Day 14: The Salt Fix

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a real turn around compared to the day before and I am still quite surprised by it. Having experienced frequent and uncomfortable muscle spasms/cramps throughout Sunday and Monday, this completely stopped yesterday!

It was a less active day, as far as PE at school is concerned, but I had two sessions to deliver in the evening, one of which being my most active session of the week; BodyHIIT. I started the day off with a full body stretch, which is something I'm going to work hard to reestablish for the remainder of Ramadan. Even just walking around throughout the day my legs had lost that heaviness and sluggish feeling that made me feel so weak on Monday. My right hamstring is still tender after Saturday evenings awful cramp during Iftar at Zenab's, but I was able to stretch it out really well. 

Performing the splits is something I'd love to work towards one day, but I'm not anywhere close to it yet! Maybe next Ramadan...

So how did I sort myself out so quickly? I'll be honest I'm not fully convinced that I did anything at all that made a difference?

I simply ate loads of salt on my food on Monday night. I added salt to some nuts I had at Iftar and then again in my second meal; a hearty portion of ribeye steaks cooked in butter and covered in three/four times as much salt as I'd usually use. I didn't manage to find a homemade electrolyte drink that I wanted to try, but I continued the higher salt intake again last night on my large portion of prawns (again fried in salted butter and loads of salt). 

This might seem concerning or unappealing for many readers. Salt has been portrayed as a bad guy for as long I have been aware of foods that are 'healthy' or 'unhealthy'. However, within carnivorous eating culture, salt is most definitely a good guy and something which is seen as essential to maintain electrolyte balance when we reduce carbohydrate intake and have a meat-based diet (predominantly red meat at that).

If I can quote Michelle Hurn and her book 'The Dietitian's Dilemma' (again), "the body needs salt, so if you are restricting salt, the body begins to panic".

Michelle also recommends a book by Dr. James DiNicolantonio entitled 'The Salt Fix: Why the Experts Got It All Wrong'. This is now on its way to me via Amazon, because I'm definitely keen to know more.

I'll be maintaining my higher salt intake on a daily basis and hopefully, this will mean I don't suffer the fasting cramps again this Ramadan.²

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