jkizzle

Ok, so I was showing a guy from class a new ride today, because he was interested in joining the school cycling team and its always nice to have a new riding buddy. He hadn't ridden too much in the last year, and I plan to hit a really long ride tomorrow, so I just showed him an easy 17 mile route with some ok hills and nice scenery.

It was about 88 degrees (F) out, not something I am not used to though, so I filled one of my bottles with gatorade mix with a little extra water so compensate for the sweat. About the midway point, we stopped for a minute so I could tell him a few other routes down the road for some great hills and whatnot, and I was just extremely nauseated. I had to stop for like 10 minutes to calm my stomach down.

Now, besides from this being really embarrassing (having a hard time with 8 miles...), was it the gatorade that made me sick? Ive read in the nutrition forum that the powdered mix wasn't much more than table sugar, but still, I wouldn't think that it would have made me sick. My diet hasnt changed, so other than the gatorade, I dont know what it would be.

Im not burnt out either, I had been sidelined for 3 days until I had time to get a new tube this morning.

mollusk

I'm surprised that GATOR-ade didn't kill a Wildcat. I'm just saying.

jkizzle

yeah, just makes me sick. unfortunatly our school drink, bourbon, doesnt do me any good whatsoever on a ride

mollusk

Knob Creek is good stuff.

Seriously, though, I can't drink Gatorade when riding. It gives me stomach cramps so I "feel your pain". If I am riding long enough that electrolyte issues become important I would rather get them from food than sports drinks. You need the calories anyway.

CharlieWoo

I don't know about the powder, but the bottled stuff has brominated vegetable oil in it. Yuch. Buy bulk maltodextrin and make your own drink.

asmallsol

I won't touch the premade stuff but for me I don't have a problem with the dry mix, however everyone is diffrent. I don't really agree with cytomax, and the first time I had the powerbar high sodium stuff I had killer cramps for about an hour, but after the first time, the stuff worked good.

texascyclist

powerbar endurance has more than one electrolyte and carbohydrate type in it I believe. That may be easier on your stomach and help with absorption. You should not water down your gatorade. This slows down stomach absorption

jkizzle

i jsut water it down so that it doesnt leave the phlem in my throat, ill take that into consideration though

akatsuki

Use Gatorade powder if you have to, cause it has maltodextrin in it still. I use Hammer HEED which is expensive, but no problems with cramps. Bulk maltodex is definitely the cheapest, and I may experiment with that in the future.

DScott

When you're exerting heavily, it's said that the simple sugars in Gatorade are more difficult for the stomach to process than the more complex carbohydrates (i.e., maltodextrins). It's possible it did make you sick, especially if you were pushing rather hard at the time. It just wasn't getting digested.

Or at least, that's what the folks at Hammer think... https://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=KNOWLEDGE

asmallsol

Heed tastes like cat piss. One of the sweetners they use is Xylitol which is the sweetner found in many sugarless gums. IMO it tastes horrible.

For one, you want to use multiple types of carbs. For the longest time, it was kinda known that the body could process about a gram of sugar a minute or 60g's an hour. Any more then that and it just sits in your stomach and causes gut rot. However a few years ago a study involved utilizing different types of sugars because it was hypothesized that different sugar types are broken down by different digestive systems and by using multiple types of sugars, the body could process more sugars per hour. After testing, they found out they were right, and once this report went out, many of the sports drink manufactures changed their mixes to use multiple sugars. (read this in outsider magazine a few months ago)

Hobartlemagne 

I love cold gatorade, hate warm gatorade. I never bring it on a ride.

kmkurdone

I threw up in my last triathlon after drinking gatorade (i thought it was water being handed to me) So, ya, it might have been.

aicabsolut

Xylitol and other sugar alcohols can also cause stomach cramping and bloating..though usually not that fast. These sugars are not absorbed or digested (which is why they're "calorie free"), but that means you have a GI tract full of sugars that bacteria go nuts on. It is also hydrophilic, which in large quantities in the intestines can cause some other problems--too much water retention in the bowels.

Was it really cold? When it's hot out, if I drink ice cold anything, I get massive stomach cramps. Room temp water for me all the way. By the way, if you dilute the gatorade with water, you aren't getting the proper electrolyte concentration, so you aren't doing anything at all to "compensate for the extra sweat." Electrolytes also help stomach emptying during exercise, so as texascycilst said, the wrong balance can not only leave you too full but keep you from absorbing what you need to out of the Gatorade. Drinking or eating too much at one time and being too full will also delay stomach emptying and can cause reflux or other discomfort.

Gatorade makes me gag as soon as it hits my tongue, so I avoid it all together. I get electrolytes and calories from other sources.

I don't recall what the sugars are in Gatorade, but some of them will cause stomach emptying at different rates and are digested and absorbed at different rates. High concentrations of some carbs during exercise can also cause gastro-esophageal reflux.

divineAndbright

I can drink gatarade but not that powerade stuff, it makes me sick, go figure.

ncherry

I can't drink Orange or Fruit Punch but I can Lemon-Line, Grape and few other odd flavors (I have no idea what flavor they are). I prefer the powder as I can adjust for taste (it's too sweet for my rides up to 100 miles).

GP

I'm using powdered mix Gatoraid now but I do the same thing for all drink mixes - I water them down to 50% of the recommended mix.

I got the Gatoraid because it was cheap and I had a long ride the next day but I think I'll go back to Heed or Gookinaid next time. I don't care if it tastes like cat piss if it keeps me from cramping.

Pharmr

GU2O for me....nice subtle flavors...goes down easily.

Nachoman

Yeah if I use Gatorade I also heavily water it down. But I don't like Gatorade. It makes my stomach feel weird. Gookinaid all the way.
https://www.gookinaid.com/index.htm

ericgu

The premixed stuff can cause issues because of the fructose. The powdered stuff is considerably less benign - it's often too sweet to really drink enough to be useful, but it is pretty much just sugar with some flavoring.

But drinks are really personal.

asmallsol

Gookinaid tastes ok, but there are no electrolytes in that stuff.

bsyptak

Premixed Gatorade contains high fructose corn syrup. Dry Gatorade contains partially hydrogenated soybean (or some other) oil. Both are off the buy list as a matter of principal. Pepsico has turned them into little more than junk food. There is a reason why it's only a dollar these days.

Garfield Cat

If you have been drinking Gatorade for a while and this is your first adverse reaction, then maybe you had the Gatorade on an empty stomach or it might have been something you ate prior to the Gatorade.

michaelmc

I've just started using Nuun, and love it. It's an electrolyte tablet that you put into water that only mildly flavors the water and doesn't add carbohydrates or sugars. It's great for rehydration while letting me control my caloric intake with gels and bars. Maybe it'd be a good solution if the Gatorade is the problem.

Retro Grouch 

Are you sure that you got the concentration right? If it's a little too strong it'll dehydrate you and upset your body chemistry.