We lose a lot of salt being Ketonian. Low levels of insulin slow the kidneys to let large amounts of salt to flow out. I read one study so far on the subject, and it appears to be a hormone [EDIT: Aldosterone is the hormone. It actually maintains the balance between salt and potassium] that causes salt retention or release, and its not insulin I’m referring to. I need to study up on this one, as its something I’ve never heard of before. So more on that once I learn more. Should be interesting.
This post is about something I’ve discovered while playing the ‘chase the right amount of salt’ game. It came down to this… eating a lot of salt on my food, drinking about a teaspoon per half liter of water. Almost 2 tsp in a half liter right before bed. If i did not do these things, I would awaken in the wee hours with the worst foot/shin cramps. I tested this many times. Tried less salt before bed, tried less salt during meals. Tried just water all day. These things didn’t work. Needed to be high salt, most of the day, and before bed.
A few weeks ago, I began to notice I was urinating way too often, and very thirsty. This situation is what led me to the salt studies. As far as I could tell, I was supplementing the bare minimum amount of salt, and probably needed more. Based on my latest lab work, I was .1 under for sodium. So I doubt I needed less.
But trying to keep up the intake of salt like that was getting unbearable. So I took a look at the rest of my electrolytes. My next stop was magnesium.
A lack of magnesium will also cause the same cramps. I couldn’t find any in my diet at all. My multi-vitamin had very little. So I went for the full on horse pill of magnesium, 500 mg.
After a week of that I began to notice my salt cravings reduce. Previously my cravings for salt were such that I could drink or eat heavily salted foods, and not even taste the salt until I was getting full. Now, during this magnesium trial, I could taste the salt in everything. To me that means its time to test. I began lowering my salt intake to the point where I was sure I’d get night cramps.
I did not get cramps. I reduced my salt intake to about half what I needed to stave off the cramps. Still no cramps. Once i was down to about 1/3 of what I had been taking to keep cramps away, they began to return, but only slightly. A couple of sips from my bottle of salt water took care if it within a minute.
I tested this now for the past two weeks. I’m eating roughly 40% as much salt now as I had been. That’s still a lot higher than a normal than SAD , but a lot lower than I had been on keto.
More testing needed. I’ll report back with a follow up in a few more weeks.