Hello athletes, welcome and thank you for tuning into the Coach Katie Danger Podcast recorded live from Omaha, Nebraska. I'm your host, Coach Katie Danger, U S army veteran, fitness coach and founder of Red H Nutrition. Here's a fact for you, 99% of us are not elite athletes. We're individuals from all backgrounds, juggling life priorities, including jobs, our families, their needs, and trying to find time to take care of ourselves every single week. When you tune in, I'll be discussing clear, concise and actionable strategies you can use to get the most from your fitness, nutrition, and mindset. So you can optimize your life without compromising your time. So athletes settle in and get comfortable. I'm here to educate, inspire, empower, and entertain you to help you enjoy the unique fitness journey that you are on.
(00:53): Hey, Hey.Welcome to episode number 73 of the coach, Katie danger podcast. And we're heading into the dog days of summer. It's about mid July right now. I hope things are going well for you. I know that if you're a parent, you got school on your mind because it's, so my birthday was on July 5th and is a kid going through school. I always remember once July 5th hit and then anything after I was like, oh, like school starts really soon. You know, the summer is like kind of over. So I feel like we're on the downhill slide when it comes to school, starting just make the most of your summer, make the most of these warm days. I want to tell you a story about the reason this podcast exists today. It all started because of my love for sauna. So if you've listened to the podcast for a few episodes, you know that I go to sauna, I go to the infrared sauna, got heat, it's got light therapy.
(01:42): I go to it six times a week and I've been doing that since the beginning. Actually the end of may, six times a week, I've been doing that. I sit in a sauna, I go to perspire sauna studio. It's a franchise location here in Omaha. I've actually sat down with the owners and we discussed the technology. So if you're interested in more of that, you can certainly look back probably about like three or four episodes, but I don't want to digress anymore. When I'm in the sauna, I sweat, like it's 150 plus degrees in there. And I sit in there for between 40 and 50 minutes every session. So I'm sweating, right? And as an athlete, I mean, it doesn't take very long to learn in your athletic journey. You know, no matter how competitive or whatever point you're at, you know that when you sweat, you lose things out of your sweat.
(02:23): Like the liquid that comes out of our body has vitamins and minerals in it. And when we sweat, so we're always told like, you need to drink water, you need to rehydrate. Because we don't wanna experience dehydration, muscle cramps, things like that. So electrolytes always come up and they actually, you know, they sell electrolytes in the sauna studio and there's all these different brands. And I just get really confused. Like how much of electrolytes do I need? Like how much sodium, how much potassium? I mean, there are guidelines and recommendations both by the American diabetic association, American heart association center for disease control, food and drug administration, USDA, all of these people are recommending certain intakes. So potassium, sodium, but as we know the experience, some of these professional organizations are still a little out of touch with current research. So I came across a few brands and I like trying new things.
(03:15): I like seeing how certain products make me feel better or worse, same, you know, whatever. And I tell you what, there are so many competitors and brands in the electrolyte replenishment space. It can be a little overwhelming. So hopefully this episode and this dialogue that we share will clear some things up for you, giving up, trying to learn more about what electrolytes are and then try a few, you know, see how they work for you. The really tough part about this podcast is I had to figure out a way to sift and sort through the research because all of it is, I mean, there's not, there is like no one piece of, of research out there that tells you, this is how much sodium mean. This is how much potassium you need. There's just nothing out there. Even in my precision nutrition certification guidelines, when they're talking about dehydration and recommendations for hydration, which I have also done a podcast for what they say is like, you know, certain amount of cups per like, you need a cup per hour of intense exercise of water.
(04:12): And they're like, oh, just throw a splash of electrolytes in there. You don't see what electrolytes, they just say, throw electrolytes. And they're like, well, how many, like, what does that even mean? And I just got really frustrated cause it feels like there's nothing out there. So I hope that I can clear some things out for you here. And I just decided to try three of the most popular electrolyte beverages on the market. I've got the three powders sitting in front of me today. If you hear that, that's the shake of the powder bag. And I tested them. I also think it's really important to know that these products, two of them, that I have claim to solve a problem a certain way. And then one of them that I introduced actually kind of disrupts the whole market space and takes a different research stance on the amount of a less certain that we need.
