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  • Homemade electrolyte drink recipe?
  • thenorthwind
    Full Member

    Anyone on here make their own electrolyte drink? Did a long ride last weekend and though much cooler up here in the north of England/Borders, I hit the electrolytes pretty hard. Worked well but at a fiver a tube, it gets expensive.

    Googling brings up a load of proto-hippy all-natural influencer X juice has loads of Y electrolyte in it so chuck some of that in but given the idea is to maintain balance, has anyone actually found out roughly how much sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc. you need to replicate the commercial tabs?

    Jordan
    Full Member

    This site more or less gives you the recipe if you look at the ingredients.

    thenorthwind
    Full Member

    Interesting site, thanks. They even give some recipes and advice for making a drink which matches their product. Seems they have a strong opinion on the right balance, which seems to involve proportionally more sodium, and no calcium, but at least it’s based on some research/experience rather than just random quantities.

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    Jordan
    Full Member

    @thenorthwind Yeah, I had Adrenal Insufficiency for a while which results in needing a good supply of electrolytes, particularly Sodium. The folks on the AI support group pointed me to that site with high reccomendations.

    devash
    Free Member

    50/50 water to pure orange juice (or squash) ratio, then standard bulk raw unflavoured electrolyte powder from a sports nutrition shop.

    A 1l brick of cheapo orange juice is around 60p and will make 4 500ml bottles of electrolyte drink. Orange squash even cheaper but most nowadays seem to be low calorie / made with sweetener so you lose the calorific content of the sugar from the actual oranges going down that route.

    thenorthwind
    Full Member

    @Jordan Thanks, that’s good to know.


    @devash
    I was just looking for the electrolytes rather than the calories, which I tend to get from other stuff. No harm in the extra sugar during a ride, but I need something I can take with me and add to water/liquid I get en route. The SIS Hydro tablets are handy for this but expensive. Maybe I could find a cheaper electrolyte powder though.

    devash
    Free Member
    redthunder
    Free Member

    500 ml Water
    Glucose
    Pinch of Salt
    Some lemon juice for flavour.

    Proper Job!

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Don’t just add a pinch of salt. You sweat other things not just salt. Also glucose is very sweet and rather difficult to digest.

    Your answer, OP, is bulk.com. They sell everything vaguely related to nutrition of any kind.

    Electrolyte powder, 100g for a fiver and contains all four electrolytes and obviously the bag lasts yonks at 1g a go.
    Maltodextrin, under a fiver for 1kg

    That’s all I drink, made up with orange squash. Cheaper than food and easier to digest. This really is the best way to go.

    malv173
    Free Member

    100ml standard squash, or 50ml double strength stuff.

    Make up to 500ml and add 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

    We did some analysis on this while at uni, comparing it with a branded sports drink. Think it was Lucosade Isotonic. The homemade one was near identical.

    Davesport
    Full Member

    Purely anecdotal. I used to suffer from deep muscle cramps after long rides if I didn’t stay hydrated properly. Agony in the deep muscles high up in my thigh extending quickly down to almost my knee. Along with the nausea & cold sweats this brings with it make great comedy viewing for Mrs Davesport. My riding gear if left to dry out is usually stained with dried out salt.

    So I’d been using high5 electrolyte tabs at the recommended dilution for about 10 years and these were definitely helping reduce the frequency of the above. I ran out of these in March & had to resort to diluting juice & a bit of salt. This was meant to be a stop-gap but the cramps seem to have stopped so I’m sticking with it & playing with the amount of salt. Obviously this doesn’t contain any of the other electrolytes but it’s working for me.

    joeydeacon
    Free Member

    I’ve been buying these (mainly for hangovers) and they work well.

    Ingredients are “Dextrose (Glucose), Acidity Regulators (Citric Acid, Sodium Bicarbonate), Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Natural Lemon Flavouring (Maltodextrin, Acacia Gum, Flavouring Preparations), Maize Starch, Sweetener (Sucralose), Riboflavin.”

    In the last week or so I’ve been making my own by mixing water, this low sodium salt (has Potassium Chloride and Sodium Chloride), low sugar lemon squash and a drop of lime juice.

    Seems to work well, has most of the main ingredients from what I can work out, tastes pretty similar but about 1/1000th of the cost.

    jkomo
    Full Member

    When I got cramp at a rave I’d wrap salt in a rizla and eat it. That worked.

    Earl
    Free Member

    A stock cube. Seriously.

    Davesport
    Full Member

    A stock cube. Seriously.

    Would possibly work but the taste would make me gag. Might be good to try on a mate first :o)

    seosamh77
    Free Member

    A roll and chips and a pint of lager. sorted. 😆

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Have a look at mineral Republic electrolyte tabs, about half the price and twice the strength of anything else I’ve seen. Available cheeply on Amazon.

    Downside they taste salty, so you may actually need to use half a tab and make into squash.

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    Spotted som High5 tabs in B&M this evening £2 for ten, which isn’t amazing value but thought I’d grab some while I was there.

    Looking at the ingredients it’s 250mg of sodium per tab (1 tab per 500ml bottle), nothing like the 1000mg LMNT seem to be suggesting you need (per bottle or Litre is that?, it’s not super clear reading their pages to me).

    Anyway, is there a risk in all of this that people’s DIY sodium dosing goes through the roof and does them more harm than good?

    I tried making myself a pretty fruity ‘recovery smoothy’ after reading this thread the other day, made up about a litre of liquid with 1/4 teaspoon of salt added and whizzed good and long, I could still taste a bit more salt that I would really like.

    So Would 1/8 tspn in 500ml of weak squash or diluted OJ be a pointless effort once I run down these Zero tabs? I’m just not enjoying glugging salty, sweetened liquids…

    Roscoemck
    Free Member

    Any ideas how someone with high blood pressure and (possible) angina can replace electrolytes? The salt being the main issue.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Spotted som High5 tabs in B&M this evening £2 for ten, which isn’t amazing value

    That’s insane since it’s about 2p a dose in the bags I buy.

    Any ideas how someone with high blood pressure and (possible) angina can replace electrolytes?

    I don’t think it can work like you hope. You need a certain amount of electrolytes to function. Too much salt can increase your blood pressure. But if you have too much in your diet you don’t need to supplent it when riding. But if you don’t have too much, if you need to supplement, then your high blood pressure is caused by something else. You need to talk to a doctor who understands sports issues. Not all do.

    So Would 1/8 tspn in 500ml of weak squash or diluted OJ be a pointless effort once I run down these Zero tabs? I’m just not enjoying glugging salty, sweetened liquids…

    In my experience when you are low on salt you crave salty things and they taste great. If you aren’t low on salt then they taste gross. If you were really low then you would not be complaining about the salty taste.

    And you need more than just salt!

    Roscoemck
    Free Member

    I don’t think it can work like you hope. You need a certain amount of electrolytes to function. Too much salt can increase your blood pressure. But if you have too much in your diet you don’t need to supplent it when riding. But if you don’t have too much, if you need to supplement, then your high blood pressure is caused by something else. You need to talk to a doctor who understands sports issues. Not all do.

    The fun part being finding a doctor in my surgery that understands sport issues!

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