Regardless of whether you’re an athlete, doing intermittent fasting, or following a keto or low-carb diet, two things are crucial. Staying hydrated and maintaining healthy levels of electrolytes in your body. All that, of course, without breaking your fast or getting kicked out of ketosis.
So, what are electrolytes, and how can you add electrolytes to water, making sure we get the best out of our diet and help our body function on an optimal level?
What Are Electrolytes?
Everyone’s heard of electrolytes, but few truly know what they are.
Electrolytes are minerals that conduct an electrical charge when dissolved in water. These include Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride, and Phosphate. You get them from the fluids you drink and the foods that you eat. They have a massive impact on the function and health of various bodily systems.
Electrolytes are vital in balancing your body’s PH levels, helping transport nutrients into your cells while at the same time facilitating the removal of waste products like lactic acid and urea. They also play a crucial role in muscle, brain, and heart health, helping to regulate nerve function and help to rebuild tissue. [1]
So, with this in mind, what foods or products can we add to water to make sure we are getting the right amount of electrolytes in our diet?
1. Rock Salt
Sodium is one of the electrolytes that we run out of fairly quickly, especially when we exercise and sweat.
Dissolving a teaspoon of salt into a glass of water doesn’t seem like a very appetizing way to replenish your electrolytes, but it is one of the most efficient. However, try to avoid regular table salt as it contains only two minerals, Sodium, and Chloride and often contains some unwanted additives that are added to table salt to prevent clumping.
That would be a great option if you could swap out your regular table salt with Himalayan pink salt. Formed over 200 million years ago, this natural and unprocessed pink-colored salt comes straight from the mine in the Himalayas.
Himalayan pink salt comes packed with more than 84 trace minerals, including Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium – perfect for detoxification, balances your body’s pH, improves your sleep, enhances digestion, and promotes healthy skin, hair, and nails.
How To Make Sole Water?
To make your own pink Himalayan saltwater, also know as solé water, take about 3 parts water to 1 part Himalayan salt crystals and mix in a jar or a cup until the water is fully saturated and the salt no longer dissolves. To minimize the mixing let the salt dissolve in a closed jar of water for at least 24 hours.
If all the salt crystals have dissolved after 24 hours, add some more and let it stay overnight again till some of the salt crystals will remain at the bottom of the jar and just won’t dissolve anymore. This means that water has taken up as much salt as it is able and won’t be able to absorb anymore. So, it means that your solé water is ready to be used.
Add one teaspoon of this concentrated pink salt mixture to 8 oz (250 ml or 1 glass) of drinking water and drink on an empty stomach in the morning, after an exercise to rehydrate the body and replenish lost minerals or during your fast as needed.
Store at room temperature till it is all finished. Don’t worry, it won’t go bad, just keep the lid on.
If saltwater is a little too hard to ‘stomach,’ you can add some things to improve the taste, like coconut water, stevia, powdered allulose, glycine, or lemon juice.
However, be careful using the flavorings as some of them may break your fast or take you out to ketosis.
2. Lemon Juice
Lemons are the electrolyte superfruit. This citrus powerhouse is a good source of Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium, as well as being able to balance out some of the overpowering taste of dissolved salt in your water.
Lemon juice is also great for detoxifying the liver, balancing pH levels, and giving you a vitamin C boost.
Squeeze a whole lemon into cold or warm water for a sour injection of electrolyte goodness!
Read Also: Can I Use Bottled Lemon Juice Instead Of Fresh?
3. Potassium Gluconate
While most people get enough Potassium from everyday foods like bananas, beans, lentils, potatoes, and many other vegetables, vigorous exercises, extended fasting, and extreme low-carb diets can really deplete some people’s potassium levels.
Powdered Potassium Gluconate is a perfect supplement, almost completely tasteless in water and gentle on the stomach.
Potassium is great for the cardiovascular system, reducing muscle cramps, decreasing blood pressure, and maintaining healthy heart function.
4. Magnesium Glycinate
Our body can’t create Magnesium by itself, yet it is a mineral essential for our health. So, all of the magnesium that our body needs must come from the food and drink we consume.
Some of the great examples of magnesium-rich foods are green leafy vegetables, seeds, whole grains, beans, nuts, dark chocolate, and sardines.
However, if you are doing extended water fast, all of the food is off-limits and you may deplete your magnesium storage so you need to find a way to get magnesium some other way without breaking your fast.
With that depletion in magnesium levels can come cramping, fatigue, weakness, moodiness, and dizziness. To combat this potential deficiency, powdered magnesium glycinate is a good way to supplement what we are missing from our food.
Magnesium also helps to aid with muscle recovery, deep sleep, membrane function, enzymatic reactions, energy production, and cardiac and brain function.
5. Electrolyte Blends
Although many ready-made electrolyte powders are available to buy, you can quite easily make your own using just three simple ingredients.
This simple homemade electrolyte drink blend has all the essential electrolytes our body needs.
To get the complete list of ingredients and how to make it, check out the full electrolyte powder recipe in this post here.
I do also understand that life gets busy. For that reason, you might not have enough time to make your own secret electrolyte formula from scratch.
For those who want to get their mineral fix in record time, this special pre-formulated electrolyte powder below is the absolute best option if you are doing intermittent fasting or following any low-carb diet, like the Keto, Paleo, or Atkins diet.
