I was sent 4 packets of The Right Stuff to test. Not to be confused with gels, these are electrolyte concentrate fluids to be ADDED TO WATER. Trust me, you’re most likely not going to want to drink these straight out of the packet. We’ll get to that…

I love the buzz on the packaging that these are NASA Developed. I mean, I definitely operate my daily life choices by asking myself “Is this what an astronaut would do?” Kidding aside, these were created because apparently astronauts come back to Earth and suffer from severe dehydration once they’re back in our gravity. Space is so interesting and all the ways it can impact people who have been there!

(Read about the twin study NASA did, it’s super cool.)

Right now, I’m not exactly operating at peak performance. I wish I was running harder, better, faster, stronger than ever before. But I’m not getting any younger and I had a big derailment last year. I’m still crawling my way back. But I’ve been able to run more lately without feeling as dizzy… mainly due to making sure I get in all my “ums.”

These are the things I need to take each day since having my thyroid removed so I feel semi-human.

• calcium
• magnesium
• selenium

And I crave salty things more, so that’s some sodium.

Hence… my daily ums.

What I noticed with this product is the sodium level is WAY higher than most sports drinks on the market. The sodium citrate in this helps act as a buffer in the GI tract so athletes are better protected from distress that can come from long-distance endurance events. (CODE BROWN!) 1780 mg of sodium, 77% of the daily value recommended. (Clearly, the DV recommendation is not the rule for everyone. Take it with a grain of salt. HA! Pun!)

The recommended use is to mix one pouch into 16oz of water. But for kicks, I put it in 8oz and took one sip. It was super salty… so I think increased it to the 16oz stated in the instructions. At that point, it was salty but not disgustingly so for me. But if people do find it too much, they recommend increasing the water to 20-24 oz. and/or adding in some extra flavoring with something like Crystal Light.

One serving (aka one pouch) is the optimal amount and ratio of electrolytes for one hour of intense exertion or high-heat activities. Hey, I live in Las Vegas… it’s a high-heat environment. (Not this year though, so far we haven’t hit 100 degrees yet and it’s mid-June! So weird, but I’m not complaining.)

Any product worth its salt (another pun!) has a list of bullet points about what it does or does not contain. The Right Stuff is no different.. so here is the list of does not contains:

• sugar
• stimulants
• added color
• artificial flavor
• gluten
• dairy
• nuts
• meat
• shellfish

(If there is a sports drink on the market that contains meat, let me know so I can avoid it. That sounds awful!)

This stuff is not cheap though. You can buy a bottle of a typical sports drink at the store for pretty cheap and sometimes there are even sales where you can get a 32oz bottle for less than 50 cents. There are powdered options on the market that are also cheaper per serving.

With The Right Stuff, for $8.99 you can get 3 pouches. That breaks down to $2.99 per pouch. As with most things in this world though, the more you buy at a time the less the price. A pack of 10 takes the price down to $2.79 per pouch. And if you buy 120 of them at once, the price drops to $2.41.

I liked it, and if I was training for a marathon throughout the summer in Las Vegas again (maybe someday) I would use these for all of my long runs. (You’ll still need a calorie source, these are not filling that need.) I definitely hold out hope that I’ll be able to do a hard training block again someday and when I do, I’d like to see how these work for me. I’m a super salty sweater and replenishing that is always so important. I have even tried munching on tiny pretzels during long efforts to get calories and salt. It’s nice to know there is a better liquid option.

You can buy The Right Stuff online and there are some stores that carry it. I looked near me via the website and it seems that only one bike shop sells them in Las Vegas.