Beat Keto-Flu with Homemade Electrolyte Drink

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This recipe was inspired by a great electrolyte drink created by Wellness Mama. Apart from using electrolyte drinks for rehydrating during sports, it's an effective natural keto-flu remedy. Electrolytes, especially magnesium, are often deficient when you eat less than 20-30 g net carbs.

Making an electrolyte drink that tastes good was a real challenge. At first, the drink was too salty and I had to make a few batches before I was happy with the result. I used slightly different ingredients than the original recipe to increase the potassium and magnesium content and to make it suitable for a keto diet. If you've ever been through keto-flu, you know how bad the symptoms can be: headaches, muscle weakness, cramps or fatigue are just some of the side effects you don't want to experience during the transitional period of the ketogenic diet.

Note: If you need to add more sodium to your diet, try Homemade Bone Broth!. For more potassium try avocados!

Also check out our Quick Guide to Keto-flu Remedies and pin it to your board!

Tips for Alternatives

• Drink with meals (not on an empty stomach). Start with a cup per day and increase to no more than 2 cups per day to avoid stomach discomfort. Too much magnesium citrate causes loose stools so keep that in mind.__
• Instead of potassium chloride, you can use lite salt or cream of tartar. To read more about potassium supplements, read this post: The Importance of Potassium in Low-Carb Diets.
• You can use coconut water instead of water for extra electrolyte boost, especially potassium and sodium. The downside is that coconut water may be too high in carbs for some people. There are about 6 grams of net carbs, 600 mg potassium, 252 g sodium and 60 mg magnesium per cup of coconut water.
• Instead of Erythritol, you can use other healthy low-carb sweetener from this list.

Nutritional values (per serving, cup/ 240 ml/ 8 fl oz)

Ingredients (makes about 6 cups)

• 5 cups water or herbal tea of choice (1.2 l)
• ¹/₂ cup lemon or lime juice (120 ml/ 4 fl oz)
• ¹/₂ tsp potassium chloride (see Tips for alternatives)
• ¹/₄ tsp sea salt or pink Himalayan salt - ¹/₈ tsp if too salty
• 2 tbsp Natural Calm magnesium supplement (12 g/ 0.4 oz)
• ¹/₄ cup powdered Erythritol or Swerve (40 g/ 1.4 oz) - I used Sukrin Icing
• Optional: 20-30 drops liquid Stevia or to taste

Instructions

1. Juice the lemons or limes (or a combination of both).
2. Place everything in a jug and stir until well combined and no crystals appear on the bottom.
3. Add some ice cubes if needed and enjoy! If you suffer from keto-flu symptoms, have 2-3 cups per day with meals (3 cups only if you are physically active and have no stomach discomfort) and also add more sodium to your diet (try Homemade Bone Broth). Store in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Ingredient nutritional breakdown (per serving, cup/ 240 ml/ 8 fl oz)

Net carbs	Protein	Fat	Calories
Water, still
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Lemon (juice), fresh
1.3 g	0.1 g	0 g	4 kcal
Potassium chloride, supplement
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Salt, pink Himalayan rock salt
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Natural Calm, magnesium supplement
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Erythritol (natural low-carb sweetener)
0.3 g	0 g	0 g	1 kcal
Total per serving, cup/ 240 ml/ 8 fl oz
1.7 g	0.1 g	0 g	6 kcal

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