It does not contain any sweeteners and flavorings and can be mixed into water conveniently.
I just recently discovered this simple supplement that is a surefire way to tick every electrolyte box. And because of its simplicity, it has some significant advantages over other brands!
SmartFast Multi Electrolyte Powder: Everything You Need To Know
The SmartFast electrolyte supplements help you feel energetic, strong, and restful even when you’re right in the middle of an extended fast? That’s right. A few grams of this supplement could get you going through the day without interfering with your fasting.
Living in a world where countless supplements are on the market and more in production, it’s hard to attest which one works and which one has no side effects.
So, let me tell you why I like the SmartFast version of this vital mineral supplement.
What Is SmartFast Multi Electrolyte Powder?
SmartFast Multi Electrolyte Powder is a premium all-in-one electrolyte supplement made of 100 percent natural ingredients and no additives of any kind.
It’s vegan, contains zero carbs, and is a keto-friendly supplement that boosts your energy, helps you feel full, and alert, and relieves muscle cramps after a workout.
This electrolyte supplement is also sugar and calorie-free, allowing you to boost your focus and productivity without interfering with your keto, dieting, or fasting routine.
What Is Good About It?
Despite being quite a new electrolyte supplement on the market, it really caught my attention for some of the unique qualities that I think will help shape it and make it uniquely qualified for everyone serious about their diet and fitness.
Also, one of the main reasons SmartFast is now my go-to mineral supplement is that it has no digestive effect, so I don’t have to run to the toilet, as it happened to me with some other brands that I had tried before.
But there are also many other benefits it has to offer for people who don’t want to break their fast or be kicked out of ketosis.
The Key Is In The Ingredients
SmartFast Multi Electrolyte Powder is made of 100 percent natural ingredients, making it the healthiest electrolyte supplement around. For starters, these three natural minerals determine how this supplement works.
- Sodium Chloride – helps stimulate the muscles to alleviate fatigue and muscle cramps, especially after working out.
- Magnesium Glycinate – helps to reduce anxiety and keep your moods in check. It has a higher absorption rate and has no digestive side effects.
- Potassium Gluconate – helps to regulate stomach acidity and make you feel full, especially when dieting. It has low acidity, and it also absorbs pretty fast and has a mild taste.
Nutritional Facts
A 5g serving (one scoop, included) of this electrolyte supplement contains 80mg of Magnesium, 663mg of Sodium, and 493mg of Potassium. All these natural ingredients help boost your energy, improve your digestion system, and keep your moods in check.
Zero Sugar And Zero Calories
Sugar is distractive, especially to someone watching their weight or fasting.
I discovered pretty fast when I started intermittent fasting that many electrolyte supplements contain sugar in small quantities, which can interfere with your weight loss program and will certainly break your fast.
SmartFast Multi Electrolyte Powder has zero sugar and zero calories. Unfortunately, you still have to deal with the salty taste; it equates to drinking seawater to best describe it. But sadly, there is no way around it if you want a fasting-friendly pure electrolyte drink without any flavorings and additives.
Despite the salty taste, this electrolyte supplement will supply you with the vital minerals needed. It gave me the energy that lasted almost throughout the day.
What’s even better, I did not get any gravings or did not feel hungry through the day at all, which allowed me to complete my intermittent fasting window without obsessing about food.
I just added half a scoop of it to my water two times a day, and I was oozing with energy.
It Has Zero Additives And Zero Sweeteners
A majority of electrolyte supplements contain flavorings and additives to try and improve their tastes. However, SmartFast Multi Electrolyte Powder is unique since it contains no additives or sweeteners of any kind, keeping it chemical-free.
Yes, the downside is the salty taste I was telling you before, but I think I am getting used to it by now, and the fact that it is entirely natural is actually more important to me than the taste.
It absorbs pretty fast after ingestion, so I noticed that it provided me with a boost of energy almost immediately.
How Many Electrolyte Drinks Per Day?
The electrolyte supplement works best when mixed with water. Depending on your diet program or fasting regime, here are some recommendations on how much you should take this supplement.
- Intermittent fasting – take one to two servings per day.
- Water fasting – two to four servings per day.
- Low carb and the Keto diet – half to one serving per day.
Note: Avoid using a tablespoon when serving, but use the scoop that comes with the product for proper measurements.
Caution: Avoid taking more than four servings in a day. If you’re a beginner, start with a small dosage and increase it as you get used to the supplement. If you start to experience changes in your bowel movement and thin stool, reduce your dosage, or skip the dosage until this condition clears out.
Benefits Of Using SmartFast Mineral Blend?
Other than replenishing your electrolyte stores, SmartFast powder has other benefits as well. They include:
- Combats fatigue – it comes in handy when fasting or dieting. It is also a great help if you’re a workaholic or have a huge project around the corner.
- Relieves muscle cramps – it’s perfect to use for recovery after working out.
- It prevents headaches – it keeps you level-headed and focused.
- Reduces stress – it helps to manage your anxiety and improve your productivity and help you sleep better.
SmartFast Multi Electrolyte Powder is an excellent, wholly natural electrolyte supplement made in the UK. It will supply you with a lot of energy to keep you going and won’t interfere with your fasting. The zero sugar, additives, and calories ensure that it doesn’t interfere with your diet.
That will also go for my own homemade recipe that contains pretty much the same ingredients—Check out the recipe here.