Electrolytes / gatorade

[RockDoc]

There are so many better options now than 1970's era "liquid candy" Gatorade that's full of sugar (34 grams per serving, that's more than an ounce of sugar!). Yes, there's sodium and potassium, but no magnesium which is quite important for muscle contraction (avoiding cramps) and is often lacking in hiker diets.

Be careful because Gatorade will rot your teeth like nothing else.

So we use S-caps, developed for ultra runners. We have found them to quickly relieve cramps during long hard endurance events.

We also use Tru-hydrate powder in our flasks in hot weather, and Mg complex powder by Gobiotix. Both have a pleasing flavor.

[maremieisen]

Actual ingredients list and Nutrition Facts of the Gatorade orange powder I recently purchased.

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Ingredients: Sugar, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Monopotassium Phosphate, Modified Food Starch, Calcium Silicate, Natural Flavor, Yellow 6

Nutrition Facts: Serving size, "about 12 fl oz"; Calories, 80; sugars, 21 g; sodium 150 mg; potassium 50 mg

If we convert that to litres, then it's: 222 Kcal/litre, 58 g sugars per litre, 417.5 mg sodium per litre; 139.17 mg potassium per litre

I can't say what the recommended electrolyte replacement rate might be for your body and your hike, but I can say that sugar is an essential nutrient for physical exertion, so the mere fact that Gatorade or any other product contains sugar is not a disqualification.

[Slugg]

Lately I’ve been trying Tailwind Endurance Fuel and I’ve been liking it, especially during these dog days. Been drinking more and more of it which also has the benefit of needing to eat less solid food and just simplifying things. I like the Recovery Mix too.

https://tailwindnutrition.com/

[One Half]

Actual ingredients list and Nutrition Facts of the Gatorade orange powder I recently purchased.

81MKw8OinEL._SL1500_.jpg

Ingredients: Sugar, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Monopotassium Phosphate, Modified Food Starch, Calcium Silicate, Natural Flavor, Yellow 6

Nutrition Facts: Serving size, "about 12 fl oz"; Calories, 80; sugars, 21 g; sodium 150 mg; potassium 50 mg

If we convert that to litres, then it's: 222 Kcal/litre, 58 g sugars per litre, 417.5 mg sodium per litre; 139.17 mg potassium per litre

I can't say what the recommended electrolyte replacement rate might be for your body and your hike, but I can say that sugar is an essential nutrient for physical exertion, so the mere fact that Gatorade or any other product contains sugar is not a disqualification.

This is SO ENTIRELY WRONG.

[Tipi Walter]

I went on a Nuun jag for several years--used only for backpacking of course---and had to give them up because of the high salt content. I get too much salt in my diet as it is. But they sure quench thirst cuz they fizz!! "But it has electrolytes!!!" as they say in Idiocracy.

My current thirst quencher is this---

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Throw a large tablet in 16 ozs of cold mt spring water and wait for it to dissolve.

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Another option is to brew up wild edible tea and add copious honey and let cool---great thirst quencher. In this case it's a wad of wild picked nettle.

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Regular herbals teas also work great esp when cold.

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Other ideas and jags I went on over the years.

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At the beginning of a trip you can even carry some weight like these items---and scarf them down as you move.

[CalebJ]

This is SO ENTIRELY WRONG.

Not sugar specifically, but you're certainly using up glycogen during hard exercise. Adding carbohydrates to begin replenishing that is standard stuff.

[HankIV]

If you don’t eat sugar you’re gonna die….also if you do.

[One Half]

Not sugar specifically, but you're certainly using up glycogen during hard exercise. Adding carbohydrates to begin replenishing that is standard stuff.

I eat very little carbs. My body likes to burn fat. When you work in your aerobic zone, your body will burn fat. If you go anaerobic you will use glucose until you bonk. There is no such thing as an essential carb.

If you don’t eat sugar you’re gonna die….also if you do.

Truth We will all die. Just some of us aren't going to die from chronic disease like diabetes.

[CalebJ]

I'm generally in the same camp of reducing carbs in place of fats. But you'll have a very tough time convincing those who study nutrition as their life's work that carbohydrates on some level aren't essential, especially at higher exertion levels.

[RockDoc]

The body can make all the glucose you need without eating any carbs. There is no dietary requirement for carbohydrates (or humans never would have survived the Ice Age). Our species actually thrived prior to the advent of agriculture, and then we got shorter and our brains got smaller when grains entered our diet. As for performance, research shows that it depends on what you are adapted to, and there are benefits to be adapted to burning fat rather than sugar. Read Prof Tim Noakes, A-rated scientist, author of Lore of Running. He explains more clearly than most (and he studies nutrition as his life's work)...

[gpburdelljr]

How to eat healthy.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ua-WVg1SsA

[maremieisen]

The body can make all the glucose you need without eating any carbs. There is no dietary requirement for carbohydrates (or humans never would have survived the Ice Age).

You know, back when I was in university, even in high school, if you didn't believe in Science, it was just called "failing".

[maremieisen]

This is SO ENTIRELY WRONG.

Does this forum have a "Block" function? Because this is the kind of thing that deserves being blocked.

[One Half]

Does this forum have a "Block" function? Because this is the kind of thing that deserves being blocked.

Really?

I bolded this section of the comment: but I can say that sugar is an essential nutrient for physical exertionI

I took the commenter to mean that the CONSUMPTION of SUGAR/CARBS was essential for physical exertion. It absolutely is NOT. There are essential amino acids and essential fatty acids. Our bodies have the ability to create all the glucose (sugar) we need. No such thing as an essential carb. Now, I'm a big fan of vegetables. But to state they (carbs) are necessary for proper physiological functions is just scientifically inaccurate.