A friend suggested pickle juice for leg cramps.
I used to get leg cramps at night, they were so painful I would have to jump out of bed (from a dead sleep), and hop around until the cramp went away. But then that muscle would still ache.
I came across something that suggested electrolyte imbalance as the cause. It seems in my case (as an SOS free whole food plant based person) it was high potassium and low sodium. I don't know if that is always the imbalance for most people (I eat a lot of bananas, high in potassium), and whether any electrolyte imbalance can cause painful leg cramps, but I began eating a couple of sticks of celery (lots of sodium) when leg cramps woke me up, and I was able to go back to sleep for the rest of the night.
Pickles are cured in brine, which is very high in salt.
The reason SOS free WFPB people do not use concentrated salt is because it is unhealthy. We need sodium! But pure concentrated salt is way too much. The lethal dose of table salt is roughly 0.5-1g per kg of body weight, it's not as much as you'd think given how liberally we use pure sodium. The amount in the SAD diet is toxic, but not to the lethal point.
I have a vivid memory of the first time I ate something with a lot of table salt, i was so thirsty I couldn't drink enough water. The solution to pollution is dilution, thirst is a natural reflex.
Two vegetables that are high in natural sodium are celery and tomatoes. Since I've been putting them in my dinner salads no more recurring leg cramps.
I make a vegan chef salad most evenings...one medium head of lettuce, toms and celery, carrots, boiled potatoes, beans, and some kind of fruit based dressing (blender) with a smidge of tahini or almond butter for fat (creamy). Also balsamic, mustard, a few olives, etc.
Normal salad spinners are too small, this is more better:
Most WFPB vegans bonk in the short term because they do not get enough calories, in the long term because of insufficient nutrient diversity. The SAD diet is too calorie dense and nutrient deficient, a recipe for chronic diseases. Most days I eat an abnormally large 1st meal of fruit, and an abnormally large salad for dinner.
When shopping for produce look for these 5 characteristic in no particular of priority: fresh, ripe, raw, whole, organic.
Picking the best fruits is an acquired skill of touch and smell. Costco has surprisingly good frozen fruits in 4 lb bags that are good value.
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