Cramp!

[Sammy]

You could be getting a slap and tickle from me next week!!

Can not wait :wink:

[Sam Greenfield]

Can not wait :wink:

[La Diabla]

You could be getting a slap and tickle from me next week!!

Can not wait :wink:

Tut tut tut.... again ? !

[Spain]

.... Mineral depletion. Too little potassium, calcium or magnesium in your diet can contribute to leg cramps. Some diuretic medications prescribed for high blood pressure cause loss of potassium.

And that is where the salt comes in if you drink lots of plain water in the heat, you actually flush out minerals from your system. Mineral water as sold is just not high enough in minerals to replace the salts you lose in the heat. The new "isotonic" drinks sold these days are balanced with sugars and salts so you hydrate without flushing salts out.

[bil]

Weeelll, yes, but given that we eat way too much salt, is that really a problem? I've read that taking salt therapeutically because of sweating is unnecessary and unwise for most people.

[Spain]

Weeelll, yes, but given that we eat way too much salt, is that really a problem? I've read that taking salt therapeutically because of sweating is unnecessary and unwise for most people.

I am going on two points bil.

In the summer I get through many litres of water per day and if I don't "overdo" the salt on food, I do suffer leg cramps at night. My sister suffers the same. Maybe my sis and I have something genetic making us more prone to cramps on a low-salt diet. I have tried to balance salt and cramps, lowering my salt intake until a cramp sets off and then up the salt a touch and the cramps stop.

Colleagues at work, especially German colleagues actually have special mineral tablets they dose into their drinking water to raise the levels to "isotonic". You can always tell their bottles as they have an off-putting pale straw colour and are slightly cloudy but they swear by their mineral tablets.

[Spain]

I would add that it is the high levels of salt and sugar in processed foods which has oft been reported and we eat hardly any processed food as I cook from basic just about everything.

[bil]

That's very healthy and sensible. I was just a bit concerned that someone would read this and take it as carte blanche to salt everything in sight.

I have only been getting cramps since I was in the UK. I drink a fair old bit of fluid in both countries. I'd be hard put to say what I eat that is processed, like you, I cook mostly from scratch, I eat about 10 - 15g of cheese in a day, but that's all I can think of that is salt bearing. I get thru about 3-4 pints of water and 5 - 6 pints of coffee in a day.

[Spain]

Fair points to educate any readers as the bigger picture yes.

That is an awful lot of coffee though.
I used to have a machine on the go all day in my office but was more americano strength than the good Spanish stuff and I reckon the caffeine screwed me up a bit so I drink way less coffee these days.

[bil]

Hell, it takes a pint of the strong stuff in the mornings just to get my heart started.

I did read that the breakdown products of caffeine are good for the liver.