electrolites

[hellosunshine]

what foods contain them?or are they generally in everything?

[KnottedYet]

They're in everything, for the most part they are mineral salts existing happily in darn near all the foods you find.

Some foods have more than others; like bananas which are famous for the potasssium. And there's dear ol' sodium chloride which abounds in celery (and which I flagrantly add to my food!). Calcium salts in milk, etc.

Sweat runs off with a lot of your electrolytes (as does diarrhea, but we won't talk about that) so ya gotta watch out you don't end up with an imbalance during huge activity.

I always have Clif shot electrolyte mix in my water bottles, and I know it helps keep me happy on the bike. I eat Clif Shot blox, too, which also have electrolytes. Dunno if its the salts or the sugars that keep me happy, but it works so I ain't messin' with it!

[LBTC]

Can't say I fully understand electrolytes (or anything else scientific), but I do know that for any mtb ride 1 hour or longer I do not do well with only water. Generally I mix a very light gatorade, powerade, or similar drink. I find gatorade is quite loaded with salt, so other brands tend to satisfy me better. Actually, one time I mixed red bull with water. *that* was a fun ride! I don't know why this works for me exactly, but it's what I need for decent energy.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[KayTee]

I'll use Accelerade if I plan to ride more than a couple of hours, but if less than that, just take plain water and a gel or two in case I need extra umph. If it's really hot out and we're all sweating buckets, at a store stop I might get V-8 or tomato juice over ice and maybe a peanut butter cracker or 2. My stomach can't take a lot of sweet, and that combo seems to counter my salt and other electrolyte loss fairly well.

[hellosunshine]

thats all groovy,ta!yes,i had "the squits" and yes,im not into sweet stuff,most energy drinks make me wana puke,i got feta cheese cravings yesterday after my "episode"............and to lower the tone even further i did think,its nice being single if u have a stomach bug!!!!!


and other happy thoughts to take us into 2007,

[CycleChic06]

The squits? I'm not sure what that is, but it doesn't sound good.

As far as electrolytes, it's what sugary sports drinks always advertise about. Stuff like gatorade does have lots of electrolytes, but also have tons of sugar. If you do drink, I'd reccomend diluting it out. It's also good to drink gatorade when you are sick (like throwing up and have diarrhea) since it does rehydrate you along with giving you sugar and electrolytes.

But better than that when excersizing are bananas, as suggested earlier. They're full of potassium and are especially good if you get cramps (as in leg cramps, etc...not period cramps, unfortunately!).

Emily