Health

What’s the best way to stay hydrated for strength training? We get this question a lot in the Ketogains community. Folks want to know how much fluids and electrolytes they need for resistance exercise, especially in the context of a low-carb diet. Strength training is a fairly general term. Bench press, squats, box jumps, resistance bands, planks, pushups, and other freeweight or bodyweight exercises... they all build muscular strength and power. To hydrate for these exercises, the first principle is to prevent deficiency. Being low on water or electrolytes impairs exercise performance, can cause muscle cramps, and makes you feel...

When it comes to heart health, some electrolytes are controversial. Others, not so much. Potassium is not controversial. Higher potassium intakes are unarguably linked to lower blood pressure. Since high blood pressure is a primary factor contributing to heart disease risk, we like that. Here’s what the FDA says about potassium: “Diets containing foods that are a good source of potassium and that are low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.” Wait... did you catch the low in sodium part? Here’s where things DO get controversial. The US government recommends capping sodium intake at...

I’ve fielded multiple questions about stevia on my podcast, The Healthy Rebellion Radio. One person was concerned about plant toxins, while another worried that stevia functioned as a steroid. As someone on a Carnivore-ish diet, I get it. Too many plants can be a bad thing for some people. For example, the active ingredient in licorice (glycyrrhetic acid) can elevate blood pressure and cause cardiac arrhythmias when consumed in excess. I could name a bunch of other examples like this. But I’m not a dogmatic carnivore, and I don’t believe all plant foods are evil. In fact, My bias leans...

Obesity, diabetes, leaky gut, heart disease, cancer, and dementia. These health problems don’t have just one cause. They’re multifactorial. But if you could pick one thing to eliminate from the modern diet—in order to dramatically reduce the risk for developing these conditions—you could make a strong case for eliminating refined sugar. Obviously, added sugar isn’t the only issue with the modern diet. Vegetable oils like soybean oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil also drive inflammation and create conditions ripe for obesity. But sugar might be worse. At least we don’t drink vegetable oils, pretty much straight up, like we do...

Your brain is a delicate system with many moving parts. When the system is balanced, life is good. But when it becomes unbalanced, there are consequences. The balance of this system depends, in part, upon electrolytes—a handful of minerals that carry electrical charges, regulate fluid balance, and influence many other functions in your body and brain. One ramification of severe sodium deficiency, for instance, is a profound swelling of the brain. This unhappy condition is called cerebral edema. Yet, even mild sodium deficiency can cause cognitive symptoms. The symptoms, however, can be so subtle that many folks don’t realize there’s...