Sports Drink Recommendations?

“I'm doing the Breast Cancer 3-Day for the 2nd time in August.

Last summer, I used gatorade (powdered) which was bulky and messy to mix and carry on the road... I'm looking for some other alternatives...

They served "Endurance" sports drink which was not great...and why I brought gatorade...

However, I find the gatorade to be really sweet, and am looking for other lightweight alternatives... I also used Power gel, but again, it was sickly sweet and really messy....

Can anyone give me feedback on any of the following?

Emergen-C sports pak
Jelly Belly Sports Beans

Or do you have some sports drinks you could recommend that are lightweight and easy to use? (and taste good!)

Thanks!!!”

“Water”

“If I were to buy a sports drink, I'd get this one...or make one with similar ingredients.

http://www.knudsenjuices.com/products/detail.aspx?groupID=10&categoryID=56&flavorID=179&productID=249”

“Actually, looking at the sugar in that, there are 17 grams per 8-oz serving...I probably wouldn't drink that after all! That's a lot of sugar.

This page has some interesting points:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/lisamarie1.htm

And I've also read that coconut water has the perfect balance of electrolytes, but I'm not sure of the sugar content.

By lightweight, do you mean something powdered, or something other than a beverage?”

“Buy the most expensive. You get what you pay for.
last edited: 4/11/06 12:40:13 PM”

“carbohydrates are 4 calories for 1 gram.”

“Actually a few years ago they did a "rehydration: study with firefighters and found that Gatorade or other sports drink at 1/4 strength was about the best.”

“

just suppliment with hydrogen hydroxide because that gets lost in the dehydration process”

“This powder looks pretty good...just minerals, no extraneous ingredients:
http://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=PRODUCT&CAT=ELECT&PROD.ID=4037&OMI=&AMI=17&uir=product.category,ELECT,Electrolyte%20Replacement”

“JIMMY....ARE YOU SUGGESTING THESE PEOPLE ENDANGER THEMSELVED WITH THE INTAKE OF DHMO?????

The most dangerous substance on earth? DHMO is the top killer of any substance known.”

“Cytomax Drink Mix
I like the PEACHY KEEN flavor.

http://www.rei.com/category/4500605.htm?vcat=REI_SSHP_CAMPING_TOC

It's not the lightest stuff to carry, but seens to do a good job in hot weather.
I usually will drink some of this right after a day of long hot hauling.”

“You need: water, carbohydrates, electrolytes

Water = water

Carbohydrates should be from a SIMPLE sugar like a glucose/sucrose blend. Each gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories. The number of grams you need to eat/drink depends on how many calories of carbohydrates you need to replace during an event.

Electrolytes need to be a balance of sodium and potassium. Pretty much anything else gets urinated out or is of questionable value.

Some people would argue that small amounts of protein should be taken with the carbohydrates but I think this is a lot of marketing designed to let sports drink vendors differentiate themselves.

Keep it simple.”

“yeah! :D”

“YES BROTHER!”

“....and, stout's are good at room temp so you don't need a fridg”

“distances dont seem so far when your drunk.”

“Anybody see the recent articles about chocolate milk beating all of the sport drinks in some sort of test?”

“TT said "no time warping"

what's up with that?
last edited: 4/11/06 4:12:59 PM”

“Little Chocolate Donuts, baby!



http://www.metacafe.com/watch/26266/john_belushi_donuts_of_champions/”

“You can replace the sodium and potassium with the snacks they have on the walk. I ate plenty of banannas and potato chips. Mmmm, potato chips!

Cut the gatorate with more water if its too sweet. I think the 3-day's rule of switching gatorade and water is a bit much. I think you'd be fine with 1/4-1/3 gatorade and water, and don't forget about those snacks!”

“I like powdered PowerAde personally. Kroger's stores (Fry's, King Sooper's, whatever your local store is) carries it at least some of the time. I generally stock up on it when I see it.”

“sugar free tang, water it down some and its good. mix it with some creamora and amaretto and it rocks!”

“Pink, swing by my place and I will give you some electrolyte tablets to try, and enough for your walk. You can drink plain water with them and be fine. If you were to eat (or try to eat) the sodium you'd need to replace what you use doing the 3 day you be as big as a house. A tablet every two hours in hot weather works, guaranteed!

