. There’s a cucumber lime Gatorade that seems to very im availability depending on where you live that I really like too.
I read your previous post. This sounds like hell. I’m sorry you’re going through this awful shit.
L-Glutamine can actually help treat H. Pylori over a six week period. It’s pretty inexpensive, and it would be a good test while you wait. Take 5 grams twice daily mixed into whatever liquids you can manage to get into your system.
If it doesn’t help the problem, then there’s at least a reasonably good chance that H. Pylori isn’t the culprit. I hope that you obtain relief very soon.
Tbh I made my own as a means of adding extra Potassium to my diet. i.e potassium bicarbonate, citric acid and my flavoring of choice (one was cherry and the other was mango)
Powerade is like the discount Gatorade.
When I was abroad, my favorite was BodyArmor
BlackoutMixed Berry (apparently they’re discontinued).Gatorade Lemon Ice.
Pretty sure they don’t make it anymore. Unless it was discontinued and then recontinued.
I last bought it ~25 years ago…
Pickle juice for the win…