(04:55): So we're going to get into a little bit of science here, but at the same time, it's all pretty easy to understand. Here's the three brands that I'm going to talk about today and why they chose a specific formulation that they did. Hold on. I got to pull something up here. All right. So first I want to talk about what electrolytes are, because if you don't know what electrolytes are, all of this is just as clear as mud, right? Electrolytes. They are minerals or salts with an electrical charge. They are chemicals that conduct electricity when they're dissolved in water. So specifically I like to think of the cell. Like, let's just pretend my hand right here is a cell. And if, if you're listening to this on a podcast stream, you can't see what I'm doing, but I'm basically holding my hands up in a circle.
(05:36): So I've got a circle and this is our cell. Cause this is what we always see in our science books. Our cell is a circle and then we have stuff that's outside of the cell. So the extra cellular components, extra cellular fluid. And then we have things inside of the cell. So if intra in the cell, intracellular fluid and components, and you know, if you've taken a basic biology course, there's the nucleus and a pleasant reticulum, all these little organelles, mitochondria, they're all in the cell. But outside the cell, a lot of stuff goes on to, cause we've got to figure out a way to move water in and out of the cell to make sure we maintain that osmotic polarity. That's a fancy word for you. Osmotic clarity. We essentially want to maintain the electrical charge, right? We don't want to imbalance there because that's where things like muscle spasms, heart issues, hypertension, hypotension, all those things can come in.
(06:23): So we wanna avoid that electrolytes play many, many vital roles in the body and the function. The main function depends on which type of mineral it actually is. We've got five really that we concern ourselves with two that are the most important. But the five that we're concerned about are calcium potassium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride, calcium potassium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride. Calcium has to do with nerve signaling cell division and blood clotting, and also helps with bone formation. And T we know that potassium is the main focus component of the intracellular fluid. So in our cells, potassium makes up 98% of the intracellular fluid. It relates heart contractions and it helps with muscle functions, keeps blood pressure, stable, magnesium. It helps with muscle contractions, proper heart rhythm nerve function can actually help reduce anxiety as well. There's lots of proponents of magnesium out there. There's lots of magnesium in stress-relief brands as well.
(07:20): And supplementation sodium. We'd like to think of sodium assault, but it's more than that. So sodium helps maintain extra cellular fluid balance. So the water and volume outside of the cell, it helps with muscle contractions and nerve signaling. So as you can see, because these are all electrical charge minerals, they do have a large role in the actual functioning of our muscles. So contraction, and then there's chloride. Chloride helps maintain the fluid balance. So we've got these five vital oh minerals and a lot of functions of our body depend on how much of these minerals we actually have. So our body cells rely on the movement of these electrolytes and according to the American chemical society, yes, the American chemical society, they state that our cells would shrivel up and die or they would burst from being too full. If we did not have the proper balance electrolytes.
(08:13): And then this always brings me, I remember reading this news article and I'm going to misquote it a little bit in terms of location. I believe it was in California and it was for a radio show, had a contest when the Nintendo week came out. So unintended, we came out and we're like, oh, 5 0 6, you know, like mid two thousands. And what they had to do is had to drink a bunch of water and then they had to hold their pee and the person who held their urine the longest and did not go to the bathroom, they would when they would win a week. So hold your week for a week. Very clever. Right? Well, I believe it was a woman and this one woman would have one ever. She ended up dying because she was over hydrated and, and her body just got too toxic.
(08:56): So long story short, we need good balance of electrolytes and we need hydration to live and survive. Do not. Over-Drink do not under doing so. Hyperhydration and dehydrate are very real things. You know, usually like if you're a generally healthy person, if you're not sick, if you're not an athlete, who's been working out for hours in the hot Sahara desert, you're probably going to be okay just with drinking water and then the foods that you eat. So the foods that we eat also have these electrolytes in them bananas, obviously a good source of potassium, vegetables, other fruits, and then a lot of processed foods that we have plenty of sodium in them. Now here's where the research stops. Like there is just no specific statement on how much of each, like in an actual, like very clear peer reviewed, double blind placebo controlled studies that tell us how many of these electrolytes we need.
