Electrolytes recharge your life.

Introduction

I learned a long time ago that we needed salt. The history books talked about salt caravans traveling across the desert and about salt mines. Old war movies showed soldiers putting salt tablets in their canteens. Salt was used to preserve food, like salt beef, salt pork, and salted cod. A documentary on the Brooklyn Bridge told about how they added salt and lemons to the water for the workers. Salt has always been important. It’s only modern medical fashion that believes salt is bad, but that is slowly starting to change.

All animals need electrolytes and in roughly the same amounts. And that makes sense since electrolytes are important at the cellular level. Cells work the same way and respond the same way in all animals. Every good farmer puts out a salt lick for his animals. Animals will travel miles for salt. Without salt there is no life.

Average values for:	Sodium, mEq/liter	Potassium, mEq/liter	Magnesium, mEq/liter
Human	140	4.35	1.6
Dog	138.5	4.75	1.9
Cat	141.5	5	1.85
Grant’s Gazelle	151	4.4	2.7
Mule Deer	160	13.4 (6.8 – 20)	3.8
Spotted Skunk	146	6.1
Virginia Opossum	149	5.1
Grant’s Zebra	140	4.4

I live in Florida. It’s hot, often very hot, and always humid – usually very humid. And that means perspiration. Lots. I noticed that I’d get leg cramps, or sometimes my heart would beat a little faster, or my blood pressure would be just a little on the higher side. At one annual physical my doctor told me I was low on potassium, but didn’t say anything more about it. A couple of months later I came across an article about electrolytes that explained how low levels of potassium, sodium, or magnesium can be very dangerous.

Symptoms of too low sodium include sluggishness (lethargy) and confusion. If the sodium level in blood falls quickly, symptoms tend to develop rapidly and be more severe. Older adults, who are often taking a lot of medications, are more likely to have severe symptoms. As the loss becomes extreme, muscle twitching and seizures may occur. eventually, a person will become unresponsive or only in a stupor, and may eventually fall into a coma.

A slight decrease in potassium blood level usually goes unnoticed. However, symptoms of a larger decrease can cause muscle weakness, cramping, and twitches, and abnormal heart rhythms may develop. If low potassium lasts for an extended time, kidney problems may develop, causing the person to urinate frequently and drink large amounts of water.

Low levels of magnesium can cause sleepiness, weakness, mood changes, muscle spasms, tremors, loss of appetite, nausea, or vomiting, . If severe, it can cause seizures, especially in children.

For the vast majority of people an excess of salt is not life threatening. The body will naturally flush it out. The real life threatening danger is not having enough salt. I started by adding a little salt and lemon to a glass of water. As I learned more, I modified my recipe. This recipe provides the three most important electrolytes. I haven’t included calcium because I get plenty of calcium from my regular diet. I’m following a ketogenic, low carbohydrate high fat diet.

We don’t often get enough minerals today from our diets. Most people are eating highly refined diets, mostly carbohydrates, which lack minerals. Many people will point to plants as good sources for minerals. and plants do have minerals but only if the soil they’re grown in has those minerals. Many soils are depleted because of overuse, failure to properly rotate crops, reliance on fertilizers, and most farms no longer have animals to rebuild the soil. The overuse of pesticides and other chemicals have made many crops hazardous.

Plants also have natural toxins like phytates which are their defenses against being eaten. We used to specially prepare plants to minimize these toxins and maximize the plants’ food value. Many people are eating a raw food diet and not preparing plants properly so they can be digested. This was what people used to do before when most people still lived on farms. This was usually done by fermentation or soaking.

How I developed the recipe

Comparison of Electrolyte Mixes

I looked at what mixes were available. I wanted to avoid sugars and other chemicals. All the mixes in the local supermarkets and pharmacies were loaded with sugar and the few sugar free choices had artificial sweeteners and colorants. Internet searches lead me to several brands. Focusing on potassium I narrowed the list to six possible choices. There are other brands out there but I only compared these six. They all looked like great products for anyone who needs to replenish their electrolytes. But I was looking for a lower cost alternative and one that I could tailor to my needs.

The table below compares the six brands with their amounts of sodium, potassium, and magnesium. The amounts were next normalized in reference to magnesium, and then calculated an average. This became the basis for the recipe.

