Several people have requested recipes for GAPS-friendly electrolyte sports drinks.
One option is to mix the homepressed juice of celery into a tasty concoction.
Vegan triathlete Brendan Brazier offers several other ideas. In his book The Thrive Diet, Brendan provides recipes for 4 sports drinks, 4 “fuel bites” (which my athletic sister especially loves), multiple energy and recovery puddings, and several recovery drinks. At least a couple of his ideas can easily be modified for GAPS.
To respect copyright, I’m posting just one of the sports drink here. If it’s the kind of thing that interests you, I recommend getting his book. It’s excellent through-and-through, with several SCD-friendly recipes and several more that are easily adapted to SCD.
Electrolyte Sport Drink with Ginger
modified from Brendan Brazier’s book The Thrive Diet
- squeeze juice of one lemon into a blender
- add 2 cups water from a young coconut, 1 tbsp honey [Brazier actually says agave nectar but this cannot be used on GAPS], 1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger, sea salt to taste
- blend
- keep refrigerated for up to two weeks
Option: Substitute lime for lemon, or do half and half.
Paraphrased from BB’s recipe notes: The water from the young coconut provides the electrolytes; nectar [and I believe honey, too] provides an easily digestible form of slow-release carbohydrates. Ginger helps minimize inflammation.
Emergency? If you are caring for someone that needs electrolytes immediately, and ingredients for the above versions are not directly available, look under ‘Stage One – Drinks’ here. Baking soda is not recommended on GAPS, but is acceptable in a relative emergency. In such an emergency, feel free to incorporate diluted fruit juice as necessary to allow the patient to get the other ingredients down. Note: Googling ‘electrolyte drink’ will bring up a number of other basic recipes.
If you are concerned about all the sugar in Coconut Water, you can “kefir” it first:
Is there a cheaper substitute I could use to get electrolytes? It doesn’t have to be really strong, just to keep hydrated and flush out toxins. I am going to try the celery juice, but would adding lemon and salt to filtered water be good enough? If so, what are the ratios? I’m not talking about something for after a workout, just something beneficial to overall health.
Hi Bethany,
You can just Google for lots more electrolyte drink ideas…
All my best,
Baden
Baden,
I’m wondering if I need to go back to my normal diet and wean into the gaps diet. This seems pretty severe reactions given such a short time on gaps and no probiotics.
K
Hi Kelly,
Reactions to dietary changes and die-off can be extremely intense, but it is also always possible that something not related to diet is going on, and that needs to be ruled out.
You can certainly return to a standard diet while ruling out any medical issues, then transition to GAPS slowly, as suggested in GAPS Guide, pages 28-34. (Note that even in this case, die-off from intro done eventually will still likely be intense. Recommendations for minimizing die-off are in the book and on this website.)
All my best,
Baden