(09:47): But I did, I was able to sift and sort through the information enough to know that sodium and potassium are the two main electrolytes that you need to concern yourself with. So moving forward in this podcast, we're gonna be talking about potassium and sodium almost exclusively. Okay. So now I want to get into the three brands that I tried and I have, I've been using these all three of these extensively. Now, most of them are created equally. So I have liquid Ivy, liquid I V is a brand and hydrant and liquid, Ivy and hydrant are almost like, they're very the same. They're the same in what they claim to do. And what they claim to do is transport hydration in the body faster. They're saying you got to get hydrated faster than just drinking water alone. And they do that specifically liquid Ivy. What they do is they have this cellular transport technology.
(10:36): CTT is what they claim it's on the bag. I mean, it looks like it's a registered trademark. So it seems like it's pretty real, right. They've got some science behind it. So here's what they claim. This is from their website. Cellular transport technology is a breakthrough delivery system and it's used in all their products and it's designed to enhance the rapid absorption of water and other Kingery into the bloodstream. Typically, when you drink fluids, they pass through the entire digestive system and you can lose water before it actually is absorbed by the body. Okay? So we're drinking water, but as it's got to make its way through the digestive system, we actually don't get it into ourselves where we needed to go. So with cellular transport technology, the precise ratio of sodium glucose potassium, it creates an osmotic force in our body that allows water to be delivered to the blood stream earlier on in the digestive system.
(11:22): So when you put the sodium, the potassium and the glucose mix it and water, and you put that all together. That's the cellular transport technology. It's an expedited water delivery system in the body. And they claim that it will make you feel better, faster. So like, what do you mean feel better? Okay. Let me be honest. The first time I ever tried liquid IVs because I had a hangover it was few days after my birthday. I went to a friend. We hung out at the pool to like one in the morning. I had like three beers, but I just, I don't hold my alcohol well. So I woke up the next morning. I had your typical dehydration hangover symptoms. I felt parched. I was tired. I was sluggish. And like, you just feel dry, right? I don't know how else to explain it. You just feel dry.
(12:00): So I actually took one of these from my friend, Jen, she let me have one. And I felt, I mean, I felt better pretty quickly. It was probably within like 20 minutes after I drank this that I felt better. So it was just one little packet I put in, but here's the precise ratio that liquid Ivy uses. And then I'm going to tell you about hydrant, which is a similar comparable product, but the ratios are a little bit different. And then they don't have the patented trademark of cellular transport technology. So liquid IV now, like I mentioned, they claim that the sodium potassium and glucose balance is what makes it all work together. And that's where the science comes from. So they got 500 milligrams of sodium per packet, 500 milligrams of sodium, 11 grams of glucose. And then potassium is 380 milligrams. So that is supposedly the precise ratio of sodium potassium and glucose to get into your blood stream quicker, to get into your digestive tract quicker. So then it can be absorbed sooner by the cells and you feel better, faster. So that is liquid IV. And I actually personally really liked the flavors of
(13:04): Them. Now let's just go ahead and transition to highlight. Hey, I know, and you know that I talk a lot about using supplements on your fitness journey and reaching your full potential, how I believe they're integral pieces of the puzzle to reaching your best self and best fitness results. But do you know how supplements fit into your plan? Do you know what to take for your goals and how much of a supplement you should take if you ever had any of those questions and you want to know how supplements can work for you and your goals, go to your fitness supplements.com and take the free free, free three point personalized supplement assessment. And with just a few questions, you'll have a complete personalized supplement recommendation in less than 60 seconds. You'll know more about how supplements fit into your fitness goals, what's safe and what's effective and perfect for you. So type in your fitness supplements.com in your internet browser, take the free assessment and get on the fast track to your best fitness results. So hydrant
(14:05): Also claims to be a rapid hydration mix. They do not have any special patented technology, just that you're going to feel better, faster as well. Now, the ratios are a little bit different. And when I was looking at this and comparing, it's almost half of what liquid is so liquid, I've had 500 milligrams of sodium, 380 milligrams of potassium, and then 11 grams of glucose hydrant has sodium is 260 milligrams. So about half of 500, right? They've got six grams of glucose, which is about half of 11. And then for the potassium, they have 200 milligrams. So that's like a little bit more than half of well that's 380. So as you can see, it's not as, I guess you don't know what's precise. I mean like liquid Ivy has their science behind it. It's not that I don't believe them. It's just, why does, why did hydrant decided to go lower on that scale?
