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The Best Sources of Electrolytes, From Vegetables to Vitalyte

replenish electrolytes easily

replenish electrolytes easily

Do you ever feel sluggish in the hours after a rigorous workout, or after a night out on the town? If so, there may be more than exhaustion, dehydration, or a hangover to blame. You may also suffer from an electrolyte imbalance—something you can’t cure by resting or gulping gimmicky sports drinks. This may sound like your mother speaking, but to cure an electrolyte imbalance, you need to take in the right nutrients. Vitalyte’s Electrolyte Replacement Formula has everything you need.

Great Sources of Electrolytes

Electrolytes are electrically charged minerals that are found in blood and other body fluids. When you sweat or excrete fluid in other ways, your electrolyte levels decrease. To replenish them, it’s best to ingest foods and liquids that contain a high level of magnesium, sodium, potassium, calcium and other electrolytes, such as:

Spinach – Leafy green vegetables such as spinach, lettuce and kale are great sources of magnesium. They’re also low calorie, so you can eat them in large quantities without fretting about your waistline. If you’re low on magnesium, the vegetable section of your local grocer should be your next destination.

Peanut Butter – Part of peanut butter’s great taste comes from sodium. The salt it contains enhances the mellow flavor of the butter. But the sodium benefits more than your taste buds. By increasing fluid retention, it helps you recover from strenuous workouts, or lazy sauna sessions where you sweat a river.

Trail Mix – Trail mix that contains dried bananas and raisins is packed with the electrolyte potassium. Because trail mix tends to be naturally sugary, try to stick with the recommended serving size; and avoid mixes that contain fattening ingredients like candied pineapple, M&Ms and yogurt-covered anything.

Milk – The American diet is heavy on dairy products, so most of us needn’t worry about getting enough calcium. If dairy products agree with your digestive system, then have fun chowing down on a round of baked Brie or an aged slice of Roquefort. The French diet is heavy on dairy products, too.

Vitalyte – Vitalyte electrolyte replacement drink is the ultimate solution for curing an electrolyte imbalance fast. Ideal for people who have food sensitivities, or who need a convenient solution for electrolyte replacement, Vitalyte contains delicious natural ingredients, and has less sugar than competing brands.

Maintaining a Healthy Balance

Health experts recommend maintaining an electrolyte-rich diet to keep your electrolyte levels high. But if you routinely perform strenuous exercise or engage in other strenuous activities, you may need an extra infusion of electrolytes to stay healthy. Vitalyte electrolyte replacement drink is a great solution.

Vitalyte is also a great option for lactose intolerant individuals, who can’t get their supply of calcium from dairy products, and people with food allergies that prevent them from eating electrolyte rich fruits or vegetables. Regardless of why you need an electrolyte boost, delicious Vitalyte drink mix is a healthy way to get it. Try our delicious Electrolyte Replacement Formula today.

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Electrolyte Imbalance Symptoms

electrolyte-drinks-for-2013Remember the old V-8 commercials, where people who didn’t get their proper nutrition walked around on a slant, while everyone else stood up straight? Not getting your Vitamin C isn’t the only thing that can make you feel like those people looked. Receiving low doses of electrolytes can throw you off balance, too.

The Importance of Electrolytes

Electrolytes are electrically charged minerals that are found in blood and other body fluids. You probably know lots of them by name, such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and sodium. Responsible for important body processes such as water retention, muscle function, and the maintenance of blood acidity, electrolytes are excreted in sweat, and need to be replaced as they exit the body.

This means that after you finish a hard work out, dance for hours on Friday night, or spend Saturday evening processing beer into bodily waste, you need to flood your blood with electrolytes. Otherwise, you could end up feeling sluggish, achy, dizzy, and nauseous – and that’s just the beginning. If an electrolyte imbalance becomes severe, a person can experience mental changes and a rapid heartbeat, and need to be hospitalized.

That’s no way to leave the gym, much less a happening dance club.

Maintaining a Healthy Balance

Maintaining a healthy balance of electrolytes can be done in two ways: eating foods that are flush with the minerals, and ingesting a formula that provides a full burst of electrolytes when you need them most. Ideally, you should eat an electrolyte rich diet, and use special formulas like the ones available from Vitalyte when you need an extra infusion of electrolytes, which may be every day.

Eating vegetables such as corn, carrots, green beans, fruits such as dark berries, and dairy products such as milk and cheese is a great way to keep your blood stocked with electrolytes. But you may need an extra boost of the minerals if you’re someone who regularly works, plays, or exercises in a way that makes you loose lots of fluid in a short period of time, such as a:

· Construction worker

· Long distance runner

· Frequent club goer

· Daily beach goer

Even an activity like sitting in the sauna at your health club could make you a candidate for one of Vitalyte’s specially formulated electrolyte drinks.

The Bottom Line

Like many health problems, electrolyte imbalance begins as a minor malady, but can quickly become serious if you leave it unaddressed. Remember, if you participate in any work of leisure activity that makes you loose lots of fluids—even if it’s just sitting on your duff and sipping micro brews—you need to replenish your electrolyte count to avoid health complications that could spiral out of control.

For most people, the easiest way to replace electrolytes is to mix up a serving of Vitalyte Electrolyte Replacement Formula. With tasty flavors like Grape, Zesty Orange and Fruit Punch to choose from; and a list of ingredients that doesn’t begin with sugar, Vitalyte is a great supplement for the health conscious. Shop for Vitalyte today!

