02 Dec Electrolytes

You may hear the kids these days talking about not being salty–but here at Evolve to Perform we love our electrolytes.

You may be wondering though, what are electrolytes? Why do we need them? How many should we be consuming? What are the benefits of consuming electrolytes? 

These are all great questions that we get more times than we can count.

So let’s start with the basics. Electrolytes are essential minerals that we need to maintain certain functions of our body. These functions include nerve impulses and muscular contractions.

Electrolytes are also super important for hydration- from day-to day functioning to a performance standpoint, electrolytes are key to optimal hydration.

Now you may be thinking, are electrolytes just salt? If you’ve ever tried an electrolyte drink (especially an unflavored one) it is definitely heavy on the saltiness. But electrolytes are more than just salt. They also include potassium, chloride, magnesium, calcium, phosphate, and bicarbonate.

Each one of these electrolytes can help with different functions. For example, for nerve impulses, sodium would help. From a muscular standpoint, sodium bicarbonate would be the electrolyte to help.

But are electrolytes only for athletes? We don’t believe so.

The amount of electrolytes that you’ll have to replace may vary from person to person for many reasons. These reasons include- physical demands, how much you sweat, and how you’re eating.

If you’re eating a lot of whole foods and not heavily salting your food, you are probably not getting enough electrolytes.

So you may be reading this and thinking that you want to add some more electrolytes in your diet. Is adding a supplement into your water the only way? No. Electrolytes are naturally occurring in many of the foods that we can consume. Things like leafy greens, sweet potatoes, and nuts and seeds are high in electrolytes.

Maybe you’re still not convinced that you need to add some more electrolytes into your diet. Well, if you experience any of these symptoms, you may want to think again. Do you get easily fatigued? Are you reaching for an afternoon cup of coffee? Maybe you should try replacing that cup of coffee or that energy drink with electrolytes. It could be that your nervous system is fatigued and you need some electrolytes.

Do you also have low blood pressure? Do you experience hypotension and get lightheaded? These are more signs that you may need more electrolytes in your diet.

So if you do want to consume electrolytes, don’t forget that too much of a good thing is never good. Keep an eye on things like your blood pressure and the color of your urine. High blood pressure could be a sign that you have too many electrolytes. Urine color is a good way to tell if you need more electrolytes based on the color. Too light means you need more electrolytes.

It’s also important to remember that the seasons will also impact your electrolyte intake. Even though we may need more electrolytes in the summer, we do still need electrolytes in the winter.

As always, consult your doctor on the amount of electrolytes that you should be consuming for your own body.

If you decide that you do want to try an electrolyte supplement, the only thing we would recommend that you keep an eye on is the sugar content. Traditional electrolyte drinks have a lot of sugar in them and that can be counterproductive.

Remember, just because you’re drinking a lot of water doesn’t mean that you’re well hydrated because what is water missing? Say it with me now: electrolytes.

If you keep on drinking a ton of water it can lead to hyponatremia which is unhealthy because you’re cleansing your body of electrolytes because you’re going to the bathroom so much. Then, you start to go through all the normal processes of your body like nerve conduction, nerve impulses, muscular contractions– all  those cellular functions start to deteriorate or they’re not as productive.

If you are reading this and you want to add more electrolytes into your diet but you don’t want to get a supplement, you can add a pinch of sea salt to an 8oz up of water–and it has to be sea salt, or celtic salt or pink Himalayan salat–not table salt because table salt doesn’t have the minerals.

We hope you learned something about electrolytes and how we need them for our normal functioning. If you have any more questions, we did a whole podcast episode that you can find here: 

Thanks for reading and stay salty.