Do they still make small powdered Gatorade packets, enough for a quart or so of water? I'm thinking they'd be good for purified water that may have some residual taste from the purifying agent. I buy large cans of it, but I was looking for something more portable and small, without having to measure and make my own.

In addition to Gatorade packets, you can get instant tea, instant lemonade, and other stuff. For some individual packets, see
http://www.minimus.biz/default.aspx

Phil

Look here:

http://www.rei.com/online/store/Search?storeId=8000&query=*&cat=4500605&

But must warn you... cytomax in wild berry flavor tastes like camels arm pit but it does kill iodine flavor.

These are available locally at WallyWorld and other grocery store. Each packet flavors 1 quart of water.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/CRYSTALLIGHT/M...mp;amp;PageNo=1

I recall watching a show about heat exaustion which suggested your hydration drink should have glucose as well as electrolyte replacement like Gookinaid. Anyone know more about this?

Thanks,

-john

It isn't Gatorade, but Crystal Light makes these little packets (about 12 to a box, I think) that will "flavor up" a .5 liter (16.9 oz) bottle of water. They come in lemonade and Raspberry flavors. I took the raspberry to GenCon (a gaming convention) and it was actually pretty good.

I've seen them around - They had them at REI a few months back, but I haven't looked recently.

I'm assuming that it's the glucose part that you're asking about, and not the electrolyte replacement issue. It's been quite a while since I studied biochem and physiology, but here goes...

First, you might think that the water you drink is somehow absorbed directly by your body, like sucking it up through millions of tiny straws, but that's actually false. Actually, your body does it indirectly. Water is passively drawn out of the interior of your small intestine and into the tissue by making the tissue of the small intestines "saltier". Then it is absorbed into the capillaries and into the bloodstream. Lining your small intestines are millions of tiny pumps that pump sodium molecules into the tissues thus making them "saltier". The thing is, the pump requires a molecule of glucose to tag along at the same time. No glucose, no pumping action. Similarly, no sodium, no pumping action, too.

Glucose is normally not found in food or beverages. Instead, bigger, more complicated sugar molecules are broken down by enzymes in the small intestine to produce glucose. But that takes a bit of time, so you can see the hypothetical advantage of having glucose in a rehydration solution.

You can make your own poor man's sports drink by mixing 5 tablespoons of table sugar and a third of a teaspoon of table salt (be careful if you're on a sodium-restricted diet) in a liter of water. Don't store longer than a day, even if chilled. That sugar water solution is a prime breeding ground for bacteria.

I'm not a doctor, so if you have any questions about your specific situation, please consult your healthcare provider.

So, it sounds like a drink that contains glucose is indeed a better solution, but one that contains more complex sugars will also work, just not as directly?

Thanks!

-john

This is what I found this summer in Iraq:

No more than about one quart of Gatorade a day, or you will bloat and feel like crap.

Even bottled water here smells and tastes bad. Individual serving crystal light packets or generic brand subsitutues (Wal Mart) make the water pallatable enough to consume the proper amount of water.

Drink up to 2 gallons of water daily during peak heat/activity days. more than 2 gallons and you start to feel sick, regardless of how much sodium, potassium, glucose, fructose or any other "electolyte" you consume. Puking up water will dehydrate you very quickly (you sweat a lot more when you are nauseated).

These are standards, there are those who tolerated more or less extremes than most, but they are exceptions. I didn't pay so much attention to the color of my urine as I did to how my body felt, how my mind was functioning. If I felt like I needed more liquid, I got something to drink. If I was sweating hard, I drank more.

When I got food poisoning and ended up in the hospital here, I had to have 3 quarts of liquid pumped into my arm before my body started to normalize. I know what dehydration feels like, and I was drinking water at the time of my collapse. An IV is much quicker, albeit much more complicated way to rehydrate.

Ringers Lactate is an excellent rehydration liquid. Pedialyte is the next best thing that I've found.

Thanks Matt. That's the best price I could find. If you buy quantities, you get a discount. Comes out to about $.65 per packet.

In my opinion that stuff is only needed in a marathon or other long distance race where you cannot eat something easily over several hours. Otherwise, snack every hour or two and drink plain water. Don't waste your money.

Well, hypothetically glucose would promote faster water absorbtion than using surcrose (table sugar), but in the real world? The difference probably is not that significant. Our bodies are quite efficient at breaking down various sugars quickly and getting it into our bloodstreams...and then into our fat stores. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, just know that in a pinch, you can make an effective rehydration solution just from ingredients in the average kitchen. And it is definitely more quickly and effectively absorbed than just plain water.

This goes well beyond nutritional need. What we have here is psychological need. If you have water that tastes like gatorade as opposed to bleach, you will be more likely to hydrate, and have better morale.

This quote from benjammin may be the most practical advice on keeping yourself hydrated.

