Minerals and Summertime

 Why does it seem that atomic science is always associated with radioactive elements?  Maybe because you can do neat things with those elements, but Hey!  There is a whole rest of the Periodic Table out there.  You know the rest of those atoms are pretty cool too...  LOL!

Look at copper and all the neat stuff it can do.  Look at that , I am off track already.  Um, yeah its, uh, Summertime, the season of mineral deficiencies.  I have had some great success using minerals to help my recovery after strenuous work outside.  You sweat a lot more during the Summer, and electrolytes are a big part of that process.  So you are spending more electrolytes, and it would make logical sense that you would naturally be craving, or needing more.

Did you know that you can run out of electrolytes and potentially die from a severe deficiency?

Well, I have some experience with this.  I was hospitalized for Hyponatremia, which is an extreme sodium deficiency.  This was maybe 4 years ago.  I was aware of sports drinks, and even used them periodically.  I was nutritionally aware, thinking I was doing everything right.  I was, and still am taking a colloidal mineral supplement.   What I found out then was that I am not getting a large enough volume of the electrolyte minerals, not salty...

Now, just recently I had another event where the symptoms were very similar to Hyponatremia. This was very familiar to me in a feeling really bad way.  This time I have been getting more electrolytes.  Also still taking the colloidal mineral supplement.  I didn't really put it together until I tried something new.  I had been using a popular sport drink with a "classic" flavor.  I've got a nice, mined mineral salt that I use on food.  I'm getting lots of minerals, but somehow have a mineral deficiency.  The hard part is figuring out what mineral that is.

This was sort of a happenstance thing.  An associate had given me this trendy electrolyte powder that you dissolve into a liquid.  I looked at it cautiously, but took it.  Then when I was feeling really bad, and grasping at straws for a solution I remembered the electrolyte powder, and tried it.  It didn't have any instant effects.  It took a day or two to notice that I felt better.  I formulated a theory then dug into the interwebs.

So the mineral du jour is magnesium, and the deficiency is called Hypomagnesemia, a protracted deficiency of  magnesium.  The funny thing about this is that I have magnesium supplements, and I guess I don't like them.  They are gummies covered in sugar, kind of candy like.  There are some observations I have made about these things.

 The colloidal mineral supplement is great.  I'm going to continue to take it because it provides a large spectrum of minerals in tiny amounts.  This stuff is rather miraculous in this way.  What I wasn't seeing was that they are trace minerals which means there is a tony amount of each mineral.  With the electrolytes you need mass quantities...

The mined mineral salt is very flavorful, which is because it is loaded with trace minerals.  A large spectrum of minerals in tiny quantities.  I'll continue using this one because it tastes good.

The popular sport drink with the "classic" flavor had a critical omission for me.  It contains potassium but no magnesium.  I get plenty of sodium, no problem there, don't really need more.  Potassium was there, but maybe not enough.  It was the magnesium, not there, that was the root of the problem, and the sickness.  This illness kept me in bed for several days, and by what I have read could have been fatal.  Not eating the Gummy Magnesium and not getting enough magnesium elsewhere caused a dangerous deficiency.

Another product that I had been using in this same realm of interest is that seltzer with the plopping, and fizzing.  I think that is a good product, and I never really took it with the idea that it was for electrolytes.  However it does contain a massive dose of sodium, but I don't think you can consider it to be "electrolytes," plural, unless it has potassium and magnesium.

Since I have gone through this I looked at the market place and noticed that there are a lot of good electrolyte products out there.  You just gotta pick the one that has the right stuff for you, and your condition.  Stay Salty...