(14:58): Is that just because that ratio and formula is truly patented? I will tell you I have been using a hydrant longer. They're the first ones I discovered it was a random purchase by, in my Instagram feed. I really liked it. I think liquid Ivy tastes better. And because of the science that liquid Ivy has on their webpage, I tend to find it a little bit more trustworthy and more beneficial could be mind over matter. I don't know what I would suggest if you're trying to determine between like, okay, do we have a hydrant or a liquid Ivy, try to find the one that tastes the best because ultimately I really think that these two ratios are so they're so small difference in comparison, but you know, if you want the science and you like it, go with liquid Ivy. I really like the taste. I think it tastes a lot better.
(15:40): Both of these brands use mined salt. They're using sea salt. It's not just like your typical table salt. Now let's get to the fun one. And this is element, okay. I really like element. And I looked at this first and I was like, Belden has a thousand milligrams of sodium has 200 milligrams of potassium. Like when we talk about typical research and information about sodium, like we're supposed to be on low sodium diets or like sodium is bad. So it makes you bloat. Sodium salt is bad. New research is always fascinating to me. And I also love brands that like to go out, take research, turn it upside down and say no, quit thinking about things this way. Think about it this way instead. So here's what element is all about. Element was founded by Rob Wolf. If you're unfamiliar with Rob Wolf, he was a pioneer in the paleo diet movement before anybody even knew what paleo diet meant.
(16:33): I read about him years ago when I got into CrossFit and the whole eat meats, nuts seeds, little starch when that whole thing came about. So Rob Wolf is a founder of element. He was also a proponent of the keto and keto ish lifestyle. So as far as the science is concerned, there's a really good video that they have on elements website, it's drink L M N t.com. You can read it or you can watch it. So like four minutes, it's Rob Wolf himself talking. And here's what the website says about element. They say more salt, not less salt, especially if you're an athlete. So what we are generally told to reduce our sodium intake, particularly as it pertains to cardiovascular health, this practice, this advice has proven to be largely ineffective in mitigating health issues like hypertension or high blood pressure. So the position is taken by the FDA, the CDC and the American heart association.
(17:24): It recommends that Americans consume the less than 2.3 milligrams of sodium per day. That'd be 2.3 grams. And an ideal range would be 1.5 grams per day. Well, one of these element packets has 1000 milligrams itself. So that's like, oh my God. One of these packets per day is essentially what you would need. Right? Well, however, so here's where fun science comes in. They say, however, there's broad ranging level research that suggests that BM intakes at the levels that are routinely suggested. So that two points, three milligrams a day with ideal range being about 1.5 milligrams. They actually say that it's more dangerous to be on the lower end of it than it is to be on the higher end of it. In 2011, there was a study published in the journal of American medical association and looked at sodium intake at cardiovascular events like stroke and heart attack.
(18:14): And it paints a completely different picture of where sodium comes into the equation and actually how the research is confounding in terms of what we've been told and what we're finding this studies shows that the likelihood of health problems was quite high in individuals who were consuming less than two grams of sodium per day. And in fact, found that people had the lowest rate of cardiovascular events when their sodium intake was about five grams per day. So that's 5,000 milligrams, 1000 milligrams equals one gram. I'm going to use those interchangeably and hopefully those can confuse any of you. So that is more five grams, 5,000 milligrams. That is more than double, more than double the ideal range of 1.5 to 2.3 per day of sodium of what current research is telling us. So what's really interesting about this is there's like this U shaped curve and it shows, you know, the low end was around the two grams and it shows the high end of 12 grams.