Emergen C is not a sports drink, it has NO sugar and nearly no sodium or potassium, its gots C.”

“I prefer KFC extra crispy and a 2l of diet coke.”

“I have a confession to make....

I've never had KFC...or whitecastle eitehr. Is this odd?”

“For fuel when hiking I use the following Hammer Nutrition products:

Hammer Gel and Perpetuem (I mix the Perpetuem thick). I also take Endurolytes pills when I remember to.

I used to use Gu, but I kept getting sick to my stomach. I found out it was the frutrose that was making me sick. The Hammer Gel doesn't have frutrose in it.

I don't use a sports drink anymore because the combination of the Hammer Gel and the Perpetuem seems to do the job.

http://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=HOME”

“I'm an avid gatorade drinker but also find that it's a bit too sweet. The new Gatorade Rain is less sweet. I like it, although it seems to have an unusual after-taste - somewhat like nutrasweet.

Robertr”

“I've used the endurolyte pills on a 1/2 marathon, an 11 hour adventure race and a 6 hour race. The key is setting your watch alarm to go off when you need to take them (every two hours), and having a snack baggy ful of them and kept in a handy little pocket. They work very well, have no taste, and are extremely lightweight.
I've even taken them on long days of hiking.”

“beer, beer and more beer”

“In the news lately they have said that choc. milk did just as good as any sports drink!”

“Lyra is a Knudnick!”

“I drink Holy Water. Although produced generically, it immediately is transformed into a liquid containing exactly the proper electrolyte balance I need at the moment of consumption. That's not even addressing how much my spirits are lifted when on a long hike.”

“AHHH, good old "Diet Drink".”

“MarkO is a goon!

Nimblefoot drinking holy water:



That's a pic of the wicked witch melting, btw...LOL!”

“Is that what happens to you when you touch holy water lyra?”

“I have to disagree w/ a statement made about Emergen-C... It does have sugar. Only it's about 1/3 of what gatorade has per serving. I believe the sugar content is 5g. And, as far as electrolytes go, they have sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Less sodium but much more potassium than Gatorade. I don't know how the magnesium and calcium measure up; It's been quite a while since I did the comparison.

For me, these work great because I want the electrolyte replacement but can't have a lot of sugar. I usually add one packet to a small (20 oz) nalgene.

A few packets of that added to the water you're already drinking while you walk, along w/ good snacks like smiley mentioned, would work great for me.

I have three different flavors at my house. Send me an email if you wanna try before you buy.”

“No, when I touch holy water, the water sizzles and evaporates...I remain untouched.
:-D

That's hot, MarkO...LOL!!”

“Aarrggghh, blow me down!!”

“In the news lately they have said that choc. milk did just as good as any sports drink!”
fingerlakeshiker
7:03:50 AM


Actually that was about Chocolate milk as a recovery drink.”

“I stand corrected.”

“Tomato juice or better still, V-8 is a good hangover recovery drink.”

“Holy crap, those things are like planets!!”

“Wow! Step out for a day and I get lots of info! (and a few crazy posts--Jimmy San/Marko, I think that picture has photoshop written all over it.. :-P )

Birch & Sass--I'd like to check out the tablets you're talking about! Sounds interesting!

Tarabull-- I noticed that Emergen-C has 2 kinds-- one that's a fizzy drink with vitamins and another in a packaging that says it's a sports drink... but you only use a very tiny bit per serving (something like 1/8 of a teaspoon--I think the whole pack that I found a while ago is used per gallon--it wasn't a lot of mix.)
I've used the Emergen-C packets and they are okay (although a little "medicine-y" in flavor)


Unfortunately, I can't tolerate nutrasweet or Aspartame at all and I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners as a whole.

I was hoping to find something with a lot less sugar than the Gatorade... :-)

Someone else recommended Cytomax to me. I my have to give that a try as well....

Either way, I'm looking for something in a powder or solid form (vs. liquid) so that it won't be as heavy in my pack-- the less I have to carry, the better! :-)

Has anyone tried the Jelly Belly Sports Beans? are they any good? HOpefully, whatever I settle upon, it won't taste to terrible either! :-)”

“I am trying the H2O blast stuff...so far it has been a major disappointment. No major effect. Energy Fizz seems to work for me. But it takes about an hour to hit my system. Jimmy...do you know if that girl has her own gravity system...?”