There's been a gradual change in the scientific consensus about how much or how often you need to drink while exerting yourself. In the past, athletes and other active people were advised to "drink as often as you can because thirst is not a good indicator of your water needs". Over the years since then, people have noticed that a lot of people actually suffer from drinking too much water by trying to follow this advice, for example, at marathons. Even sports drinks have a pretty low concentration of electrolytes so if you chug a lot of plain water or even a lot of sports drink, you can still end up with hyponatremia--the excessive dilution of sodium in your body.

Actually, benjammin's observation that you feel sick if you drink more than 2 gal/day, regardless of whether the beverage contains electrolyte, is likely a sign of hyponatremia. There's just too much water entering your body and it's seriously diluting the sodium concentration in your body. Signs of hyponatremia include: nausea, headache, cramps, confusion, slurred speech, bloating and swollen hands. Some of these symptoms are similar to impending heat exhaustion or heat stroke, which makes things confusing because you wonder if you need to drink even MORE water.

USA Track and Field used to advise athletes to drink as much as possible. In 2003, they changed their advice to "drink when thirsty" because of fears of hyponatremia. The International Marathon Medical Directors Association now advises runners to drink ad libitum, that is, at their discretion and not to drink faster than 800 ml/hour (a can of soda is about 350 ml).

Benjammin's observation about Gatorade might be a different phenomenon. Too much sugar inhibits gastric empyting into the small intestine and I have read that Gatorade contains too much sugar, so he may be feeling bloated because the Gatorade stays longer in his stomach than is comfortable. Benjammin, you might try diluting it and see if you still get that bloated feeling.

But benjammin has good advice: listen to your body. To that, I would add: drink when you're thirsty, but don't force yourself to drink more often if you don't feel like it.

In more extreme situations, like if you're really exerting yourself hard, especially in a very hot, dry environment, you may want to push the fluids, though, because you can lose water much faster than you can absorb it and dehydration is a real concern. You can use urine color and weigh yourself to evaluate if you're getting enough or too much water.

Again, I'm not a doctor, so please consult with your own healthcare provider about what's right for your own specific situation.

Yeah, I think this thread is getting a bit mixed up between how best to hydrate yourself and how to find convenient sized Gatorade packets to make treated water palatable. Unfortunately, I'm contributing to the veer off the world of hydration. Me and my big mouth <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

You went to GenCon with a decaf, zero calorie beverage?!?

OH THE HUMANITY!!!

I thought you were required to drink Mt Dew at gaming conventions.

He mentioned nothing about psychological problems..lol. I just got back from a week in the Colorado backcountry and had no issues with lack of morale. My plain water doesn't taste like bleach either. Azazing scenery out there.

Be careful what kind of container you mix it in.

I've got a couple of quart canteens that still taste like gatorade 5 years later.

The local Wal-mart Supercenter here has the packets in orange and lemon-lime. Enough in each packet for two quarts. When you mix this up don't leave it setting in your canteen or water bottle too long. If you do eveything you put in there will taste of Gatoraid from now on lol

You are. Or Doc-P. Or Sobe. Or Jolt.

Don't worry, I did consume the required "caffinated" beverages. But I did carry around my .5 liter "metal bottle" for water, and refilled it for free during the convention. I'm a cheap bastard like that. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

You lucky so and so!!! I have been wanting to go to GenCon for YEARS!!!
I have not even been able to go to AggieCon for the last few years <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Anyone have any suggestions for a Gatoraid like additive for *hot* water? My guess is Gatoraid would taste pretty bad. I was thinking bullion cubes, but no sugar. Adding sugar doesn't sound very tasty...

-john

I'm partial to the pre-packaged spiced apple cider mix as a hot drink mix. Have also used this recipe that makes a pretty decent hot drink:

HOT SPICED ORANGE DRINK

1 (10 oz) jar of Tang
2 oz Lemonade mix (Country time)
2 C Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cloves

Mix; store in a covered container. 2-1/2 teaspoons drink mix to one cup boiling water.

I've always been partial to hot Tang.

So Tang has resonable amounts of sodium and sugar?

Thanks,

-john

Nope.

If you want a hot electrolyte laced beverage, you will have the hot gatoraid taste. No way around it. And I'm not 100%, but I seem to recall reading something about them loosing thier effectiveness if they are boiled, but I could be wrong on that.

Gamer Survivalists. Must be the subculture of subcultures. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I never get to Gen Con either, but at least I am only an hour from Dragon Con.

Oh, it isn't that odd. A good game engine and an evil GM is a good "sand table" exercise for survival senarios. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> GURPS is my favorite for it.

I've had more than a few gaming groups have to either E&E, or have to get dragged out by SAR teams. Make them build thier thier EDC, PSK and BOB, and they tell me WHAT they are doing with thier goodies. The game state of skill level just reflects how well they know how to impliment what they read.