(19:05): And you can see a sweet spot, a sweet spot of eight grams of sodium per day has as the same amount of events as having a low sodium intake of two grams. So like two grams and eight grams, the low end and the high end, that's where the most where the most problems arise. And I misspoke. The sweet spot is actually in four and six, maybe even upwards of seven, if you're an athlete, cause we're going to get into a little bit more research to element has on the website, people who consumed there was another study published in the journal of preventative medicine. And it found that sodium restriction was ineffective in hypertensive patients. And that consuming less than 2.5 grams a day of sodium, they actually had higher blood pressure. They had higher blood pressure. So these people who've been recommended to have less sodium in their diets, actually had worse blood flow pressure readings and people who are on the upward ends of four to five grams of sodium intake.
(19:56): So as you can see the resources out there being told they're two different things. And I was so impressed with element and their website and the research that they cited because I like probably most of you out there was like, wow, that's big. When I saw this, I was like a thousand milligrams of sodium a packet like aren't we supposed to keep sodium low, right? No, no, my friends, it actually, we should be having a lot more sodium in our diet and not just like table salt, right? Like we're talking about real salt, real mind, sea salt, the good stuff for you. We don't need more sugar. We do not any more sugar. What we need is more salt. And I think at least so what element and what liquid, Ivy and hydrant, what they're arguing is that the salt intake that people are getting, the reason salt gets such a bad rap is not because salt itself is negative, but because we eat so many processed foods, like if you go to McDonald's, oh my God, have you ever had like eaten binged on McDonald's?
(20:52): Like you've had it. Okay. Let me tell you a story. When I was in college, I'd go out. I drank like an idiot, but Hey, I was 21. And then you immediately go and you get McDonald's. So not only have I drank alcohol and dehydrated myself, but then I go to McDonald's and I get all this processed fat, and I get all this processed food with a lot of sodium in it. I'm just really surprised that I am the person I am today. And I hadn't like completely wasted away. I certainly wish some of these packets like liquid Ivy were available back then. But what we did is we just went and got like a Gatorade or something took forever to recover from it hangover. But the point is, what I was getting at is it's the process. Food is where the salt intake gets such a bad rap.
(21:31): So salt is not the enemy. We need less sugar. Sugar is like the Genesis. This is of degenerative diseases and lifestyle diseases. So salt, like we need more salt. You can get it in a precise ratio that you can get in liquid Ivy. Or you can look at something like element L M N T, and you can really improve the way your body functions talking about better muscular contractions during exercise. So less muscle cramps, better hydration in general, if your body is hydrated, you can do more, you know, the metabolic processes, ATP breakdown, and regeneration, the transport of vitamins and nutrients to your body during exercise, nerve signaling, all of that matters and hydration is very important. So the last thing that I wanted to say, when it comes to element was the final journal article that they cited. And it was just sense of how much sodium and electrolytes active populations needs.
(22:26): So active. I mean like you and I, I'm not talking about, you know, somebody who sits on a couch all day, I'm talking about you and me, we exercise, we do stuff. And if you live in a hot climate right now, cause it's July salt intake is going to be very, very important. We don't want to limit it. We're willing to get it from a good source though. So here's the, this journal of sports science states. It says vigorous exercise and warm and hot weather. It induces what production, okay, no, this right. And our sweat contains water and electrolytes. Our daily water losses and sodium losses becomes great. It produces negative effects in our workouts. Like I just said, now, noting that this particular study shows that we should be replacing our salt, specifically our salt at 3.5 to seven grams per exercise activity per exercise activity.
(23:17): And you're probably asking, okay, but you know, if you do have a lot of salt, because we just said it's sodium is a component of the extra cellular fluid. And to get that osmotic balance, you know, water moving in and out of the cell, we do have to have potassium as well. So element is very smart. They included 200 milligrams of potassium in their product as well. Well, I mean, there are so many studies out there that are outdated and I just love it reading about new research. And I didn't know, I had no idea that after I dove into just electrolyte balance to replenishment, I had no idea that when I started going to sauna, it was going to lead me down this path of learning more about electrolytes, but it's fascinating. I love learning new things. And it's also important to know that people who follow a paleo or low carb, ketogenic diet, we're not going to have as many processed foods in our diet as your typical standard American diet would.