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Chia Seeds Nutrition Facts

chia seed gel

chia seed gel

Chia seeds have been harvested from the chia plant (a.k.a. salvia hispanica) for centuries. The Aztec culture considered them a major food source, and South Americans still use them in indigenous recipes. For North Americans, chia seeds are most familiar as an ingredient in popular health foods such as smoothies and granola bars. If you’ve ever ordered a healthy smoothie and found that it contained small, crunchy granules about the size of poppy seeds, there’s a good chance that you were chomping on seeds from a chia plant.

Health Benefits

According to scientists and holistic health practitioners, eating a daily serving of chia seeds has a bevy health benefits that you can’t get from just any food. While the seed isn’t a cure all, it does produce some amazing effects that help sustain your overall health, including:

Blood Sugar Stabilization – The soluble fiber in chai seeds stabilizes blood glucose levels by slowing down the rate at which complex carbohydrates are digested and assimilated into the blood. This results in a feeling of sustained energy.

Anti-Inflammatory Effect – Chia seeds have a high concentration of Omega-3 that produces an anti-inflammatory effect in the body. Omega-3 helps lubricate joints, and has a pain relieving effect for those with certain types of joint problems.

Weight Loss Promotion – Unlike some health conditions, the presence of obesity is obvious. Chia seeds help slim one’s waistline by increasing metabolism and lean muscle mass.

Antioxidant Effect – Antioxidants boost brain function and fight free radicals that may cause cancer. Chia seeds contain more antioxidants per mass than blueberries. If you want your diet to have a big time anti-oxidant effect, the seeds are what you need.

These are just some of the benefits that come from consuming chia seeds or a chia rich product like Chia Surge Energy Gel from Vitalyte. If you don’t have much time to cook or make your own smoothies, taking chia nutrition in the form of Chia Surge is a great idea. In addition to containing chia nutrients, the gel also has Beta Alanine that reduces lactic acid and replenishes glycogen.

Get Healthier Today

Everyone wants to be healthier to live a longer life, but if you tried every health product that’s sold on store shelves, you’d be pushing up daisies before you sampled them all. How do you separate great products from mediocre ones, gimmicks from ones that are genuinely good for you?

It helps to start by targeting products that offer what you need, and then gauge their effectiveness by reading customer reviews. If you need the waist slimming, joint soothing, braining enhancing effects of chia nutrition in a convenient product that gets rave reviews, Chia Surge from Vitalyte is a great choice in terms of taste, convenience, and all around nutrition. Shop today!

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How Healthy Electrolyte Drinks Can Boost Your Performance

healthy-electrolyte-drinksYou have probably heard a lot about so-called “electrolyte drinks,” but what exactly do they do? And more importantly, how can you separate the healthy electrolyte drinks from the less nutritional varieties? When it comes to electrolyte drinks, it’s very important to read labels and ensure that you know what you’re getting.

What are Electrolyte Drinks Anyway?

An electrolyte drink, or electrolyte replacement drink, is a beverage that allows you to replace the important nutrients lost through physical activity and sweating. If you want to get extremely technical about it, electrolytes are substances that give ions when dissolved in water, and are separated into acids, bases and salts. But all you really need to understand is that your body requires certain electrolytes, such as sodium, chlorine, calcium, potassium, phosphate and magnesium.

Electrolyte drinks contain these important ingredients, and when you drink them during or after a period of physical activity, your body is better able to maintain healthy electrolyte levels. Since your body loses electrolytes—especially sodium and potassium—through sweat, this is extremely important.

Why are Electrolytes So Important?

Electrolytes help to regulate essential body functions like nerve reaction, heartbeat and muscle function. As your electrolytes are depleted, you become vulnerable to weakness, muscle spasms, convulsions and even nervous system disorders. That’s why it’s so important to maintain healthy electrolyte levels in order to boost your performance, stay at the top of your game and –most importantly—maintain your optimal health.

How to Find Healthy Electrolyte Drinks

As previously emphasized, not all electrolyte drinks are created equal. When comparing electrolyte drinks, the first thing to consider is the amount of sugar present. Some electrolyte drinks contain 20 grams of sugar or more. Look for low sugar varieties, and avoid drinks that are high in calories. In the long run, these refreshments will cause more harm than good.

Additionally, look for electrolyte drinks that use natural ingredients. Avoid artificial ingredients and preservatives as much as possible, and always read labels carefully before making a purchase. The ingredients list should be dominated by real electrolytes, like sodium bicarbonate, calcium citrate and beta carotene, as well as natural flavors.

Find the Best Healthy Electrolyte Drinks at Vitalyte

If you would like to try a truly superior, specially-formulated healthy electrolyte drink today, check out our full line of products today. At Vitaltye, we take quality very seriously, and we go to great lengths to provide a truly superior class of sports energy drinks.

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The Surf City Marathon: A Lesson.

By Laura Conley

screen-shot-2013-02-06-at-91804-pm

The Surf City Half Marathon was a big lesson for me!  I learned to listen to my body and give it more than enough rest!!!  I had been sick the week prior to the race with the stomach flu and after drinking lots of Vitalyte to replace electrolytes and fluid lost I thought I was better. I knew that my digestive system was still not quite right, but I thought I could push through and be ok. Long story short - boy was I WRONG!!!  I started out the race very conservatively and then picked up the pace as the miles flew by.  Around mile 6-7 though, my stomach decided that enough was enough!  I started cramping and having to make frequent bathroom visits.  I think the running really churned things up in my gut all over again.  I was so disappointed that I couldn’t keep running strong, but I never quit.  I just kept jogging/walking/bathroom visiting until I reached the finish line.  By some miracle I finished in about 1:30ish!  Still, I will always remember that race because it was a reminder that I am human and I should listen to the my body when it needs to rest.  I can’t wait to come back next year nice and healthy to race a new Personal Record!!! :)