[pct-l] Electrolytes

[Jim Marco]

I agree with what these other fine people have said. Salt is the only one you need to worry about and you get plenty of it in most trail ready foods. Potassium is another that could be lacking, but it is rare. I use a mix of salt and lite salt in my salt shaker, good for about a month on the trail, just to be sure. For very hot weather, a shake of the mix (about a fifth or quarter teaspoon) in my water bottle will often let water absorb into the blood stream a little quicker. 

There was an article on BPL last year, outlining the major mineral losses through sweat.
	My thoughts only . . .
		jdm
  
-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Scott Williams
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 1:40 AM
To: Melanie Clarke
Cc: PCT MailingList; shelly skye
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Electrolytes

Yes Toga!  I've never found myself hitting the wall from lack of electrolytes or anything else on a long trail but I eat all of the foods she's listed with plenty of salty stuff to counteract the salt lost through sweat.  Seaweed is in every meal as is kale and chard, oil, grains or tubers, dried fruit and nuts.  I'm not a vegetarian like Toga, so I also had dried meats as well, but if your food is real vegetables, and unprocessed whole grains, nuts, seeds and fruits, you can't go wrong.
 These have been life sustaining since we became a species.  The only thing that hasn't been there is pure sugar and other processed foods.  Stick with nutritionally dense foods and the electrolytes seem to take care of themselves.

Shroomer


On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 8:07 PM, Melanie Clarke <melaniekclarke at gmail.com>wrote:

> Marketing gimmicks are just trying to separate you from your money.  
> You just don't need all these fancy expensive potions and snake oils 
> to be healthy.  *Let's break down the word, "Electrolytes"* so it's 
> not something magical or confusing.  I only eat plant based foods.  
> All you need is cheap nutritious foods!
>
> 1. *Sodium:*  The main electrolyte the body uses is sodium and hiker 
> food is full of this, salty nuts, pretzels, chips, corn nuts etc.  
> Dried food that packs well and doesn't spoil, usually has too much salt.
> 2. *Chloride:*  Seaweed is high in chloride, packs well and tastes 
> good in a lot of hiker dishes.  I don't have a lot of time so google 
> chloride sources in food and come up with some other cheap food items.
> 3. *Potassium:*  Raisins, prunes, dried fruits, beans (freeze dried), 
> Kale, bananas dried, or when you pull into a town.  Most of us have 
> plenty of this in our backpacking food.  I spray a cookie baking sheet 
> with pam and lay some kale leaves (cut out stems) and bake.  They bake 
> and dry up fast, easy and crumbles.  I put it in my dinner items.
> 4.  *Calcium: * My dried Kale and other dark leafy greens; Soy nuts 
> also pack well and are full of protein and salt.  Because I am a 
> thyroid patient, I take along Ca+ supplements but most people should 
> be able to get it in the foods they eat, even if you don't drink milk.
> 5.  *Magnesium:*  Nuts, beans (freeze dried) peanut butter and leafy 
> greens.  At least the first 3 are ubiquitous in hiker food.
>
> Forget all that marketing crap about needing a fancy expensive product!!!
>
> Toga
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 4:38 PM, shelly skye <shelbel26 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I am wondering if anyone knows of a good source of electrolytes that
> isn't
> > full of sugar or sugar substitutes, and won't break the bank. I've 
> > used Emergen-C in the past but I don't know if there are others out there.
> > Thanks.
> > Shelly
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