I find that if you get enough sodium the rest will balance naturally. A lot of people still supplement magnesium but you need the right type for best absorption. Glycinate maybe? I'm sure someone better informed will chime in. Also the salt substitutes contain potassium and might be a good way to get more. You can get too much potassium to bad effect though so I'm always a little wary of how much I get from non-food sources.

Again I'm sure the supplementers will chime in with better advice but for myself I just focus on lots of sodium.

I had a lot of leg cramps that even magnesium didn't help with until I started taking in enough sodium. If you get repeat posts mentioning more sodium, believe them. Yummy pickle juice, olives, bacon, beef bouillon cubes, etc are your sodium friends.

Remember, water acts like a magnet in your body drawing the sodium out so make sure you're getting at least between 3,000 and 5,000mg of sodium daily.

When I ate low carb for weight loss, I exercised and never supplemented anything. I was, in fact, on a low sodium diet. (1500 mg or less daily).

Later when I decided to eat keto levels of low carb it was necessary for me to increase my sodium intake and also take magnesium supplements (100 mg) to eliminate night leg cramps.

You indicated LCHF in your post but not keto so I presented both scenarios as they applied to me. Low carb may not require supplementation. Keto low carb often does.

@ladipoet - Most doctors, especially functional medicine doctors, don't recommend taking calcium, because it's really easy to over absorb. Most of us get more than enough calcium from eating real food - it's generally just that we don't absorb it well - or route it to where it is needed. Dr. Berg says that if you feel you must take a supplement, take it at night, 12 hours opposite from your D3/K2...so that you don't over absorb it. I don't think he gave a recommendation, as he does not want his patients taking it...

That being said, if you feel like you're not getting enough calcium in your dietary intake, you might look at adding more natural calcium rich foods - and/or focus on breaking down and properly absorbing what you do already intake... So maybe some sort of enzyme to make sure you're properly breaking it down and absorbing it...

I'm guessing your D3 level is optimal. 2000 IU twice a day would not be enough for me to absorb the calcium. Also, since D3 is part of the circadian rhythm, it should be taken as close to first thing in the AM as possible, and then 12-2 pm for a second dose (if you need a second dose)... You're not taking it at night are you?

You know that I have no gallbladder, but since I've gotten pretty level on my digestive enzymes, I've been able to improve my D3 levels from a 20 to just above 100 - which may be key now for me, if the preliminary x-ray reports I received were right for my back... I'm working on lowering my levels of D3 needs, but as we're entering the winter months, I'm taking more D3 again to combat SAD... I think the LOWEST my regular D3 supplements will be is probably 5000-10000 IU daily (with enough K2 to fully absorb it)...and double that during low sunlight months... I don't know, though, because when I had to drop it that low before (ran out of my supplement and had to make it stretch), I could really feel the hit...

If you're still feeling low on calcium, it might be work increasing your D3 amount to match your K2 max absorption and see if you can soak up more of your natural calcium rather than supplemented, which may not even be usable or optimum forosmmmm

And good on you taking zinc - that has been a game changer for me (though I readily admit that not everyone needs this...)... The Boron though was the biggest one lately aside from K2...

For D3/K2, it is up to 10,000 IU of D3 to 50 mcg of K2, M7 form. Taking more K2 is not a problem ever. You just want to keep at or below that amount of D3 to K2 so that none of the D3 goings on cluttering things up and loitering about!

For the dose Dr. Berg himself takes, it is 40,000 IU D3 with 200 mcg K2/M7. He says if you do NOT take calcium, and you do take vitamin A 12 hours offset from your D3, this is a health sustaining dose and should not over do the D3/Calcium because it's all going where it should, and it can even in some cases dissolve buildup and/or bone spurs. You might want to do some additional research. When I was taking doses to bring my up out of my severe deficiency, I was doing the 40,000/200 combo for months.

I, too, am called a vampire by my family. I have two shades - really pale and burnt. There is no in between. I don't fade to a nice tan, nothing... The sun gives me headaches, etc. So I completely feel your pain here...


That being said, boron. 3 mg is a pretty standard dose. I prefer the Life Extension Brand, and when I do it on subscribe and save, it's less than $5 for 90 or 100 capsules...which is at 1-2 per day, so minimum a month and a half, usually closer to 3 months. I recently got the NOW Brand boron to compare. I don't like it as much, but I can't put my finger on quite why... Right now, I'm taking it twice a day, one of each brand until I use up the NOW brand... There was less than $1 cost between them.

