In the light of Nasser and I wakening each morning with calf muscle cramping, there may be others out there suffering the same agonizing wake-ups, I have decided to post this Blog.
The most excruciating pain is waking up, suddenly, to a calf muscle pain. The peak of the pain is what wakens you.
Leg cramps are not usually a serious illness*, but they can be incredibly painful and debilitating until they subside. They may be caused by several things, so I’ve listed a few treatments to try. What works best for you will depend on the underlying cause, so you may have to experiment to find the most effective treatment and prevention strategy.
What Causes Leg Cramps?
Leg cramps at night are called recumbency cramps, and are caused by spasmlike muscle contractions. You might also experience leg cramps after exercising if you are dehydrated. In both cases leg cramps can be caused by electrolyte or mineral imbalance in the body.
Leg Cramp Treatments
If your leg cramps are brought on by exercise, you may be dehydrated. Try drinking more water, both throughout the day and during exercise. Be sure to warm up and stretch before exercise and warm down and stretch afterwards as well.
Food Therapy Treatments
If you get leg cramps frequently, especially nocturnal leg cramps it could be due to an electrolyte imbalance.
Low potassium levels can cause leg cramps. Apple cider vinegar is high in potassium and this tonic should help quickly if your leg cramps are caused by low potassium: Mix 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon honey in warm water and drink.
If the above tonic helps relieve your leg cramps, try to boost your potassium levels by eating more of these potassium-rich foods: apples, bananas, dried fruits, avocado, mushrooms, yogurt, kefir, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked potatoes and cantaloupe. Potassium works with sodium to control the fluid balance in your body, and they have to be in the right proportions to each other in order to work effectively. If you have a high sodium diet try cutting back on the sodium a bit, use only high-quality salt such as Himalayan Sea Salt, and at the same time eat more of the foods that are high in potassium. Also, make sure you are drinking enough water.
Boosting your intake of calcium and magnesium can also help alleviate leg cramps. There is one super-food that’s incredibly high in both of these minerals, raw chocolate (also known as raw cacao). Here are some recipes using raw cacao. Eat more vegetables, especially dark leafy greens like broccoli and kale, almonds, and raw chocolate (raw cacao) all of which are high in both calcium and magnesium. One quick and easy way to get a lot of all these ingredients in your diet is to have a green smoothie daily. You can make it with almond milk as the base, add dark leafy greens, andraw cacao powder.
Other calcium-rich food sources include: salmon, sardines (with bones), green beans, turnip greens. Additional magnesium-rich foods include: raw chocolate (raw cacao, the #1 source of magnesium), nuts and pumpkin seeds, molasses, spinach, baked potatoes, bananas, wheat germ and seafood.
An important note about calcium: you want to avoid calcium supplements. David Wolfe has done a lot of research in this area, and calcium supplements are bad news. They are responsible for pretty much all age-related diseases. In a nutshell, they will kill you faster. They are promoted as being necessary to prevent osteoporosis. It’s a myth, a marketing ploy. According to David Wolfe, there is absolutely no scientific research to support that. If that’s not enough, just look at it logically. The USA consumes more dairy (also promoted as being high in calcium) than just about any other country, people are taking calcium supplements, they are being recommended by doctors, so why does the US still have such a high incidence of osteoporosis? If you want to find out more about the dangers of calcium and how to dissolve and remove the calcium already causing problems in your body, I highly recommend David Wolfe’s Longevity Now Program.
Physical Therapy Treatments
Acupressure or massage may help to ease the cramping once it’s started. Sit and bend the knee of your cramped leg, bringing your leg up toward your chest. There is an acupressure point in your calf muscle on the back of your leg. It’s about halfway between the back of your knee and your heel, at the bottom of your calf muscle bulge. Press and hold there for about a minute or until you feel the cramp release – remember to keep breathing while you do. You can also try gently massaging the back of your leg with long strokes upwards, from your heel to the back of your knee using the palm of your hand
*There are rare cases of leg cramps which are symptoms of more serious conditions, so if you have frequent leg cramps be sure to see your doctor about them.
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8 Things to Know About Cream of Tartar
Anna, a Fooducate community member asks:
My mother-in-law told me not to use Cream of Tartar, that her mother said it’s bad. Anyone know if she’s right???
Good question.
What you need to know:
1. Cream of Tarter is actually a white, odorless powder. You can find it conveniently packaged in the spices section of your local supermarket.
2. The chemical name for cream of tartar is potassium bitartrate, or potassium hydrogen tartrate. We’ll get to the potassium in a minute.
3. Cream of tartar is natural, and is formed from the sediment left over in barrels after the winemaking process. They’ve found cream of tartar in ancient pottery dating back 7000 years!
4. Cream of tartar has multiple uses in food preparation including stabilizing egg whites by increasing their heat tolerance and volume, and preventing sugary syrups, chocolates and candies from crystallizing.
5. Homemade baking powder can be made by combining baking soda and cream of tartar as the active acid ingredient.
6. If you’re whipping cream and want to stabilize it, add some cream of tartar after whipping.
7. Health concern #1 - cream of tartar has an extremely high potassium content – 495 mg per teaspoon. Our daily requirement for potassium is 3500 mg. This poses a risk for people with kidney disease or folks that take medication that decreases the ability of their kidneys to excrete potassium. Keep in mind however that cream of tartar is usually used in tiny amounts.
8. Health concern #2 – Laxative effect. Again, a non-issue for most people due to the tiny amounts used in food. You’ll be more likely to experience laxative effects from a stick of gum sweetened with sugar alcohol, or eating an emergy bar pumped with inulin for extra fiber.
So to answer your question Anna, if your kidneys are fine and if you use cream of tartar in the small quantities intended, there should be no problem.
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