What do people think of Cream of Tartar as a Potassium supplement?

Parsley456

Hi everyone,

I've heard that adding a teaspoon of Cream of Tartar plus a pinch of Pink Himalayan Sea Salt to a big glass of water can be an excellent electrolyte boost because the Cream of Tartar is basically Potassium, and the sea salt is the best salt because it has lots of trace elements etc.

On the other hand, other people say "Oooh, careful, don't supplement Potassium its dangerous!"

So I'm confused, not sure if its a good idea or not? Does anyone have any knowledge from experience on this? Thanks :-)

Jigglypuff00

I've heard that too. Do you keep track of your daily intake? We are supposed to get no more than 4500 mg. A tsp of cream of tartar has 495 mg. So as long as you're ingesting 4000 mg or less, you should be ok. I take a potassium tablet of 99 mg every day. Since I started tracking, I've never made it close to 4500.

A lot of high potassium foods are not included in a keto diet. Meats are, but not enough to put us over. Same with dairy and spinach. Then too, being on keto flushes away a lot of those essential nutrients.

So maybe just keeping a close eye on your potassium intake, you should be good. Hopefully someone more experience with this will chime in! I was reading an article on how beneficial taking cream of tartar is. Interesting!

kpk54

I keep my sodium up so I don't have to worry about dumping potassium. Potassium is in far more foods than most are aware of. As mentioned up thread, effective July of 2018, potassium will be required on food labels. New labels are starting to show up on store shelves.

In regards to Himalayan Pink Salt, consider doing a search something like "why was iodine added to table salt". You will probably want to include table salt in your diet as well. You might get plenty from restaurant food or processed food if they're made with iodized salt.

I've used cream of tartar only as a stabilizer for meringue. My "energy drink" is usually just a lick of salt off the palm of my hand. About 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon so ~500-1000mg. Done. I'm not a fan of sipping salty drinks except salty broth on a cold day.

KarblessKreature

Tartar will make whatever you put it in tastes sour. I use it in tea and water. It’s cheap & easy. But like others have said you probably don’t need to supplement potassium.

Sunny_Bunny_

I agree that if you keep sodium up you don’t even need to supplement potassium. You probably get more than you realize since it’s not required to be listed on labels. It’s in tea and coffee too.
If you get too much it can be seriously dangerous. If you keep sodium up, you won’t waste potassium and your body will keep it all in balance on its own. But only if sodium is adequate

Parsley456

Thanks for the replies :-) It feel so unnatural to consume that much sodium - I've always believed that too much salt makes me retain water, that it was Because of eating salt that my legs and ankles and feet swell.

Hmm. This is all very new information. Thank you and I'll see how I go increasing sodium... and thanks for the reminder about iodised salt as well as sea salt! I'll be sure to include both. I just hope I don't swell up again with all the water retention. Honestly, I read about others losing lots of water weight in the first week or two, I definitely did not! I've been on keto 2.5 weeks now and only lost 3kg ( I think that's about 6 lb) and still feel 'puffy' with water retention but I'll stick with it of course :-)

Sunny_Bunny_

Parsley456 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies :-) It feel so unnatural to consume that much sodium - I've always believed that too much salt makes me retain water, that it was Because of eating salt that my legs and ankles and feet swell.

Hmm. This is all very new information. Thank you and I'll see how I go increasing sodium... and thanks for the reminder about iodised salt as well as sea salt! I'll be sure to include both. I just hope I don't swell up again with all the water retention. Honestly, I read about others losing lots of water weight in the first week or two, I definitely did not! I've been on keto 2.5 weeks now and only lost 3kg ( I think that's about 6 lb) and still feel 'puffy' with water retention but I'll stick with it of course :-)

Salt probably did lead to some water retention before but it’s different on low carb. Very very different.
When insulin levels are high on a high carb diet, it causes sodium retention. With the higher sodium retention, the body must hold onto water to dilute it. On low carb, we have lower insulin levels and sodium isn’t retained like before. It is actually excreted and you can end up seriously sodium deficient without daily supplementation.

Parsley456

Ah that makes total sense! It must be that I'm not quite yet adjusted - I've had/still have insulin resistance so perhaps 2.5 weeks is not long enough for my body to change. Thanks for this insight, it just goes to show I really do need to learn these things, thank goodness for this excellent community here I have just found :-)

KarblessKreature

Also, once fat adapted you need he sodium.
your body holds glycogen and water in the cell together so as you use your stores up the cell also expells the water. It’s the reason why one loses weight at the start of keto, it’s a lot of water weight. So you should not retain any extra water once fat adapted and consuming more salt.