Why Electrolytes Are More Important on Keto

Benefits of Electrolytes on a Ketogenic Diet

Electrolytes are mineral elements, especially sodium, potassium and calcium, that help maintain the proper functioning of your body's cells.

They do this by maintaining the balance between water and minerals in your body. When you sweat or exercise a lot, you lose electrolytes like sodium through your pores and saliva as well as other bodily fluids. If these levels aren’t replaced with electrolyte-rich foods or supplements it can cause serious health complications such as muscle cramps and fatigue.

The human body needs electrolytes to balance fluid levels and sustain proper muscle function.

Electrolytes help to keep your heart beating, your cells healthy and functioning properly, and more!

In a nutshell: without electrolytes, you're dead in the water (sorry). Your body needs these minerals for many different functions. For instance:

  • Electrolyte imbalances can cause muscle cramps or spasms. If you've ever had a charlie horse during exercise or activity, then you know what we mean. This is one of the most common reasons why people go on low-carb diets—they're hoping to avoid these painful experiences! But don't worry—with the right diet plan and supplement routine (which we'll discuss later), you can probably prevent them from happening again anytime soon!

Sodium is an essential electrolyte that helps in the contraction and relaxation of muscles.

It also plays a vital role in nerve impulse transmission, which is involved in muscle control, brain function and other body processes. Sodium is an important electrolyte for regulating blood pressure as well as fluid levels throughout your body.

In addition to helping maintain proper functioning of your body's cells (including those in your muscles), sodium helps with muscle contraction and relaxation by moving positively charged ions across cell membranes. Sodium deficiency can lead to problems such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea because these symptoms may be caused by dehydration due to lacking sufficient water intake during exercise activity or physical work done outside the home such as gardening or housework chores where sweating more frequently happens during hot weather conditions when there's not enough drinking water available nearby."

Potassium is another essential electrolyte required by the human body to conduct nerve impulses and contract muscles.

Potassium is an essential electrolyte in the human body, required for the proper functioning of nerves and muscles. Potassium deficiency results in muscle weakness, digestive problems, increased heart rate or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), and a tendency to hyperventilate/overbreathe.

As with other electrolytes, you may develop a potassium deficiency if you don't eat enough vegetables or have an eating disorder like bulimia or binge-eating disorder that causes frequent vomiting or diarrhea. If you have kidney disease or are taking certain medications like diuretics—drugs that increase urine production—you're also at risk for low potassium levels.

If your diet is high in salt (sodium chloride) but low in potassium-rich foods such as avocados and leafy greens (spinach), then your body will retain more sodium than usual because it needs to make up the deficit by retaining whatever salt it can find. This can lead to hyponatremia (too much water relative to sodium).

Magnesium is a mineral that plays a role in over 300 different chemical reactions in the body. 

 It’s an essential mineral for the human body, and it helps maintain healthy bones and teeth. Magnesium also helps regulate blood pressure, promote nerve health, ensure healthy muscle and heart function, support a healthy immune system, promote normal energy metabolism, maintain bone structure and support optimal health.

Magnesium is involved in over 300 different chemical reactions in the body—more than any other single nutrient!

The ketogenic diet is one of the most popular diets available today, but it can issues if electrolytes aren’t replaced.

The ketogenic diet is one of the most popular diets available today. It’s low-carb, high-fat and helps you lose weight fast. But it has some side effects which can be hard to deal with if you don’t know why they’re occurring and how to fix them.

The main side effect is the keto flu, but this can be easily fixed with electrolytes. Electrolytes help your body retain water so they will keep your bowels moving smoothly while preventing any other unwanted symptoms from happening during a keto diet such as headaches or dizziness (1).

Many people who go on a ketogenic diet experience something called "keto flu".

Many people who go on a ketogenic diet experience something called “keto flu”. Keto flu is the name given to the symptoms experienced by people who are new to the ketogenic diet, which are caused by a lack of sodium and electrolytes. These symptoms include headaches, fatigue, constipation, nausea and vomiting. It’s not uncommon for people to experience these symptoms. 

This is because your body needs time to adjust its sodium levels when you stop eating carbohydrates that contain lots of it (such as bread). Sodium helps regulate fluid balance in your body – so when you reduce your salt intake too quickly it can cause dehydration or increase water retention in some individuals – leading to feelings of fatigue or lightheadedness.

Electrolyte deficiency causes symptoms of fatigue, weakness, dizziness, cramps, headaches and trouble sleeping.

Electrolyte deficiency is a common problem in endurance athletes, who can lose large amounts of electrolytes through sweat. This is especially true if they use an excessive amount of water to rehydrate themselves.

If you find yourself fatigued or lacking energy on your ketogenic diet, it could be from electrolyte deficiency caused by dehydration or sweating more than usual during exercise. When you sweat, your body flushes out the electrolytes that regulate your hydration levels and normal bodily functioning. If these are not replaced quickly enough through food or supplementation, it can cause symptoms such as fatigue and weakness.

Your body also uses electrolytes in its central nervous system—the brain—to help maintain proper nerve transmission throughout the body's organs and muscles. Low levels of these minerals may result in dizziness or balance problems due to improper nerve function in the inner ear and brain stem region (which controls eye position).

Low sodium levels are a common problem for those who follow a strict ketogenic diet or have been eating low carb for a long time.

Low sodium levels are a common problem for those who follow a strict ketogenic diet or have been eating low carb for a long time. The human body needs salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), to function properly. We need it to maintain fluid balance in our bodies and help regulate blood pressure. A lack of salt can cause dehydration, headaches and muscle cramps, fatigue and dizziness as well as confusion and trouble sleeping.

The importance of electrolytes when following the ketogenic diet cannot be understated as they play an important role in maintaining health while on this diet plan. In fact, some experts believe that many people who experience ‘keto flu’ may actually be suffering from low electrolyte levels due to their lack of consumption of foods that contain them!

The combination of sodium deficiency and dehydration creates an imbalance that could lead to serious health problems.

Dehydration is one of the main side effects of going on a low-carb diet, and it can be difficult to avoid. While drinking water can help with dehydration, it's not an ideal solution because your body needs electrolytes and minerals as well.

Electrolytes help regulate your body's fluid balance by keeping sodium in your bloodstream at normal levels. In order for this to happen, you need other electrolytes like potassium, calcium, magnesium and chloride in addition to sodium. If you don't get enough electrolytes from food or supplements (which is likely if you're on a low carb diet), then your body may start retaining water instead of excreting it through urine which leads to dehydration symptoms like headaches or fatigue.

If you're following a keto diet you need to increase your intake of electrolytes.

If you're following a keto diet, you need to increase your intake of electrolytes. This can be especially important if you're experiencing symptoms of keto flu (see below).

If you are on a keto diet and experience any of these symptoms, consider adding more electrolytes to your diet:

  • Headache

  • Increased thirst

  • Muscle cramps or weakness

  • Confusion/nausea

 

 5 flavors available here

 

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.