home made Gatorade recipe

April 12, 2004 2:04 PM

I googled a recipe for home made Gatorade for my son who has a landscaping business. I will list it inside. Does anyone have any cautions about this or perhaps have a better recipe?
What have you used to keep your homeostasis.

Homemade Gatorade
List of Ingredients

* 475ml Water
* 475ml Juice (your favorite)
* 2tsp Sugar
* 1/4tsp Citric Acid (food additive sold in most drug stores)
* 1/4tsp Sodium Chloride (eg. table salt)
* 1/4tsp Potassium Chloride (salt substitute eg. NU-SALT®)

Combine and refrigerate

posted by JohnR to food & drink (7 comments total)

If it's because Gatorade is expensive, I'm not sure that Emergen-C's are that much cheaper but they are GREAT for keeping the electrolytes up in hot weather. I know lots of carpenters, runners, and bicyclists who swear by them. I just drink lots of them to try to keep colds away. He can get the boxes of 36 packets for about $10-$12 at any health food store.
posted by pomegranate at 2:11 PM on April 12, 2004

I'll second Emergen-C's (I've actually been drinking them all day to combat a flu). Also consider getting a big cannister of powdered Gatorade at your local Cosco. It's quite a bit more economical, possibly even moreso than the above recipe. You can keep it in the back of a truck and mix it with water wherever you are. Quite handy.
posted by scarabic at 3:56 PM on April 12, 2004

Quote from this article:

Students are now being given "electrolyte" drinks called "ergogenic aids" to replace electrolytes that are allegedly depleted during workouts. There are three problems with using these drinks as a rehydration solution. First, most soft drinks are diuretics, meaning they squeeze liquids out of the body, thus exacerbating dehydration instead of correcting it. Second, most people actually lose few electrolytes during exercise. After exercise the body is usually in an electrolyte load having lost more fluids than electrolytes. If sweating has been profuse, electrolytes can be replaced by drinking a lacto-fermented beverage or pure mineral water, which contains a proper ratio of minerals (electrolytes), and by eating a healthy diet containing Celtic sea salt. Third, when we give sugar-laden drinks to dehydrated kids, the high sugar content requires that blood be sent to the stomach to digest it. This fluid shift can lower the blood volume in other parts of the body making them more susceptible to cramps and heat-related illnesses.
posted by stbalbach at 4:11 PM on April 12, 2004

Repeat that important bit: most people actually lose few electolytes during exercise.

I know that when I've busted my ass on a five-day, 200km through-hike, I've done a helluva lot more exercise than most people do in a month's worth of working-out. And yet I don't need an electrolytic or sugary drink to make it through the day: plain old water does the trick.

If I'm not bonking after six hours of hauling my ass and another 35lbs up a mountain, you can be reasonably sure that you don't need Gatorade.

IMO.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:09 PM on April 12, 2004

I learned that same recipe when being trained as a wilderness first responder through the red cross. The last four ingredients fit nicely in a film canister, which can be stored in a first aid kit and mixed with water if someone becomes critically dehydrated. I think the key thing to remember is that this is something to use if someone is approaching heatstroke, is dehydrated from severe diarrhea, etc. Not necessarily the best thing to quench your thirst on a hot day. Plain old water serves that purpose just fine.
posted by bonheur at 9:13 PM on April 12, 2004

I would say that electrolyte replacement is really only necessary if you've had a lot of vomiting or diarrhea. Regarding sugar causing your stomach to shunt blood... that doesnt sound reasonable. You do need a small amount of sugar in a rehydration solution, but too much sugar works as a diuretic.
posted by mert at 7:36 AM on April 13, 2004

I'm hypoglycemic, so if I don't keep my sugars up during sports I tend to hit the wall quite quickly. My nutrionist told me to just take my water bottle and fill it with 1/3 orange juice, 2/3 water. If I want (and can stomach it) put in a tiny bit of salt. You don't need much.
posted by krunk at 8:44 AM on April 13, 2004