5 ms·
I should just write a post. But at a high level. You BOTH look at recommended daily values AND listen to your body. NIH has a decent starting point. I.e. pota
by paulgerhardt 4y ago
I should just write a post.
But at a high level.
You BOTH look at recommended daily values AND listen to your body. NIH has a decent starting point. I.e. potassium is 4,700mg: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Potassium-HealthProfessional/ https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Potassium-HealthProfession...
There's also a fair amount of margin for error. A low effort is a salt supplement like this: https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Forza-Electrolytes-Flavoring-Unflavored/dp/B07VNYVMCS https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Forza-Electrolytes-Flavoring-Un... + B complex + C vitamins like this: https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Bounty-B-Complex-Vitamin-Cellular/dp/B0014D2GEK/ https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Bounty-B-Complex-Vitamin-Cell... - I don't particularly endorse any one supplement - just look up what are the essential vitamins and minerals on NIH (https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/vitamins-and-minerals https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/vitamins-and-minerals) and supplement the recommended daily amounts for the non-fat soluble ones. You can probably do without the vitamins on a short fast but you will feel miserable without the salts.
Your body is still "eating" - you're still having bowel movements for instance - but it's just eating your own fat stores which include some fat soluable vitamins. NB I did not look to see if I was getting enough from this - but when I did my blood work a few times the only thing I was consistently low on was sodium and potassium because I was under supplementing on those because drinking salt water is gross (like I said, I did this imperfectly.)
One shouldn't eat salt in pill form. I didn't try. But supposedly it burns your intestinal lining. Rather I'd mix a scoop of that into my black coffee, 4 times a day. If I had muscle fatigue I'd have more potassium. If I couldn't sleep, more magnesium. Light headed when standing? More sodium. This is the listening to your body part and if you're short on salts after two weeks you absolutely will know it. But, mixing salt in water is gross and drinking too much salt in too short of time period will give you the runs. Getting enough salt is the only "hard" part. You're still doing what one normally does as a human, just less.
I think I got it down to 2L of water. Some casual cups of decaffeinated black coffee or tea. 4 thimble sized supplements of various salts.
- Etheryte 4y agoThank you very much for taking the time to explain the approach you took, it's much appreciated. Last time I tried a water fast I wrote it off as I just felt absolutely garbage a very short while in, but I now understand my approach to it was too simplistic. Your tips on when to supplement more of what are invaluable, I think you should definitely take the time to write this up as a post so it gets more visibility.
- mymilacct 4y agoAdding a teaspoon of vinegar to the solution of regular salt and Lite Salt(for Potassium) and some ice made it easier to swallow on my 5 day water fast.