Does anyone have experience making a electrolyte drink (salts) for periods of fasting? I hear they can make a big difference health wise and performance of daily duties, so I am looking more into this topic but also want to keep the Spirit of the fast (though I don't think this sort of drink is an issue here).

I understand that it can be confusing to use the correct ingredients and ratios and it can cause serious health consequences if mistakes are made. I buy pre-made sugar-free electrolyte mixes.

They are immensely helpful during periods of fasting and illness. They help me to keep my energy up and avoid headaches. I've also noticed that I don't have food cravings when I use the electrolytes.

Electrolyte drinks are ripoffs.  If you look into it, they give you maybe 5-10% of your recommended daily intake of sodium / potassium.

You'd be much better off getting some sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium ... the four basic electrolytes.  If you get them in a powdered form and blend them into water, well, if you don't add any other flavoring, you won't be breaking the "spirit of Lent" by any stretch.  Stuff tastes foul, especially the magnesium.  That's actually one reason (besides cost) that Gatorade and other electrolyte drinks have so little of them actually in there.  Nobody would spent $2 per bottle for something that tastes terrible.

Also, be very careful of magnesium, because it'll cause diarrhea if you take even a bit too much (it's a major ingredient in many laxatives).  I would start with no more than 10-20% of the recommended RDA, spread out throughout the day, and then build up to it.

For sodium + potassium, I but this "Low-Sodium Salt" that's basically half sodium chloride and half potassium chloride.

In any case, I tend to make my own electrolyte drinks because they can have 10x the electrolytes for 1/10th of the cost.

If you don't want so much of the chloride, you can get powdered potassium citrate or potassium bicarbonate.  If you use some potassium iodide, you also get some iodine, which is good for you and in which most diets are deficient.  You can also buy sodium citrate.

Magnesium glycinate is the form that's best absorbed and least likely to cause diarrhea.  Calcium citrate seems to the best absorbed form of calcium.

Magnesium Glycinate:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F7OZJQE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00F7OZJQE&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

Sodium Citrate
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B1KJZ23/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B07B1KJZ23&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

Potassium Citrate
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENSA942/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00ENSA942&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

Calcium Citrate
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F8I5XQU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00F8I5XQU&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

Potassium Iodide
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CGVQ5WJ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B07CGVQ5WJ&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />

If you want to avoid Amazon, you can get it right off the Bulk Supplements website for about the same prices:
https://www.bulksupplements.com/

These might look expensive, but they'll last you forever, and would be 1/1000th of the cost to get the same electrolytes from something like Gatorade.

Thanks for the responses everyone. One more thing, do these drinks make you run to the toilet?

I know magnesium does, but what about the others?

Since the purpose of electrolytes is for hydration, actually these will help your system to hold on to liquids properly instead of draining it all out too quickly. Re magnesium, just keep it within reasonable limits and you should be OK. If you can, try to ease in before Lent so you can see how your body reacts and gets used to it.

Magnesium is something you have to build up to for sure.  If one teaspoon of the powder is 100% RDA, I'd take no more than 1/4 teaspoon per day to start, using magnesium glycinate if possible.

Since the purpose of electrolytes is for hydration, actually these will help your system to hold on to liquids properly instead of draining it all out too quickly. Re magnesium, just keep it within reasonable limits and you should be OK. If you can, try to ease in before Lent so you can see how your body reacts and gets used to it.

I plan on mixing it with 700ml of water, as that is the bottle size I take to work.

If you don't want "do it yourself" gatorade -- you're in a hurry, don't want to mess with it, etc. -- I would recommend Stur over Gatorade.

Stur is a packet you mix into water. It has way more electrolytes, and uses Stevia for sweetener. So no HFCS, no sugar, almost no carbs, and no artificial sweeteners either. And it's powerful enough you can mix it into a good amount of water and it still tastes good.

It's way cheaper than even the store brand gatorade.

https://sturdrinks.com/products/stur-electrolyte-hydration-powder-fruit-punch-96-packets

Also, I don't like those little squeeze bottles because any of them that are shelf-stable (won't grow bacteria at room temperature, after being "opened") invariably have Sodium Benzoate as a preservative. So I prefer powders -- which NEED no such preservatives -- to liquids.

Does anyone have experience making a electrolyte drink (salts) for periods of fasting? I hear they can make a big difference health wise and performance of daily duties, so I am looking more into this topic but also want to keep the Spirit of the fast (though I don't think this sort of drink is an issue here).

The monks used to drink beer during Lent and called it "liquid bread".  

Drinking healthy liquids is definitely a good idea while fasting.  Our "go to" drinks are usually raw milk, homemade kombucha and lemonade.  All of these have helped me when I was feeling weak from fasting in the past.  Lemonade or kombucha with a pinch of salt has the same effect for me as drinking a Gatorade except that Gatorades make me sick.