from the bottle in front of me, “…scientifically formulated to replace more of what you lose when you sweat. By providing fluids and electrolytes to promote complete rehydration and carbs to refule working muscles.”
from the nutrition facts on the lable… Sodium 110mg 5% daily value, Potassium 30mg 1% daily value, total carbohydrates 14g 5% daily value
carbs from sugar of course, so for electrolytes we have enough salt, but other then that just a tiny bit of potassium.
Just cause it’s simple doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. I can’t speak to endurance events, but I can tell you that Gatorade is an absolutely wonderful treatment for hangovers.
Why? Because it has some sugar, some salt and a tiny amount of potassium? Doesnt sound like much of a hangover cure. Sounds like your better off Drinking a lot of water and eating a banana.
I think it’s mainly a sham, with just a hint of truth added. It is just mainly a sugar drink. If you need electrolytes that badly then use pedilyte, much more salts and much less sugar.
Yes, you could get the same end result by drinking diluted orange juice and a banana with a pinch of salt. But that might not be convenient to carry around, and a salted banana sounds gross. The potassium is important - just ask your heart.
If you goof on the side of making your own home-made rehydration drink too strong, you can do all sorts of fun things like spike your insulin levels, leading to a sugar crash soon after or cause cramps.
Few of us become so depleted during exercise that we need to replenish electrolytes before our next meal. For those who do, like professional athletes, or those sick with diarrhea or vommiting, where solids won’t stay in, or for little babies and kids who don’t have much in reserve and dehydrate amazingly quickly, rehydration drinks are useful. WebMD has a decent recipe (and yes, they warn you to measure accurately). The “lite salt” is potassium chloride, the potassium source in the homemade stuff. If you don’t have any, you can leave it out and most people will be just fine in the short term.
Working at the Rennaissance Faire, the rule is to drink at least 8 ounces of water every hour and eat one salty thing a day. That’s why pickle vendors were brought in - not for the patrons, but for the performers.
If you dilute it 2 to 1 you get much better results. It’s too sweet straight out of the bottle for proper absorbtion, but still works. Diluting works even better.
You can make your own easily, but it’s fairly convenient to just buy a bottle and mix it with water.
This is the important part. In the UK, the nutrition info is usually given per 100ml or 100g (around 3.5oz). But chances are you going to be swigging down somewhere between three and five times that amount in a single “serving”, so there’s more in there than you think.
8oz
…and I like gatorade dont get me wrong… thats why im drinking it… less sweet then soda and few calories. I just think their advertising is very misleading.
I have heard similar to what Telemark said… that proper proportions would be more like diluting it 3 to 1… at least for the sugar levels…
We’ve got bowls of pretzels and pickle slices at our guildyard - along with being a tasty way to get some salt, they’re also a useful hydration test. If they (the pickles) taste sweet, rather than tart, you’re in trouble. If I catch you in this condition, I will sit your butt down in the shade and have you drink two tankards of cool (not iced) “bat sweat” - Gatorade at half strength - until you feel the need to pee. Half strength is important, as is not iced - if it’s too cold or too concentrated, you’ll cramp up and feel worse than you already are.
Hot sun + wool + ale = easy dehydration. I’m sorry to say that I’ve treated more dehydrated people than I care to count.
Uck, no way. Pedialyte is gross. I have tried to give it to my kids several times and they spit it right back out. I figured “How bad can it be?” and tasted some- blech. If you weren’t throwing up before the Pedialyte, you might just throw up after.
Diluted Gatorade works much better.
Interesting thing about the taste of pickles, I’ll have to remember that.
Yes. Dill pickles. Every now and then, I’ve had evil thoughts of slipping a few sweet pickles into the bowls, just to randomly give someone a scare and have them start sucking down water or bat sweat.