Electrolytes

Dave,

The is a lot of debate on HFCS. Some say that your body can't tell the differnce, sugar is sugar, others say HFCS is from the devil.

> The trouble with Gatorade is it has high fructose corn syrup in it.

They stopped using high fructose corn syrup about 10 years ago. They use a sucrose-dextrose blend now (the "lower calorie" G2 is sweetened with PureVia)

uh oh maybe that bottle was in there a while, it clearly said HFCS on the ingredients LOL.

I sometimes drink the low cal G2 and it seems to me that it has something of a bitter taste. If I mix it with something else such as orange juice, I can't taste the bitterness.

> I sometimes drink the low cal G2 and it seems to me that it has something of a bitter taste. If I mix it with something else such as orange juice, I can't taste the bitterness.

I mix it with vodka and after two or three 32 ounce bottles I can't taste a d@mn thing.

I am 6'1" tall and used to weigh 258 lbs, and the first thing I did was stop drinking sodas, Gatorade, Powerade, reduced my sugar intake, and exercised more so than not. If I want a sweet drink, I will have a juice which doesn't have HFCS. After gaining control of my metabolism, I reduced my weight down to approximately 216lbs. I am still focused on losing more weight. I just wanted to point out that I work in the Florida heat almost everyday and come home in sweat-soaked clothes regularly, and I don't drink Gatorade anymore. I drink water during the day, and I might get an apple juice on the way home to add some good sugars (glucose) to my system. Pacing yourself in the heat is very important if you are looking to avoid a headache, and I have had them before, too. I might take breaks of several minutes, get a drink of water, then return to what I was doing. It's all about being conditioned to tolerate the heat.

I like a good sweet, but I try to tell myself to only eat natural sugars if I have any sugar at all. Otherwise, I will need to exercise more just to burn off the carbs they equate to. Sugars are carbs that if not burned off soon will get stored as fat, and being fat obviously makes working much more unpleasant.

I've switched to using nuun tablets with water. They're healthier for you and seem to prevent the leg cramps I get at night from being in the heat all day. I get them from Roadrunner Sports, but most running stores and pro shops carry them too.

I drink Powerade Zero. It has less than 1% of sugar.

One time I felt kind of spent and had to keep going. I don't drink soda and find that the Gatorade and wannabe's are too sweet. I bought some Pedialyte and it did the trick. Ok, call me a baby, but it worked in a pinch.

Grapefruit is also really good, but that is more of a potassium issue. Symptoms are similar

I buy the 5 gallon powder mixes of Tang as its pretty good for you and does not taste all that bad. Also I find that if I get out of 100 degree weather and jump in my truck with the a/c on full blast i usually get a headache for some reason. Now I try to just ride with the windows down until im cooled off a little bit before switching on the a/c. Also check your blood pressure if you get headaches or dizzyness more often than you use to.

I thought the same thing when i first tried the G2.

Don't put ice in you water, or drink it cold on a hot day. It will trick you into thinking that you are refreshed and hydrated. Also make sure you eat a little salt throughout the day to keep you sweating. The air conditioner in the truck gives me an instant headache. I wonder if its from your forhead expanding and contracting from the hot air to the cold air. As much as food makes me feel sick on a hot day, I always feel better at the end of the day if I eat lunch.

either that or its just a shock to your system changing temps so fast. Learned that when I was a teenager doing concrete work with my dad. He wouldnt turn the a/c on when we went to lunch because he said it would make you feel like crap, thought he was just being hard on me at the time lol.

A bottle of pink grapefruit juice and a banana are ALMOST as good as the first wobbly pop of the evening, and far better for you. I try to do the juice/fruit thing, then a bottle of water, then the first beer. I emphasize try, sometimes the beer just wins out.

I think you are right. Yesterday I was cutting line through a thicket with the sun beating down, hovering near 100. I had a frozen bottle of water in a gatorade bottle that I would sip from. I usually do not sweat that much, but my shirt was soaked and I developed a headache I could not shake after a shower and being in the cool house. I sometimes get a headache when I haven't eaten, but even a meal did not help. I bet my electrolytes were out of balance.

oh, yeah really cold water will mess you up! Along with any kind of soda, white bread or , yes, even gatorade. I stick with WATER, GRAPEFRUIT and a steady stream of sunflower seeds.. maybe a fountain gatorade at the end of the day, since it's mostly water.. the bottled stuff seems to be a lot sweeter for some reason. IF I'm really hungry, I'll pick up a Cliff Bar and have that with a lot of water. on this diet, I work outside all day long in southwest Florida, where it's mid 90's with 80% humidity from dawn to dusk. works for me. 😉

I think Dave has the key - replace some electrolytes but use moderation. One Gatorade after several bottles of water. Or some salt AND potassium (bananas are good there) If the drink has HFCS that much won't hurt you, especially when you are working hard and burning it off.

I'd rather risk HFCS in moderation than the same amount of drink with artificial sweeteners. Those things are bad for your body in unnatural ways. I get lightheaded from some of them, and some studies indicate increased liver and colon cancer risk.

The bad thing about HFCS is that your body has to deal with it as it is absorbed FAST, whereas sucrose sugar takes a little processing before it can get into the blood stream. If you sit around doing little and consuming HFCS drinks that really throws your body out of balance. An occasional boost from a moderate amount when you are working and burning calories isn't so bad.

There are actually products specifically for people like us.
In particular something like this
http://www.sqwincher.com/products.html

We use this regularly in summer. Drink water mostly, but once or twice a day chuck a squincher sachet into a 600ml bottle and drink that instead.

The military has something similar, beverage base powder, which replaces the electrolytes but also sterilises the water - to some degree.

Oh yeah, ingredients of the sachets we use are:

citric acid
potassium citrate
salt
ascorbic acid (vit c)
sodium citrate
potassium phosphate
sodium phosphate
yellow 6
sucralose
natural and artificial flavour
calcium phosphate