Making your own electrolytes. - Nonequine edition.

[Hamstirer]

I did the snake diet for a while

Were you just swallowing rodents whole?

 

[Your Starter for 10]

Were you just swallowing rodents while?

Don't be ridiculous.

The snake diet is a delicious snake for breakfast, another delicious snake for lunch, and then a healthy dinner.

 

[Black Man Underwear]

Brawndo's got what plants crave, it's got electrolytes!

On a more serious note: are horse electrolytes 100% safe and effective for human consumption?

 

[JohnnyG]

My current go to for cheap and easy is simply Kool aid and lite salt

You almost certainly don't need more salt. Even if you're doing intense workouts, you probably eat 50-100% more than you need just from a modern diet.

What you're probably short on is potassium, since they can't put more than trace amounts in multivitamins and supplements. And it offsets a lot of the effects of high sodium (the ratio between the two being key). You can buy a big bag of it with a light lemon flavour, and add it to your kool-aid or other water flavouring mix:
www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG7TB55T

 

[Troonos]

I've been doing keto for the last two years, so I supplement electrolytes like crazy. The trick to avoid the overwhelming saltiness is large volume hydration to dissolve them in. I drink a gallon (1.75L bottle x2) per day, so I just add 4.5g of powdered Potassium Citrate, 0.4g of Magnesium Glycinate, and 4.0g of table salt to the first bottleful, along with a splash of Amoretti fruit extract for flavor. It doesn't taste all that salty with that much dilution.

 

[JohnnyG]

I drink a gallon (1.75L bottle x2) per day, so I just add 4.5g of powdered Potassium Citrate, 0.4g of Magnesium Glycinate, and 4.0g of table salt to the first bottleful

So I'm with you on the potassium & magnesium -- if my math is right, you're getting about 1700mg potassium, a little over a third of RDA and probably about the max you can take at once without digestive issues, and about 80-100mg magnesium, or a quarter of RDA. My mix says it has 1000mg potassium and 100mg magnesium.

But I figured even for someone working out really hard and sweating a ton, the modern Western diet means eating so much sodium you'd never need to supplement (and in fact, the extra potassium should help mitigate excess sodium). So why the mega salt dose?

 

[Troonos]

So I'm with you on the potassium & magnesium -- if my math is right, you're getting about 1700mg potassium, a little over a third of RDA and probably about the max you can take at once without digestive issues, and about 80-100mg magnesium, or a quarter of RDA. My mix says it has 1000mg potassium and 100mg magnesium.

But I figured even for someone working out really hard and sweating a ton, the modern Western diet means eating so much sodium you'd never need to supplement (and in fact, the extra potassium should help mitigate excess sodium). So why the mega salt dose?

I don't eat the modern western diet. I cook at home and eat steak, pork belly, chicken thighs. Cruciferous vegetables, berries, nuts. The only commercially salted food I eat is beef jerky, and I only get about 800 mg per day from that. When you cut out carbs and become fat adapted, your body excretes a lot more electrolytes via the kidneys. Most keto documentation recommends up to 5g a day.

 

[YouDoNotHaveTheRight]

Last summer got so hot my brain would no longer let me enjoy my regular liquid diet of soda. I gravitated towards the Body Armor sports drinks they are pretty good price/size/content. Also if you can find the salt packets like these I used to throw one of these in my gums like a zyn when I worked construction it helped too.

 

[I Digivolved Into A Loli?]

My go-to when I was doing highschool sports was Pedialyte. It's made specifically for kids and babies who have the flu or other issues that would massively dehydrate them. It's a way more complete version of Gatorade. They started making an adult version marketed for sport a few years back but I don't think it's any better or cheaper.

I've been doing keto for the last two years, so I supplement electrolytes like crazy. The trick to avoid the overwhelming saltiness is large volume hydration to dissolve them in. I drink a gallon (1.75L bottle x2) per day, so I just add 4.5g of powdered Potassium Citrate, 0.4g of Magnesium Glycinate, and 4.0g of table salt to the first bottleful, along with a splash of Amoretti fruit extract for flavor. It doesn't taste all that salty with that much dilution.

This is by far the cheapest and most time efficient way to make your own electrolyte mix. If you buy food safe packs on Amazon they will last you for ages and it's way easier than juicing a dozen lemons and limes every week. Just make sure you keep your ratios small, too much of either will make water taste like sewage. I never tried flavoring it though.

 

[Troonos]

My go-to when I was doing highschool sports was Pedialyte. It's made specifically for kids and babies who have the flu or other issues that would massively dehydrate them. It's a way more complete version of Gatorade. They started making an adult version marketed for sport a few years back but I don't think it's any better or cheaper.