This was the article that got me started: http://gwens-nest.com/what-i-didnt-know/

Because it took me to this article: http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm


Also, on the K2, I personally prefer the Life Extension Brand Super K Plus. It has as you say, a full spectrum of K1 and 2 types of K2. I've taken two different brands, and with both, I felt crummy and felt the difference almost immediately, as well as my D3 levels dropped like a hot stone! So that one runs about $20-$25 for 90 pills. 1 pill is 200 mcg K2/M7, so you can take up to 40,000 IU D3 with it, if I remember correctly. The difference in taking D3 with the K2 was like drinking an energy drink - without the drop off after!!


Overall, I think LE is my favorite supplement brand, followed by Doctor's Best and NOW... I love Jarrow for certain things, too - just now for their K2-M7!! LOL

Thank you, @TheDevastator for the warning on Boron. I had not come across this anywhere before...

For every, as always, please do your own research and talk to your medical team. Everything I share is based on my own research, medical advice I've received, or testing on myself...or reported results from other people testing on themselves.

Unfortunately, I do not remember where he has that data. The recording he made was actually during a summit, I believe on Diabetes.

Here's one he talks about doing those levels for blood pressure and such... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpPEIXotGMs

The best info on this one starts a little after the 2 minute mark as to how much to take together...

He actually wants you taking 100 MCG of K2 for every 10,000 IU of D3 (as loading dose at 4 pills each, so 400 mcg K2 and and 40,000 IU of D3 in the morning) or just 1 each (100/10,000 for maintenance)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVe417S38EE

Dr. Eric Berg and Dr. Chris Masterjohn, PhD are my two favorite functional medicine folks to help explain the medical and science of all this...

Even with a Vitamin D3 level at 150 on a test, my internal medicine doctor was NOT CONCERNED because I'd just had a Calcium Score Test come back at a 0 (perfect score) and my DEXA test come back at nearly optimum levels (one area of concern - to me, not to anyone else reading my results because it was borderline not quite low).

I lowered my levels at the request of my Endocrinologist, but I have to increase D3/K2 at this time of year because I simply don't absorb and process it well - and my levels will drop dramatically every year at this time...

I hope this helps!

I do believe in Vit D3 and Vit K2's but I think it was learning about magnesium and getting that right along with D3 that has helped me the most but I do take a ton of other stuff.

I did some reading on D3 mega dosage and got my level up to 155 ng last August just to see if I could. In my case I think it made me feel droopy but I do not know why? Since Aug 2017 I have been back to 5000 units daily with megadose of K2 MK 4 and 7. I need to retest soon.

In my case I think Vit D levels of 90 may be a better range but I have not found any research on the short/long term needs/effects of high levels of Vit D. It was my goal to fully load any Vit D receptors and see what happened. I am interested in seeing if my Coronary Artery Calcium Score changes in either direction when I retest May 2018.

I am seeing a tad bit of new movement in some joints immobilized by Ankylosing Spondylitis in the prior 40 years. Where my calcium gets deposited is a major concern at age 66.

It seems any Vit D level of 50 ng or better may help prevent all causes of premature death. Moving the needle towards the 100 ng range may just be a personal preference but I have read stories of people with levels of 1000+ ng long term. Research on this and other supplements can be a black hole I find.

@Sunny_Bunny_ thanks for posting this link and I just scanned it but am dead on my butt tonight. My AS pain continues to be managed after having been off of sugar and all forms of all grains for over three years now so I tend to over do it physically. Recently in the process of trying to relive the pass perhaps I bought a fairly nice 1966 Ford 3000 tractor. We have finished up our mowing for 2017 and today I rubbed out the sheet metal skin by hand and waxed it twice.

Thankful to my WOE I can now do more stuff like this and still get up and go the next day. This winter I need to get back and update my ketolivewell dot com site since this busy summer went fast.

Tonight's rabbit hole has been Myricetin and I will read more on it and do a work up with more info.

https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772053/ A Dietary Molecule with Diverse Biological Activities

I do 10,000 D3 every day and have for years, of course added K2 when I found out about it. Don't know my level, but I live in Canada - one of the worst places for MS and IBS - both linked to low D levels - so the more, the merrier. Always have had super bone density levels (at 53 I have the bones of a 20 y o), so something's going right.