Sodium and Sensibility: Introducing the Three-Part Electrolyte Series
The Dish is all about finding practical balance and applications to all the hype out there. So what do we do when there’s a topic that can get so individually personalized, like electrolyte recommendations? It’s going to take three separate articles to break this down.
You may be wondering: why is this complex enough to call for three articles? Isn’t it simple? Aren’t we all chronically dehydrated and need electrolytes? Aren’t electrolytes the same for everyone?
Oy, sorry, no. Electrolyte “need” truly comes down to four factors:
Environment/season
The situation at hand (i.e. sitting and working vs on a 20+ mile hike in the desert)
Individual “saltiness”
Organ status (read: kidneys)
What are going to be the articles in the series?
The first article will touch on:
What electrolytes even are
What they do in the body
Where do we already get them from in our diet
The second article tackles:
What happens if we don’t get enough electrolytes (and the situations we might find ourselves in where this is relevant)
What happens if we are getting too much electrolytes
Am I in a group of people who should be cautious about electrolytes?
Finally, we’ll end with:
So you have doctor’s clearance/expert guidance to use an electrolyte supplement: now what?
A brief guide to blending a simple electrolyte mix at home
