This came up in another thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread. Someone asked about the electrolyte drinks I make myself.
The basic one is only sodium and potassium. I use Nuun tablets for when I'm out and about, or if I just fancy a sweet drink every now and again.
1. Buy a tub of salt. Sea salt if you like, though I don't think there's a real difference medically (just a mild taste difference which I appreciate in cooking, though that's probably placebo).
2. Buy a tub of low-sodium salt.
3. Mix them together, probably in equal quantities, though some low-sodium salts have more potassium than others, and it depends on how much you want. If it's a no-sodium salt i.e. pure potassium chloride, then reduce how much you put it.
4. Put half a teaspoon into a 800ml/27oz water bottle (metal, please, not plastic). Repeat as needed throughout the day. My cardiologist told me to drink 3l a day, and I'm only a small thing.
The snag is that this only works if you like the taste of salty water! A few people do, but most don't, it seems.
If you want to make something fancier, look at the various options of Things You Can Get In Powder form. Possible problems: it might not dissolve, it might taste vile, it might cause your water bottle to get mouldy if you don't wash it often enough, the powder might cake up in the tub and go solid. Here's what I've tried:
D-ribose - not one I really get on with, but if you do want to use it, that's one option for sweetening the drink. It has a bit of a weird taste to it, and as it's a sugar, there's a mould risk unless you wash your water bottle carefully. I completely failed to wash the water bottle at all for God knows how long, and had a very nasty mould incident one day.
VItamin C - sour taste, as you'd expect. You don't need much, this one's pretty concentrated. Dissolved fine, but the powder caked up in the tub so I never got to use much of it.
Magnesium citrate - doesn't dissolve well. I don't remember it tasting of much, perhaps a slight powdery taste?
Calcium powder (think it was coral calcium - which form is that?) - really not keen on dissolving, and tastes chalky. In small quantites, you may not notice.
Acetyl L-carnitine - don't remember any problems with this one.
WIth all of these together, it tastes weird. I spent ages hunting for something to hide the taste in. I eventually hit on a very weird sort of herbal tea, including licorice which seems to go with the salt flavour and is probably good for me anyway. But I didn't like it enough to keep drinking it all day. I probably made it stronger to compensate for only having a mug or two of it, but still, it wasn't great.
In terms of getting things to dissolve, there may be better forms of the calcium and magnesium. Calcium ascorbate gives you VItamin C and calcium, although it's really not much calcium, as I recall. There are quite a few places selling different varieties of powders by now. I had a look at the bulk powders place listed higher up this thread, and were it not for the extortionate international shipping, would probably have tried a few. Their magnesium glycinate looks promising, for instance. Although having done the calculations, actually I think their magnesium glycinate powder would work out cheaper than the Doctors Best chelated magnesium tablets I'm taking, even though half the cost would be in shipping.
For other people wanting to drink their minerals, this Mezotrace powder looks relatively cheap, although that's because it's the carbonate versions which aren't ideal. Apart from anything else, I'm low on stomach acid, so I have to stay away from calcium carbonate.
I'm planning to experiment with malic acid, so I'll be seeing if I can make an interesting drink with that. I might try stevia again. Last time I bought stevia, in liquid form, I thought it tasted vile, but I don't mind it at all in Nuun tablets, and perhaps it's just a matter of finding a nice stevia. Apparently malic acid is good at hiding the bitter aftertaste of sweetener, too. If I manage to make up a nice electrolyte drink this way, it'll probably have less salt in it than my usual salty water, as otherwise it'd end up tasting weird. I'll see what I can manage. I probably won't bother adding the magnesium, calcium or VItamin C, though, as I already get them in tablet form, I'm at bowel tolerance already, and I didn't find them the easiest to work with. Though having one less magnesium horse tablet to swallow might be nice, so perhaps I'll try magnesium glycinate, after hunting down a suitable source.
When the focus is on calcium, people say to take it with magnesium as it helps absorption. When the focus is on magnesium, people say to take it away from calcium as otherwise the calcium competes for absorption. Meanwhile, I'm planning to take the malic acid with my other mineral supplements, to make up for my low stomach acid and help me absorb the other minerals. And these minerals include calcium citrate two or three times a day (still working that out). At present I take the magnesium at other times, i.e. in tablet form in the other two compartments of my five-compartment daily meds boxes, and put on as an oil after I shower. If I start drinking my magnesium with my other supplements, won't I have the problem of the magnesium being hindered by the calcium being taken at the same time? It's enough of a drag for me to contemplate taking one drink with salt and another drink with malic acid. I am not taking three separate drinks so that I can get my magnesium too!