Brand	Sodium, Na	Potassium, K	Magnesium, Mg
LMNT	1000 mg 16.66 Na/Mg ratio	200 mg 3.33 K/Mg ratio	60 mg 1
Re-Lyte	810 mg 16.2 Na/Mg ratio	400 mg 10 K/Mg ratio	50 mg 1
Protekt	500 mg 10 Na/Mg ratio	100 mg 2 K/Mg ratio	50 mg 1
Nuun life	300 mg 12 Na/Mg ratio	150 mg 6 K/Mg ratio	25 mg 1
Tailwind Endurance Fuel	310 mg 25.83 Na/Mg ratio	90 mg 7.5 K/Mg ratio	12 mg 1
NOW Effer-Hydrate Recovery	360 mg 14.4 Na/Mg ratio	100 mg 4 K/Mg ratio	25 mg 1
Average ratios	15.8 Na/Mg ratio	5.5 K/Mg ratio	1
My Recipe	1000 mg 18.2 Na/Mg ratio	300 mg 5.5 K/Mg ratio	55 mg 1

Calculating the quantities

I decided to make my own from Himalayan salt, potassium chloride,and a magnesium, but still uncertain which type of magnesium. The choices were Mg citrate, Mg glycinate, and Mg malate. I chose Mg malate as it is the most absorbable.

Making the recipe by weight is the best and most accurate way, but not the most convenient way. To convert from weight to volume measurements requires knowing the average weight to a standard volume. For dry ingredients the particle size, or fineness, is also critical. Finer ingredients, like powders, pack closer together than course grains.

I measured each ingredient several times using a known volume, a metric ½ teaspoon as the standard volume. Common kitchen teaspoons are not accurate and there is a difference between US customary teaspoons and metric teaspoons that is significant enough to necessitate an accurate set of teaspoon measures. I found a good set on Amazon.

	Electrolytes and % amt element in molecule by wt	Average measured mg per teaspoon (5 ml)	Amount per quart or liter	Amt electrolytes per serving by wt
Servings 10 fl oz, 300 ml serving			3
Salt, Himalayan, extra fine	1000 mg Na/liter 38.26 % Na by wt	5600 mg/tsp	½ teaspoon 2600 mg	866 mg, about 22% daily rec’d
Potassium Chloride, extra fine, Bulk Supplements	300 mg K/liter 52.5 % K by wt	6000 mg/tsp	1/10 tsp (0.5 ml measure) 600mg	200 mg, about 23% daily rec’d
Magnesium Malate powder, Bulk Supplements	55 mg Mg/liter 15.54 % Mg by wt	3500 mg/tsp	1/10 tsp (0.5 ml measure) 350 mg	116 mg, about 27% daily rec’d
Lemon Juice			1 fluid ounce 30 ml

For example, the potassium amounts were calculated this way:

• Product used: BulkSupplements.com Potassium Chloride.
• KCl has extra fine grains. Measured six times with average of 2795mg per half teaspoon. Rounded up to 6000mg/tsp
• Potassium is 52.5% by weight of potassium chloride
• Potassium desired amount per liter: 300mg.
• (300mg K) / (0.525 K in KCl) = 571mg KCl. I rounded this up to 600mg
• Since there’s about 6000mg/tsp, the amount needed per liter is 1/10 tsp (0.5 ml) providing 600mg

As a final step I divided the amounts per liter by the serving size; in this case: 3. Each serving having 200mg potassium. I then compared the electrolyte amounts to recommended amounts and found that they came in between 20% and 27% of the daily suggested amounts.

Recipe

	1 Quart (32 oz) 1 Liter	2 Qt (½ Gallon) 2 Liters	4 Qt (1 Gallon) 4 Liters
Servings 10 fl oz, 300 ml serving	3	6	12
Salt, Himalayan, extra fine	½ teaspoon 2600 mg	1 tsp 5200 mg	2 tsp 10400 mg
Potassium Chloride, extra fine, Bulk Supplements	1/10 tsp (0.5 ml measure) 600 mg	2 x 1/10 tsp (1 ml measure) 1200 mg	4 x 1/10 tsp (2 ml measure) 2400 mg
Magnesium Malate powder, Bulk Supplements	1/10 tsp (0.5 ml measure) 350 milligrams	2 x 1/10 tsp (1 ml measure) 700 mg	4 x 1/10 tsp (2 ml measure) 1400 mg
Lemon Juice	1 fluid ounce 30 ml	2 fl oz 60 ml	4 fl oz 120 ml

What to buy

Making your own

Electrolyte Mixes