A while ago, I realized I’d have to be taking ALOT of electrolytes. Given that even the most Budget electrolyte products are $$$ and come in the size of a thimble, I thought I’d just skip the middle man and formulate my own. And I’m incredibly glad I did – all said and done, I’ve probably gone through what would have been well over $1,000 of store-bought electrolyte supplements, for around $70. And, I know that my stuff is good, because I hand pick only the most absorbable forms when buying the bulk.
The basic idea was I went and found some of the most expensive brands of electrolytes. I mapped out the ingredients and the proportions, then averaged or weighted the proportions, then bought high-quality bulk ingredients, them mixed them myself. Ta. Da. So, without further ado.
In the following proportions:
| ELECTROLYTE | Comments | Proportion | LINK |
| Salt | Redmond Real | 1.5 parts | |
| Potassium | Citrate | 6 parts | link |
| Zinc | Citrate | .03 parts | link |
| Calcium | Citrate | 1 parts | link |
| Magnesium | Citrate | .5 parts | link |
[*the table above summarizes the below]
1. Salt: Pink Himalayan, or Redmond Real Salt (*even better). May also want to use Irish Sea Salt; sometimes Pink Salt is a scam. ANYWAYS.
1.5 parts
2. Potassium Citrate: link
6 parts (number varied alot)
3. Zinc Citrate: link
Almost none – very little, parts (number was always very very low -see data) – only .03 parts. Easy way to tell your zinc levels: take a zinc supplement. If you feel icky, you’re decent on zinc. If you don’t, you probably need zinc.
4. Calcium Citrate: link
1 parts (Note: previously 1.5 parts, but reduced; calcium as a supplement is hard on your body in lots of ways; it’s ideal to have it in/with a food source).
5. Magnesium Citrate: link
.5 parts (varied a little)
-don’t take more than a 2 or 3 capsule-sized scoops of the above mix at once, however much you mix up – probably less is just fine.
*note that occasionally the Amazon links go dead; you get the idea though.
This is my data, if you’re interested:
Note that I chose the citrate forms for most of these. You can research around if you don’t want citrate; for some people (very rare) it makes them get loose stools or trouble sleeping or heart pounding. Generally, the citrate form is going to be the most absorbable form for your dollar.
*Bonus point: If you’re wondering “what the heck is citrate, vs. anything else?” It’s the molecule (magnesium or whatever) + citric acid (“chelated” aka stuck together). This should clue us in about nutrient absorption: “nutrients” aren’t useable or absorbable in a vacuum. What we see on the label does not necessarily equal what we’re getting. This is why “junk food” is a (likely intentional) misnomer: a much better term would be “antifood.” In order for a given nutrient (vitamin/mineral/macronutrient,etc.) to be absorbed, it needs an array of “helper” materials that help it transport across the gut into your bloodstream. If the food we just ate doesn’t have enough help, it’ll steal stuff from our blood to compensate for that – in other words, foods that are covered in nutrient binding toxins, or stripped of nutrients (so-called “junk foods”) are actually stealing nutrients from us. It’s not just that they’re “junk,” as if they contributed “something but not much.” These foods are in fact “ANTI,” subtracting nutrients, taking away what you already have. Note that generally these anti-foods are plants: nutrient-deficient plants from factory farms, plant toxins, stuff sprayed on plants, processed plants, etc. Meat tends to be anti-food only insofar as it is sometime injected with junk – especially refined petroleum like artificial dyes or BHA/BHT (although sterilized uncultured dairy is also typically an antifood). In summary: don’t say “junk food.” Say “anti-food.”
