[pct-l] Thirst is the Best Water Gauge

[Phil Baily]

As a very amateur distance runner (in the past), I found that taste 
is also very important. Don't just go for a small chemical difference 
in lieu of taste. Many of us used to prefer Gookinated ERG over 
Gatorade for taste. HYOH.

Pieces


At 12:12 PM 1/19/07, dsaufley at sprynet.com wrote:
>Gatorade is very high in sodium, and too much sodium that isn't used 
>can lead to kidney stones (ever get the feeling you just can't 
>win?).  I find that Cytomax is an excellent electrolyte replacement 
>that is lower in sodium.  I've used it for years for mountainbiking, 
>and now for long distance hiking, too.  It's what Lance Armstrong 
>uses!!! Still, I'm careful to only use it when I'm losing hydration 
>due to exercise -- I never drink it as a beverage otherwise.
>
>  I've also heard great things about Gookinaid, which has less sugar 
> than Gatorade.
>
>L-Rod
>
>-----Original Message-----
> >From: William Skaggs <weskaggs at primate.ucdavis.edu>
> >Sent: Jan 19, 2007 10:41 AM
> >To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> >Subject: Re: [pct-l] Thirst is the Best Water Gauge
> >
> >
> >Mark Jernigan wrote:
> >
> >> Bottom line was that I was actually drinking too much water, 
> which is a bit of a
> >> paradox to a distance hiker who is sweating like a race 
> horse.  I resorted to taking
> >> Potassium tablets, which did help somewhat and got me through 
> the thru, so to speak.
> >>
> >>  Three plus years (and 2 kidney stone operations) later I now 
> routinely use the
> >> following suppliment when I hike:
> >>
> >> [ . . . ]
> >
> >Drink Gatorade instead!
> >
> >There are two main ions that affect the electrolyte balance in the body,
> >sodium and potassium.  Potassium exists almost entirely inside of your
> >cells, so you lose hardly any when you sweat, and therefore need to replace
> >hardly any.  Sodium, on the other hand, exists almost entirely *outside*
> >of cells, and is lost in large quantities when you sweat.  So, what you
> >need to supplement with is sodium, not potassium.  Supplementing with
> >potassium is actually worse than drinking plain water, because
> >it very quickly gets pulled inside cells and then pulls water in with it,
> >thereby reducing the amount available for sweating.
> >
> >Gatorade was designed to have just the right mix to replace what you lose
> >when sweating, and is very hard to beat.  And the basic rule is that your
> >body knows what you need:  if drinking something feels unpleasant, then it
> >is probably the wrong thing to be drinking.
> >
> >(I'm a neuroscientist, by the way:  it's my job to know about this stuff.
> >Which doesn't mean that I can't be wrong, of course.)
> >
> >Best wishes,
> >
> >  -- Bill
> >
> >
> >
> >______________ ______________ ______________ ______________
> >Sent via the CNPRC Email system at primate.ucdavis.edu
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >pct-l mailing list
> >pct-l at backcountry.net
> >unsubscribe or change options:
> >http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
>_______________________________________________
>pct-l mailing list
>pct-l at backcountry.net
>unsubscribe or change options:
>http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l