(24:08): And most of the salt, like I mentioned before, most of the salt that's negative and where it comes from is from the standard, the American diet and people living off fast food, living off pizza. If you've had a bit John pizza before, if you've had too much fast food, it leaves you feeling thirsty all the time and then you just feel bloated and gross. So we've all been there before. I just, I thought all this was fascinating and I wanted to share it with you now where w what I recommend. Okay. So, as I mentioned, liquid, Ivy and hydrant want to hydrate you faster. It's all about getting water into the body faster, rather than going through the whole digestive tract and process, and only getting a minimal component of what you're actually drinking element on the other hand wants to take sodium research and say, Hey, our current recommendations are wrong and here, why?
(24:56): So, what would I say? Just, okay, what I do when I go to the sauna, I've been experimenting with both things because I don't really eat a high processed diet. So I'm thinking like, well, maybe I do need more sodium. And now that I'm becoming more active in a trial athlete, maybe I need more sodium. So I'm experience, I'm testing things out, but what I would recommend very solidly, very conclusively based on what I know is that you should at least take one of these rehydration packets, whether it's liquid Ivy, whether it's hydrants or element, you should be taking them with your workouts, or very least post-workout because you've got to replenish what you've lost through sweat. And even if you're like, Hey, well, what if I don't work out? Do I have to replenish sweat? Did you know that just being a normal human being through a respiration and just through sitting here and also talking, if I'm doing right now, we can lose up to 4% of our body weight a day in water alone, just from those activities.
(25:48): Do you have to even do anything at all? You can just be talking and breathing and existing, and you are losing a significant water and electrolytes through normal bodily processes outside of your activity. Okay? So that is the long and short of electrolytes, what they do for your body. Some of the brands that I recommend you can get element on Amazon, you can get elements of their website, liquid Ivy. I have actually seen it in Costco. Now you can get bags of 32, I think. What is this bag I got here? Okay. So there's 30 serving bags. You can go online to liquid I v.com and then hydrants they're available on Amazon as well. So you can try any of these there's different flavors. All of them are flavored with Stevia. And I will tell you, I am very sensitive Stevia. I generally very much dislike Stevia as a sweetener.
(26:35): The great thing is, I don't know if it's a salt. I don't have a potassium. I don't, if it's a citric acid in it, but I don't really taste the Stevia at all. Like that is not what I taste. I taste the salt. I feel the salt. And the funny thing is when you're drinking, like it doesn't like quench your thirst. You just want to keep drinking. So I can go through 32 ounces of water with one of these salt packs in it really, really quickly. So I'm going to use them. I'm an exerciser. I like to be active. It's July. I go to the sauna. You need electrolyte balance in your life. Not only because there's some science behind it and hydration is important, but if you really want to take care of your body and promote the balance and have muscle contraction, your brain needs it.
(27:12): Your nurse signaling needs it. Get electrolytes in your body. If you are working out, make sure you're having some sort of electrolyte balance. Every single time you work out during your workout and after workout. Okay? So that is electrolytes. Now, you know what electrolytes are now? You know, a little bit about the research of some of these brands. I talked about elements. I talked about liquid I V and I talked about hydrants and I've tried them. I've tried all three of these. I've tried other brands before, but that was a long time ago. So I didn't, I didn't have the bags left anymore to, to show you or to explain to you, but I would highly recommend it. I would not discount electrolytes at all. In fact, I would also encourage you to go to a liquid IVs website, go to elements, website, read what they have.
(27:54): I think you'll be really, really impressed with what they share. And then what you'll see how modern indoctrinated institutional research is not really leading us down the right path anymore. So step outside of your comfort zone, get some more salt in your diet because research is pointing to, we need more salt, not less salt. If you guys have any questions on that, you can send me an email. Katie@Coachkatiedanger.Com. In the meantime, I'm going to leave you with what I always do believe in yourself. Don't ever quit. Trust the process. Give got this. You guys athletes. This is coach Katie D with episode number 73. We'll talk to you again next week.
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