People don't realize how little electrolytes are in these commercial sports drinks. You'd have to drink six a day to meet your Sodium needs and 50 a day to meet your Potassium needs, assuming you aren't getting enough of these from your diet. They're really just sugary slop to replenish what was lost in a workout.

 

[JohnnyG]

I don't eat the modern western diet. I cook at home and eat steak, pork belly, chicken thighs. Cruciferous vegetables, berries, nuts. The only commercially salted food I eat is beef jerky, and I only get about 800 mg per day from that. When you cut out carbs and become fat adapted, your body excretes a lot more electrolytes via the kidneys. Most keto documentation recommends up to 5g a day.

See I figured even a "healthy" eater would take in plenty since it's virtually everywhere. And between seeing how much sodium you shed during even intense workouts (~500-1000mg, with the average person eating 3500-4000/day), and spending hot summers in the gym/sun without signs of sodium depletion, I've always been skeptical of claims it needed supplementing. But I also wasn't aware of keto making you shed it that significantly.

You'd have to drink six a day to meet your Sodium needs and 50 a day to meet your Potassium needs, assuming you aren't getting enough of these from your diet.

I went down the rabbit hole on potassium a while back, because every supplement is capped at 100mg/2-3% RDA which is nothing, and even "high potassium" foods like potatoes & bananas require like 6-10/day to hit your RDA. Turns out the conservative caps are to prevent heart rate issues in people on drugs that interact with potassium (with high-dose digestive issues secondary).

So three hundred million Americans (minus the athletes/autists who buy electrolyte powders) go deficient, so that 5% of the country with specific kidney/heart issues aren't at risk of popping a multivitamin that gives them a heart arrhythmia.

 

[dick brain]

Salt + nusalt + water. Magnesium glycinate in the morning.

If the taste bothers you, you can try growing some balls.

 

[Catgirl Tyranid]

The issue I have with bananas is they don't travel well in my gear, getting hot, smashed and brown before I need to eat it. So portability is an issue. Any food I need during work has to survive extreme conditions. Granola with extra salt or salted peanuts is my go too as those foods pack well and survive being banged around by gear. I can only carry so much water too, though how far I can go and how long I can remain in normal work conditions depends on the amount of water I can carry.
I try to load my system with minerals and water before I start work. Watching sodium intake during meals helps to negate excess sodium intake lessening the effect initial mineral loss, as your body is more interested in taking up salts than trying to process.
It's a balancing act to carry enough food, water and minerals, work efficiently and not hurt yourself.

You can dehydrate bananas, I usually slice them into coins, and they'll travel fine. I usually sprinkle cinnamon on them before drying for flavor, but I'd bet they'd taste good salted too.

 

[Drip Torch]

You can dehydrate bananas, I usually slice them into coins, and they'll travel fine. I usually sprinkle cinnamon on them before drying for flavor, but I'd bet they'd taste good salted too.

That is great idea! Been thinking about getting a dehydrator. I depend on meat jerkies, but those getting expensive to buy.

 

[Catgirl Tyranid]

That is great idea! Been thinking about getting a dehydrator. I depend on meat jerkies, but those getting expensive to buy.

The one I have is some eldritch combination of stacking plastic trays with thick exposed metal wire at the bottom that has to be over 3 decades old. You don't need anything fancy, just heat and vents to let moisture escape.

 

[Drip Torch]

The one I have is some eldritch combination of stacking plastic trays with thick exposed metal wire at the bottom that has to be over 3 decades old. You don't need anything fancy, just heat and vents to let moisture escape.

I've tried sun drying vegetables, such as peppers in the traditional method but with high humidity, the peppers will mold internally before reaching sufficient dryness. Bananas likely the same. I'm sold, Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Neodanthril]

dissoluble tablets.

Disoulable tablets of what

 

[YouDoNotHaveTheRight]

I've tried sun drying vegetables, such as peppers in the traditional method but with high humidity, the peppers will mold internally before reaching sufficient dryness. Bananas likely the same. I'm sold, Thanks for the suggestion!

If you buy pre dried banana a lot of them are dyed. Dried okra is pretty tasty, but not sure of nutritional value just wanted to recommend.

 

[Pierre D'Olnique]

Disoulable tablets of what

Whatever this is. Not necessarily that flavor. Cheaper than gatorade, more potable than powder. 2-3 glasses a day and you're set.

 

[Polyboros2]

along with a splash of Amoretti fruit extract for flavor

Amoretti and another companies powdered flavoring is what I've been looking into for making a similar concoction more palletable.

The Amoretti stuff seems impossibly concentrated. 2oz to 111 gallons of water. Is that a gross exaggeration and you can just free hand a few drops? Do you predilute it into something first?