Sugar-Free Electrolytes

Yes, when you want the salts without the fuel: a hot day working outside, a sweaty session soon after a meal, or a low-carb diet. Long, hard or repeated sessions also call for carbohydrate, so pair a sugar-free mix with food or a carbohydrate drink. On a normal day of light training, water and meals usually cover your electrolytes. Read sugar vs sugar-free electrolytes.

Pillar Performance uses erythritol (a sugar alcohol), stevia and monk fruit, and lists 0 g of sugar with 3.5 g of carbohydrate a serve. Ghost Hydration lists 0 g of sugar and 1 to 2 g of carbohydrate. Each product names its sweeteners on the ingredients panel, so check it if you avoid a particular one. Sugar-free does not always mean carbohydrate free.

Basic Supplements Hydration, at 600 mg of sodium and 650 mg of chloride in a 5 g scoop. Pillar Performance lists 400 mg and Ghost Hydration 150 mg. Ghost has the most potassium of the three, at 375 mg a serve, plus 1,500 mg of taurine. Read how much sodium you need.

By label, yes. Basic Supplements Hydration lists 1 g of carbohydrate a serve, Ghost 1 to 2 g and Pillar 3.5 g, all with 0 g of sugar. If you avoid sugar alcohols, note that Pillar contains erythritol. Check the carbohydrate line before you count a serve in a low-carb day, because sugar free and carbohydrate free are not the same thing.

If you sweat heavily every day, one serve can fit, within the serves a day on the label. Otherwise water and meals cover most days. Count the sodium in your food as well as your drinks: one serve here lists 150 to 600 mg. If you have blood pressure, kidney or heart conditions, ask your doctor or pharmacist before adding a daily electrolyte.

It is on orders of $70 or more, anywhere in New Zealand. Below $70 you pay the courier rate shown at checkout. Order before 1pm on a business day and we normally dispatch from Palmerston North the same day, with tracking by email. Rural addresses usually take one to two business days longer.