this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five

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I know gator-aid and its like advertise that they have lots of them. And I know sometimes I feel bad if I sweat a lot and just drink water. But are they just advertising... salt? Are there different kinds of electrolytes, and if so are they interchangable?

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Salts. Sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Edit: Not interchangeable. All three are essential.

Gatorade is a bad source of electrolytes. It's loaded with sodium but that's about it. You're better off drinking coconut water and taking a magnesium citrate suppliment for hydration. Stay away from Gatorade. It's sugar water.

EDIT: Yes there are others too. Chloride, Calcium, Phosphates, and Bicarbonate. I only mentioned the major ones. Apologies for that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Years ago I read that magnesium oxide has a very low absorption rate in the body, so it mostly passes in urine. The source said magnesium malate or citrate have much higher absorption.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Magnesium also competes with calcium for absorption. So it's best to space them out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been taking the malate variety, but decided to switch to oxide midway through, because I got a bottle of it for free. It took me a week to realize that magnesium oxide was the one causing diarrhea. So yeah, there's definitely a difference between magnesium varieties.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sometimes free is too expensive.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Free as in my mom bought it and gave it to me together with some other vitamins.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

(Since showing context isn't working properly atm, going off of memory of what was being talked about for this reply, sorry if I'm wrong and it doesn't make sense)

Too expensive as in the results were the real cost, not what you paid or didn't pay at a store.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You're right. I meant to say Magnesium Citrate and only just now realized my mistake, two whole months later.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, coconut water is not good for tree nut allergies.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Avocados it is, then. (Those don't count as tree nuts, right?) Regardless, you need to find a good source of potassium. Most people are deficient.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd rather take vitamins. Avocados are gross af.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Of course someone who uses an instance based in the midwest would say something like that, LMAO. You just think you have Avocados cause you've never had real Mexican food before. I've visited over 30 states so I can confidently say that you can only get decent Mexican in border states. The guacamole here is *unreal *.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I guess Texas isn't a border state and that people who are literally born and raised in Mexico and in currently living in the US aren't Mexican enough to make real Mexican food. Good to know.