[Sean Polacik]

As you have noted alot of those “electrolyte” powders are high in sugar or using artificial sweeteners. Both of which side rail the benefit.

Magnesium, potassium, sodium and chloride are the fairly big hitters that people tend to find themselves low in. Especially during summer when outside working and sweating in the sun.

Calcium, as long as you have enough from dietary sources tends not to be low as extremes your body will scavenge that from your bone matrix. But extended periods of that of course leaves you vulnerable to Osteoporosis….not a good look on anyone. There are instances though that can cause hypocalcemia under certain conditions that activate your calcium channels outside normal regulatory means and rapidly lowers your blood calcium. People with EMR-S are sensitive to non-native EMF like magnetic, electrical and radiofrequency radiation. For those people it can be acutely life threatening depending on their sensitivity. Activation of voltage gated calcium channels via those exposure routes will rapidly tank circulating blood calcium. Aside from the arrythmia risk it also produces an inflammatory response since the excess nitric oxide gets metabolized into peroxinitrite. So you end up with a two for one combo…..

If dairy isn’t your forte then another source for calcium would be powdered egg shells. 1 tsp is enough for an entire days worth of calcium and the composition is similar to your bone matrix so the mineral balance makes it a good choice as a source. 1/4 tsp on food or mixed into a drink would do the trick there. As long as you don’t mind the grittyness of course. But that depends on your grinder.

Anyway….

Magnesium supplementation daily around 750mg for an avg adult should cover that for most all but all very active people. Potassium you can get just by sticking to a whole food nutrient dense diet of meat and produce. Citric acid such as the lemon in the example will get metabolized into bicarbonate in the metabolic chain and of course many citrus fruits will give potassium too. Though best to eat fruit in moderation due to the sugars. Sticking to something like avocados gives you a big boost of potassium and is nutrient dense to boot. But a shortcut would be 1/2 tsp of baking soda in a glass of water twice a day…..get the added benefit of sodium with bicarbonate if calories are a concern though if following a ketogenic diet that shouldn’t be much a concern anyway.

The recipe in the example is decent though for some added potassium, cream of tartar would be a good addition.

The honey and fruit slices in the link need to be mindful of for the sugar of course….and coconut water is also high in sugar as well. So it goes back to that same problem of added sugar. Just because it’s from a “natural” source is still going to spike blood glucose and that’s what you want to avoid. Low GI index is the key to metabolic health and avoiding insulin resistance, provided you are getting plenty of sunlight during the day to support the leptin-melanocorticol pathway.

Sodium ironically as we’ve been told to “stay away from” is rather important for alot of body processes. Especially in Thyroid hormone production as an iodide transporter component with TSH combined with ATP to shuttle iodide into thyroid tissue for synthesis of T4 and T3. So for those people that are hypothyroid that need to increase their iodine/iodide intake they need the extra salt to get it into their gland and to displace the other halides like fluoride and bromide we’re constantly exposed to.

[Sean Polacik]

As you have noted alot of those “electrolyte” powders are high in sugar or using artificial sweeteners. Both of which side rail the benefit.

Magnesium, potassium, sodium and chloride are the fairly big hitters that people tend to find themselves low in. Especially during summer when outside working and sweating in the sun.

Calcium as long as you have enough from dietary sources tends not to be low as extremes your body will scavenge that from your bone matrix. But extended periods of that of course leaves you vulnerable to Osteoporosis….not a good look on anyone. There are instances though that can cause hypocalcemia under certain conditions that activate your calcium channels outside normal regulatory means and rapidly lowers your blood calcium. People with EMR-S are sensitive to non-native EMF like magnetic, electrical and radiofrequency radiation. For those people it can be acutely life threatening depending on their sensitivity. Activation of voltage gated calcium channels via those exposure routes will rapidly tank circulating blood calcium. Aside from the arrythmia risk it also produces an inflammatory response since the excess nitric oxide gets metabolized into peroxinitrite. So you end up with a two for one combo. Though that is on a different context than just being chronically low.

One good source of calcium if not into dairy are powdered egg shells. Almost entirely calcium carbonate and the rest being trace minerals similar to our bone composition. So it’s a great alternative. 1stp is around 750-1000mg of calcium so that’s practically the entire daily amount for an adult. Best to spread that out in the day a 1/4 tsp at a time. Also makes for a good antacid solution if you don’t want to reach for tums…..

Anyway….

