How to Solve an Electrolyte Imbalance
1. Adjust Your Diet
The first step to correcting an electrolyte imbalance is to identify how it developed in the first place. For many people, a poor diet that’s high in processed foods containing lots of sodium, but low in other electrolytes like magnesium or potassium, paves the way for a dangerous imbalance. In many cases, a minor electrolyte imbalance can be corrected by simply making dietary changes and cutting way back on junk foods, takeout and restaurant foods, while instead cooking more fresh foods at home.
Focus your diet around whole, unpackaged foods — especially plenty of vegetables and fruits that provide potassium and magnesium. Some of the best include leafy greens, cruciferous veggies like broccoli or cabbage, starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes or squash, bananas, and avocados. A diet that’s rich in magnesium or potassium likely can be enough to solve problems like low potassium levels that can lead to blood pressure problems or magnesium deficiency that can contribute to anxiety, restlessness and muscle cramps.
To prevent dehydration and restore electrolytes, focus on these foods — which are some of the most hydrating due to being very water-dense:
- Coconut water
- Celery
- Watermelon
- Cucumber
- Kiwi
- Bell peppers
- Orange
- Carrots
- Kefir/yogurt
- Pineapple
Another thing to consider is whether you’re consuming enough calcium. With or without eating dairy products, it’s possible to get calcium from leafy greens, other veggies, beans and legumes. To obtain enough calcium naturally without needing supplements, consider adding high-quality and ideally raw dairy products to your diet if you can tolerate them. Foods like organic probiotic yogurt, cultured raw cheeses and raw milk provide high levels of electrolytes in addition to other important nutrients.
2. Monitor Your Sodium Intake
When you do consume packaged or processed foods, check the sodium levels. Sodium is an electrolyte that plays a significant part in the body’s ability to retain or release water, so if your diet is very high in sodium, more water is excreted by the kidneys, and this can cause complications with balancing other electrolytes.
Here’s how sodium works within the body: Essentially, water follows salt, which means if you increase sodium too much, water retention also occurs. At the same time, the opposite is also true: A loss in sodium results in a loss in water, potentially causing dehydration and extreme thirst. Hypernatremia (the name of the condition that develops when either too much water is lost or too much sodium is obtained) is more common among older adults, people with diabetes and those who eat heavily processed diets.