Sports Drinks alternative?

[bikerINco]

try Elete. You add it to water, and it still takes like water. comes in a bottle and only a few drops are necessary. it totally helps with cramping and doesn't contain any sugar.

[DallasChic]

I have been drinking unflavored Pedialyte..... Children's hydration electrolyte drink.
It is expensive but you can also purchase the generic brand.
I learned of this from an interview I saw on TV with a Dallas Stars Hockey player.
This is what the players drink during the games to stay hydrated.
There is no flavor and it sits well on the stomach!
Check it out!!!

http://www.pedialyte.com/

[Grog]

I love the taste of yellow Gatorade but it'd way too sweet, way above the recommended carbs % anyway (which is 6%). I dilute it to half-strength and add a pinch of salt for the sodium. I chew on bars that contain more sodium with potassium and other minerals along the way or on rest stops.

I'm not a big fan of orangy-stuff but many of my riding friends have diluted (again, about to half) orange juice.

[Technotart]

I'll second the pedialyte - it is the only thing that is widely available that is physiologically correct in terms of what it pushes and pulls osmotically. The generic versions are the same, and you can buy it at any grocery, drug or discount store.

There are some things like elete that can be mixed with water to achieve the same thing, but I find that those are sometimes hard to come by. My LBS doesn't always have it. AND if they arent mixed with the right amount of fluid then you don't get the osmotic results you want.

Your rehydration solution needs to osmotically PUSH fluid into your body - not pull it out. Gatorade and other sweet drinks pull it out and actually dehydrate you. Pedialyte does exactly what it is supposed to do.

[Trekhawk]

How does the taste of Pedialyte rate? I bought it for my boys when they were sick and they told me it tasted pretty bad.

Not long after this I read an article by a Doctor which included a recipe for some home made mix as he said he had found it near impossible to get kids to drink Pedialyte.

I know kids taste buds are fresh not like our old ones so maybe for adults the taste is ok?????

[Technotart]

You can buy flavored versions. Frankly - when I'm out in the heat I don't care what I am drinking taste wise, as long as it does the trick. It isn't that bad.
I figure if I can eat GU, Clif shots and other ick...Pedialyte's NUTHIN!

[wabisabi]

My chiropractor, who cycles, made an observation that I thought I would pass along. I try to be careful about hydration because of a kind of colitis that I have that can be really aggravated by the wrong kinds of food/additives that cause things to, ahem, pass through me quickly and a consequent electrolyte imbalance. I usually deal with it and don't have problems. Recently I have been getting leg and foot cramps again. She mentioned that when someone approaches being an "athlete", which she said, at 100 miles a week I might be (I'm 55), that the body adjusts to make the best use of water. This means that sometimes the stuff in the sports drink additives can throw the body off--too many minerals, which is sometimes the problem that people encounter when they travel and "drink the water". I recalled that I had gone to adding the full amount of cytomax to my bottles--not sure why, it never gets above the low 60's here on the coast in the summer. Anyway, she suggested only adding half as much of the powder as recommended.