The basic one is only sodium and potassium. I use Nuun tablets for when I'm out and about, or if I just fancy a sweet drink every now and again.
1. Buy a tub of salt. Sea salt if you like, though I don't think there's a real difference medically (just a mild taste difference which I appreciate in cooking, though that's probably placebo).
2. Buy a tub of low-sodium salt.
3. Mix them together, probably in equal quantities, though some low-sodium salts have more potassium than others, and it depends on how much you want. If it's a no-sodium salt i.e. pure potassium chloride, then reduce how much you put it.
4. Put half a teaspoon into a 800ml/27oz water bottle (metal, please, not plastic). Repeat as needed throughout the day. My cardiologist told me to drink 3l a day, and I'm only a small thing.
The snag is that this only works if you like the taste of salty water! A few people do, but most don't, it seems.
If you want to make something fancier, look at the various options of Things You Can Get In Powder form. Possible problems: it might not dissolve, it might taste vile, it might cause your water bottle to get mouldy if you don't wash it often enough, the powder might cake up in the tub and go solid. Here's what I've tried:
D-ribose - not one I really get on with, but if you do want to use it, that's one option for sweetening the drink. It has a bit of a weird taste to it, and as it's a sugar, there's a mould risk unless you wash your water bottle carefully. I completely failed to wash the water bottle at all for God knows how long, and had a very nasty mould incident one day.
VItamin C - sour taste, as you'd expect. You don't need much, this one's pretty concentrated. Dissolved fine, but the powder caked up in the tub so I never got to use much of it.
Magnesium citrate - doesn't dissolve well. I don't remember it tasting of much, perhaps a slight powdery taste?
Calcium powder (think it was coral calcium - which form is that?) - really not keen on dissolving, and tastes chalky. In small quantites, you may not notice.
Acetyl L-carnitine - don't remember any problems with this one.
WIth all of these together, it tastes weird. I spent ages hunting for something to hide the taste in. I eventually hit on a very weird sort of herbal tea, including licorice which seems to go with the salt flavour and is probably good for me anyway. But I didn't like it enough to keep drinking it all day. I probably made it stronger to compensate for only having a mug or two of it, but still, it wasn't great.
In terms of getting things to dissolve, there may be better forms of the calcium and magnesium. Calcium ascorbate gives you VItamin C and calcium, although it's really not much calcium, as I recall. There are quite a few places selling different varieties of powders by now. I had a look at the bulk powders place listed higher up this thread, and were it not for the extortionate international shipping, would probably have tried a few. Their magnesium glycinate looks promising, for instance. Although having done the calculations, actually I think their magnesium glycinate powder would work out cheaper than the Doctors Best chelated magnesium tablets I'm taking, even though half the cost would be in shipping.
For other people wanting to drink their minerals, this Mezotrace powder looks relatively cheap, although that's because it's the carbonate versions which aren't ideal. Apart from anything else, I'm low on stomach acid, so I have to stay away from calcium carbonate.
I'm planning to experiment with malic acid, so I'll be seeing if I can make an interesting drink with that. I might try stevia again. Last time I bought stevia, in liquid form, I thought it tasted vile, but I don't mind it at all in Nuun tablets, and perhaps it's just a matter of finding a nice stevia. Apparently malic acid is good at hiding the bitter aftertaste of sweetener, too. If I manage to make up a nice electrolyte drink this way, it'll probably have less salt in it than my usual salty water, as otherwise it'd end up tasting weird. I'll see what I can manage. I probably won't bother adding the magnesium, calcium or VItamin C, though, as I already get them in tablet form, I'm at bowel tolerance already, and I didn't find them the easiest to work with. Though having one less magnesium horse tablet to swallow might be nice, so perhaps I'll try magnesium glycinate, after hunting down a suitable source.
When the focus is on calcium, people say to take it with magnesium as it helps absorption. When the focus is on magnesium, people say to take it away from calcium as otherwise the calcium competes for absorption. Meanwhile, I'm planning to take the malic acid with my other mineral supplements, to make up for my low stomach acid and help me absorb the other minerals. And these minerals include calcium citrate two or three times a day (still working that out). At present I take the magnesium at other times, i.e. in tablet form in the other two compartments of my five-compartment daily meds boxes, and put on as an oil after I shower. If I start drinking my magnesium with my other supplements, won't I have the problem of the magnesium being hindered by the calcium being taken at the same time? It's enough of a drag for me to contemplate taking one drink with salt and another drink with malic acid. I am not taking three separate drinks so that I can get my magnesium too!
When will I ever learn? 
