Electrolyte Help

[baybe333]

#1903

Does anyone know where to buy electrolyte tablets? I drink a coconut water during class and sometimes after, but I’m finding I still get a headache after class.A few months ago I was drinking too much water and that messed up my levels.Since then I have started drinking coconut water and regular h2o, but since it has been so warm here I belive I need more.
Thanks for any help or tips!!

[fraseram]

#7562

I pick up tabs at my local health food store

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#7563

Hi Lindsay and Amy

You could do something that would represent taking a far more natural approach to electrolyte intake. Go and buy yourself some unprocessed sea salt (Celtic, Himalayan, Hawaiian etc) and start salting your food.

That table salt that people use in processed food and on tables in hundreds of millions of households across the world is poison. It is sea salt with ALL the goodness taken out of it and treated at ultra high temperatures (which changes the ionic structure). ALL the goodness is extracted and I imagine but can’t be sure could even be making up some of what’s in those electrolyte tabs! 😉

Studies that show we take too much sodium (and are lacking in other important things that contribute to ill health in the widespread community) are really talking about overusing that bastardized table salt.

Go and replace that table salt with the REAL THING, remove the guilt from ‘ingesting salt’ and enjoy your food – salted and with its own electrolyte boost.

If you are deficient or doing lots of yoga then I have heard that taking 1/2 – 1 whole teaspoon per day per person (in food or water) is what you need. Half a teaspoon is a regular dose.

We have been salting our food with Celtic and Himalayan salt for about 12 years now. It was just an intuition I had. It wasn’t until I saw the Food Matters movie that I really understood on a deep level what was really going on with all that processed junk! (And yes we have that video at our store because it is literally a life-changing movie so excuse the shameless plug!)

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

[fraseram]

#7564

I have and use hymilan sea salt and love it (wink) I use my tabs as a boost before a fasted am class

[Pamela0414]

#7565

I agree with use use of the sea salt. “Table Salt” is another corporate money maker that isn’t for our health but for their pocket books.

What about potassium and magnesium and the other types of things you get it electrolyte replacement products? Do we not need to supplement with them other than our regular healthy diet?

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#7566

Hi Pamela

My research shows that there is a good healthy balance of electrolytes in these salts. And as for regular healthy diets … that really depends on one’s own definition. Everyone has their own ideas of what’s healthy and what’s not…

Do you need further supplementation? Again, that’s hard to cover with a blanket statement. We all have to figure in our hydration, our nutrition, raw:cooked food proportion, salt intake, the number of classes we are taking in the heat, other supplementary exercise, ambient temperatures and their effect on your system, time of the year, pathogen exposure, the way we feel, and the list goes on.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

[Pamela0414]

#7567

Thank you for the information. I am going to go get some of these salts this weekend. I have been using Sea Salt but not much and it was Iodized. I am going to try Hawaiian even though it is expensive.

Thanks,
Namaste 🙂

[Gus1]

#7730

I take a 600ml bottle of staminade for after class…it has potassium, sodium and also magnesium. Seems to do the trick. You can also try powerade and gatorade but Staminade seem to have the best balance of electrolytes for the best price.

Update; A cheaper alternative is to just drink water with some added sea salt (1/2 teaspoon / Litre is plenty) and perhaps some lemon juice and honey. Then for potassium and magnesium just eat a banana after class. A banana has 400+ mg of potassium and 30mg of magnesium which is far more than any sports drink or tablet and costs half the price. Also 1 orange has about 200 mg potassium and 15 mg of magnesium.

Here is a comparison;

One litre of staminade has Sodium 290 mcg, Potassium, 160 mcg, Magnesium 24 mcg.

One litre of water with 1/2 teaspoon of salt + one banana has Sodium 1000 mcg, Potassium 422 mcg, Magnesium 32 mcg

[Rastas]

#8752

This thread helped me a lot with electrolyte and fluid replacement decisions. I did some further searching as I wanted to know what of significance, was lost in sweat, and what to use in place of bananas. With the high cost of bananas in Oz at the mo, been meaning to add this post for a while.

So, in every litre of sweat there seems to be
Sodium (Na) 900mg
Potassium (K) 200mg
Magnesium (Mg) 1.3mg
Calcium (Ca) 15mg

The Reference Daily Intake (RCI)of these for males 19-64yo (females 19-64yo) in Oz is
Na 920 – 2300mg (same)
K 1950 – 5460mg (same)
Mg 320mg (270mg)
Ca 800mg (same)
So the loss of Sodium and Potassium is significant in terms of RDI, Magnesium and Calcium not so.

Table Salt is 97-99% Sodium Chloride (NaCl). Rock Salt is almost 100% NaCl. A teaspoon of salt is approximately 6gm, of this based on atomic weight differences, Na is 39.3% of that weight. So there is about 2400mg of Na per teaspoon. So you can work out roughly how much Na and K you need based on how much you sweat during the class. Weigh yourself before and after class, then take into account how much you drank. As Gus1 posted, for most people half a teaspoon of salt is good. Though I didn’t regard myself as much of a “sweater” outside of class, during a “hot and humid” class I lose about 2 – 2.4 litres. So I have a teaspoon of salt in water. Iodised salt is not required. It contains about 0.03mg of iodine per gram.

Now with K, I did notice that soy milk has a significant amount in it. For instance, Sanitarium So Good Soy Milk Lite has 240mg/100ml. I was speaking to a friend at the studio who said they don’t like bananas :ohh: and with the high cost of bananas here in Oz at the moment Soy Milk is an alternative. Just check the nutritional information panel for how much K/100ml.

Thanks Gabrielle and Gus1 for starting me off on this search, I think :coolsmile:

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#8781

Hi Russ

Thanks for doing the research! Indeed it’s so important to consider these things. Just one little addition so that anyone reading this knows that the amounts are only an indication (and I imagine based on statistics):

The amounts of salt in sweat can VASTLY change from person to person. Newbies to hot yoga will sweat more salt until it settles down usually within a few weeks. That’s a very important time to manage low electrolytes but it’s usually not til one is actually more experienced that electrolytes usually get considered…

AND … there are people who sweat a hell of a lot MORE salt. They are called salty sweaters. So it is really important to monitor what’s going on before during and after class by acquainting oneself with a little knowledge of heat exhaustion signs and hyponatremia and not just base the answer on the text books!

Thanks again, very much appreciated

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

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