Posted: 2026-01-18

🔗 DIY sports drinks

I take lithium. Because it's an electrolyte which competes with sodium, I have to keep my salt-to-fluid ratio high and consistent. Obviously do whatever your physician says, but this is how I personally handle that problem without spending a fortune on Gatorade.

The basic approach is to split it into three simple syrups, which we can then combine in different quantities resulting in a concentrate which can be added with water or soda water.

🔗 Sweet

I like to have a half-sugar drink — you're still getting a little boost, but it's not quite as bad for you.

900mL water

1.4kg sugar

Put down a bench covering so you don't get ants.

Mix and gently stir/heat until dissolved. Let cool. Hot sugar syrup sticks and burns horribly. Do not caramelise it even slightly.

Add 80g Equal sweetener (if you skip this, you'll need more sugar). Heat damages it. In these quantities it's a bit weird about dissolving, so you'll have to stir aggressively and smoosh clumps apart.

Funnel into a water bottle (keep the funnel slightly above the lip of the bottle so it doesn't seal and geyser)

🔗 Sour

1L lemon juice (with sulfite preservative) - if using fresh lemon juice then a quarter teaspoon of potassium benzoate.

Optionally 100-200mL lime juice to taste

🔗 Salty

200mL water

12g sodium chloride

6g potassium chloride

Mix until dissolved

🔗 Final concentrate

600mL sweet

300mL sour

50mL salty

All three amounts are floopy: feel free to adjust to taste.

Put it into a large Super Pump bottle with a pop top.

Don't drink it straight up. You'll regret it.

I suggest labelling your bottles so you don't accidentally create a Bottle of Lies.

🔗 Usage

You can put a different amount of the concentrate in with water depending on the application. This can range anywhere from a standard sports drink to a subtly flavoured water depending on what you're after. The pop top makes this really easy: just squirt more or less in.

Maybe start with something like a 10:1 ratio.

Pretty much the name of the game here is ratios. If you get them even slightly out it can change the character of what you're drinking quite strongly. Changes to the amount of salt mix are particularly potent.

Experiment! See what fits your tastes and lifestyle needs. This is a very sweet version to reflect the taste of commercial sports drinks. If you find it overwhelming then mess around with ratios.

🔗 Economics

This is a comically cost-effective choice. For $20 you can make litres of concentrate and halve your sugar intake at the same time. For those who point out that we've effectively created cordial with an electrolyte supplement: yeah, that's what a sports drink is.

🔗 Soju Spritz Highball

Start with a third of a glass of fresh soju. Add a good solid squirt of the concentrate. Top up with soda water.

If you get the ratios exactly right you can make this indistinguishable from a can of -196 at about a fifth of the price. The electrolytes also help a little with the legendary soju hangovers.

🔗 Future Things To Play With

Yerba mate extracts

🔗 Checkin

Version: 1

Written: 2026-01-18

Written on: 7.5mg olanzapine since 2025-11-11 - likely causing significant cognitive impairment

Mental health was: poor - estimate 25% brain