What Are Electrolytes?
Simply put: electrolytes are minerals.
That’s it.
What Do They Do?
Minerals that play a number of roles in your body, but still fundamentally, just minerals. They are vital for your body to send electric impulses to organs, muscles, and more. They regulate muscle contraction, relaxation, keep you hydrated, and even help balance your ph levels. Plus much more. The big three are potassium, magnesium, and sodium.
Is Salt Enough?
"Now wait a minute," any chemistry buffs might be saying. "Sodium? Salt has a lot of sodium. Can't I just use table salt to get my electrolytes."
Salt is a good source of electrolytes, no doubt about it—but it's an incomplete one. Most salt you're likely to have in your cupboard won't contain much (if any) potassium or magnesium. And study after study shows these minerals work together to balance one another and accentuate the good they do in your body.
How Do I Know if I am Getting Quality Electrolytes?
One of the easiest ways to tell if you are getting quality electrolytes or getting junk is... the taste. Electrolytes are minerals, so they taste salty. If they don't, then you either are getting a worthless amount, or the taste is being overpowered by junk like sugar.
(This is what "sports drinks" do. They count on people not reading the Nutrition information where it shows you are getting less than 5% of what you need, and pack their drinks with sugar and fillers).
Put even simpler: that saltiness lets you know the electrolytes are there, without a lot of extra stuff that your body doesn’t need.
(That being said, if you don’t like that bit of saltiness, just add a bit more water to your daily SALTT! You’ll still have all the electrolyte goodness in your glass or water bottle, but with a lighter flavor. If you want no salty taste at all, we suggest taking them in tablet form. You might get a little taste, but being able to quickly swallow them means less time on your taste buds.)
So go enjoy your salty side!
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Signs You Need More Electrolytes—and How Many to Take
Why We Need More Salt. What Research is Showing.