Pickle Juice. It's what's for breakfast.
Somewhere today on one of the videos I watched someone mentioned pickle juice in passing.
So I started a search and found the above link to where you can buy bottles of pickle juice. To drink.
Apparently pickle juice can help stop cramps after heavy exercise such as bicycling. I don't know. Never tried that. I have drank pickle juice, and it did seem to satisfy my need for...something.
But I am not going to drink it on a regular basis. It did make me want water after I drank it. Maybe that is the benefit.
Pickle juice has a lot of sodium. The primary electrolyte lost during exercise and hot weather. So it can help restore your blood chemistry balance. It can also make you from hyponatremia to hypernatremia. And too much sodium in your blood is as bad as too little. So you have to be careful how much an how fast you drink it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see where drinking a lot of that stuff could do as much or more harm as good.
ReplyDeleteI've found the packaged juice doesn't work. It's too watered down, and won't help alleviate the cramps as fast as the juice right out of a jar of pickles.
ReplyDeleteAfter a long day in 100+ heat, and going to a meeting, driving became almost impossible due to heat cramps. I stopped at a dollar store, bought a jar of pickles, took two long swigs, and the cramps stopped within minutes.
Good to know. I never drank pickle juice, we used to keep gatorade in the trucks.
DeleteWill pickle juice rejuvinate my 80 year old pickle?
ReplyDeleteNo, but it may make it Kosher...
DeleteIt might preserve it for posterity.
DeleteJEEEZ! Drink WATER, folks! Stay HYDRATED! Do that FIRST! I'm not a doctor, but I live in the desert. You figure this out pretty quick here. Cramping can be due to low electrolyte levels. It can also be due to thickening blood due to dehydration. Rule of thumb; "Pee pale." Your urine should be clear or almost clear. If it's dark yellow, you're dehydrated. If you're not peeing at all, you're REALLY dehydrated! Use sports drinks... or pickle juice... SPARINGLY. Both of these are LOADED with sodium! Too much of that is as bad as not enough. Drinking sports drinks as a "healthy alternative to soda" is a REALLY BAD IDEA! If you're sweating like a horse over an extended period, drink water, then a sports drink... or pickle juice, and then water. Stay ahead of thirst. If you wait until you're thirsty to drink something, you've waited too long!
ReplyDeleteGood advice Pete.
DeleteThere is a controversy over whether it's loss of electrolytes or a neurological disorder causing leg cramps in some people who get them in the cool down phase after exertion. Putting salt in your mouth under your tongue will also stop the cramps very rapidly. But it could just be that the extreme neurological stimulus of salt in the mouth, or sour from pickle juice, overwhelms the nervous system and resets it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the navy we always had to take salt tablets to help with that problem.
DeleteSometimes a cold, dill pickle is just the ticket after being out in the sun.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I was telling a nurse about taking a packet of mustard to relieve leg cramps. "Good to know. I use dill pickle juice."
ReplyDelete