It's Summertime...Lets Drink More Water and Include Gatorade!

HiDesertHal

HiDesertHal

Senior Member
Location
Southern California's High Mojave Desert
You Seniors in Humid Areas around the country...you Perspire a lot, so you need to replenish your Electrolytes as well as increase your Water consumption.

Here in the Southwest we're dry even when it hits 115. We've only had a high of 108 so far this week...I don't think we'll get the predicted 115.

HiDesertHal (Here's my wife Judy on a lush, green hillside in Calico Ghost Town, an abandoned Silver Mine in the High Desert.)
 

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Great advice no matter where you live. Water is plentiful, refreshing and good for us. We have to remember the same goes for our pets, especially those who spend time out doors. If you have a dog or cat who likes spending time outside, remember to set them up with a watering station in a shady area outside. Add ice to the water for them too.
 
Coconut water is my first choice, and then regular water in the heat/humidity down here in SE Texas.
Gatorade also works if cramping up when working outside in the heat for a while.
 
I've been doing some yard work in this heat...out at 10AM, and stop by 1PM, before it gets really miserable. We have excellent well water, and it is probably about 50 degrees coming right out of the tap, so I stop every 20 minutes or so, and have a good drink, and refresh the "damp rag" I keep around my neck to help keep the body temperature stable. In mild weather, I can mow all the yard and field in about 5 or 6 hours, but in this heat and humidity, I take 3 or 4 days, a couple of hours at a time, to do it all.
 
I just went thru a bout of dehydration symptoms a few weeks back so this is good advice. If you feel dizzy headed, weak; vomiting; especially if you're out doing yard work in the heat and sweating a lot, drink as much as you can. I personally hate water, so I make weak iced tea. But you need to keep a bottle of gatorade or some electrolyte drink handy in case you don't improve after drinking fluids. One person also mentioned watching the color of your urine output as a signal.

Electrolyte imbalances are very dangerous for older people. My husband ended up having a stroke due to an undiagnosed electrolyte imbalance that he ignored the symptoms of.. vomiting/diarrhea.
 
When it's hot and cucumbers are cheap or free I make a pitcher of cucumber water.

I prefer to use an English cucumber because it has a slight lemon taste but a home grown cuke will do just fine.

Wash and remove the ends from the cucumber, make thin slices using a mandolin or sharp paring knife, put the cucumber slices in a half gallon pitcher and fill with water, chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour and serve over ice.
 
As Helen mentioned; If your urine is clear and colorless, you are well hydrated.

I keep a thermos full of filtered water in the fridge and drink out of that whenever I get thirsty.
 
jujube said:
We call Gatorade "flavored sweat". I've never been able to get a taste for it.
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I never thought of it before, but that's a perfect description of the taste, jujube. And now I know for sure I'll never be able to develop a taste for it. Thank you. (just kidding :)).
 
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