"It's got electrolytes!"

If you haven't seen the movie Idiocracy, stop what you're doing and watch it right now so that the title of today's post makes sense. I am usually a total film snob watching the latest Sundance Film Festival award-winner while savoring a bottle of fine red wine and nodding solemnly during the depressing ending, as if I know anything at all about cinematic arts. Not with Idiocracy, though. While I usually avoid funny blockbusters, I laugh ridiculously at that one every time while silently worrying that humanity may be headed in that particular direction.

Where was I going with this? Oh yes, electrolytes. Because one of my favorite lines in Idiocracy is "It's got electrolytes!"

For whatever reason, I have always had a bit of an uphill battle with dehydration. When my younger daughter was an infant, I started having heart palpitations that made it difficult to breathe and blacked out while nursing her. Several trips to my midwife, doctor, and a cardiologist later, I learned that I have a minor heart condition, tachycardia, that is made much worse by dehydration.

Water has always been my preferred drink. Sure, I'd die without my morning coffee (black, please), I often enjoy a cup of hot decaf tea in the evening, and I like some red wine with my snobbery during a Friday night film, but water is the only thing I drink during the day, with meals, and pretty much any other time if given the choice. I'm not a juice-drinker, I am allergic to milk, I dislike soda and other carbonated drinks, and I'm not a fan of sweetened liquids in general. Just give me a glass of cool or room-temp water and I'll be happy.

Well, eight years ago a cardiologist told me that despite my H2O consumption, I suffer from dehydration. Say what? He told me that it is critical that I drink liquids containing electrolytes if I plan to do sweat-worthy activity, and he recommended I drink Gatorade or something similar. Unfortunately, I don't like Gatorade because the flavor is too strong and far too sweet for me.

I drink a lot of Smart Water, which does the trick fairly well, but sometimes I need a little more than that. Luckily, I discovered NUUN electrolyte drink tabs during this last year. While I would still prefer less flavor, the carbonation is minimal and the taste is gentle enough that I can drink it without gagging.

Not my favorite flavor, but drinkable.

Though I still stick to drinking water most of the time, I do use the drink tabs the day before a long run (6+ miles), during trail and other long races, and while I am recovering from sweating enough to scare a small child. As much as I kind of hate admitting it, drinking the electrolyte-infused water really does help a lot.

It also helps with hangovers from being too much of a snob on film night. Not that I would know anything about that.