Magnesium supplementation daily around 750mg for an avg adult should cover that for most all but all very active people using a bioavailable form ( not magnesium oxide…..and probably not magnesium citrate unless you need to “move” things along).

Potassium you can get just by sticking to a whole food nutrient dense diet of meat and produce. Citric acid such as the lemon in the example will get metabolized into bicarbonate in the metabolic chain and of course many citrus fruits will give potassium too. Though best to eat fruit in moderation due to the sugars. Sticking to something like avocados gives you a big boost of potassium and is nutrient dense to boot. But a shortcut would be 1/2 tsp of baking soda in a glass of water twice a day…..get the added benefit of sodium with bicarbonate if calories are a concern though if following a ketogenic diet that shouldn’t be much a concern anyway.

The recipe in the example is decent though for some added potassium, cream of tartar would be a good addition.

The honey and fruit slices in the link need to be mindful of for the sugar of course….and coconut water is also high in sugar as well. So it goes back to that same problem of added sugar. Just because it’s from a “natural” source is still going to spike blood glucose and that’s what you want to avoid. Low GI index is the key to metabolic health and avoiding insulin resistance, provided you are getting plenty of sunlight during the day to support the leptin-melanocorticol pathway.

Sodium ironically as we’ve been told to “stay away from” is rather important for alot of body processes. Especially in Thyroid hormone production as an iodide transporter component with TSH combined with ATP shuttle iodide into thyroid tissue for synthesis of T4 and T3. So for those people that are hypothyroid that need to increase their iodine/iodide intake they need the extra salt to get it into their gland and to displace the other halides like fluoride and bromide.

[IMA-GregT]

@bulkbiceps just fyi – went to spam filter. I saw it there and brought it back to the discussion.

[Sean Polacik]

It was a long post so not surprised, thanks for pulling it out of the trash heap lol

[IMA-HelenT]

Thanks @bulkbiceps ….It does feel like there’s a bit of a contradiction there… people reaching for something to improve hydration and health, but unknowingly adding something that can work against metabolic health at the same time.

The sodium point is a good one too — it’s probably the most misunderstood of the electrolytes, given how long we’ve been told to avoid it.

[Sean Polacik]

Indeed, sodium compounds tend not to really be reported on in the entirety of the processes they are important to with just the blanket statement from centralized medicine that it ” has to be avoided”. While sure, there are conditions where excess salt is a bad idea as in the case with adrenal or kidney issues that can’t regulate sodium and leads to fluid retention and edema it not one that’s typically on my radar. I average around 1 tsp or more a day of unprocessed salt added to my water. Don’t add any extra to foods. If I’m overdoing it then I get a little bit of edema in my legs so I’ll back it off for a day and use my red light panel with an added heat lamp to knock the swelling down. Usually only takes me an hour to treat it under the lamps and the swelling is gone entirely.

It wasn’t until I was looking into Dr. Brownstein’s Iodine/Iodide protocol for hashimoto’s for it’s importance in the getting it into the tissues. And it’s not uncommon to see TSH levels way above the “clinical” numbers when you start elevated Iodine treatment as it’s getting combined with the sodium to get all that into the Thyroid gland. It will eventually come down once the gland is saturated and you’ve displaced all the fluoride and bromide on the receptors with the gland starting the work properly.

[James Kringlee]

A well rounded electrolyte formula of easily source-able “salts” would be a helpful to help establish a baseline proper electrolyte balance for general uses. A dry formulation to be dissolved in water as is the very specific use WHO Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) formula. on pdf page 12 / numbered page 3 here https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/e52f1746-cf33-4a63-9f97-4c0bfaaeb230/content – as an example of grams of this and grams of that to add to 1 liter of water.

Perhaps substituting in magnesium citrate for the Trisodium citrate dihydrate, adding baking soda for bicarbonate and part? of the sodium and with the use of sulfate versions of the electrolyte minerals – with reference to Pierre Kory’s ” Water does not hold structure; it maintains ionic sulfated
mineral coherence only when the sulfated minerals support continuous
charge exchange.”

With a goal of a properly balanced electrolyte solution containing the majors below, perhaps in a “structured water” via a sulfated mineral content with separate micro mineral supplementation and clean flavor enhancement options for such as children and certain adults

• Sodium
• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Calcium
• Chloride
• Phosphate
• Bicarbonate

[IMA-HelenT]

I like the idea of a simple, “build-your-own” electrolyte mix using easily sourced salts — it makes people think more about what they’re actually putting in their bodies rather than just grabbing a pre-made drink.

Have you made your own mix like this?