This is my own homemade recipe for electrolytes.

It’s a little different from other electrolyte drinks because I’ve added some extra ingredients.

Here’s what you need…

Ingredients

✅ A fresh lemon (or half a fresh lemon)
✅ Himalayan pink salt
✅ Magnesium malate powder (or the magnesium of your choice)
✅ Potassium chloride powder
✅ Water

Instructions

This one is super simple and literally takes about 30 seconds

The first thing I do is I take half a lemon and either squeeze that using a fork to capture the pips or if you’ve got one of those little plastic squeezers that stops the pips coming out, use that.

Pour or squeeze the juice directly into a glass and then take out any pips you might have missed using a teaspoon.

Next, pour in some water into a glass.

What size glass?

There’s no right or wrong here, but I typically will go for a pint glass. You could also very easily use a litre bottle or whatever you feel comfortable with.

The reason I use a big glass is because I like to sip this over several hours and spread out the intake.

Part of the reason for this is that you get the electrolytes over the course of the day.

The other is that magnesium is best absorbed rather, when it is spread out. That’s because the body can’t take a large amount at once so it’s just a waste if you have it all in one go.

Now put half a teaspoon of potassium chloride. Obviously do what you feel is comfortable here. Make sure you don’t put too much in.

Now add the magnesium malate, I typically do a heaped serving of the little spoon provided. That’s probably working out at about 500mg. I think the recommended daily amount is around 320mg – 410mg (which the upper for males). Obviously please do your own research on this, this is not medical. Always start small and you can always up this over time.

I have ankylosing spondylitis (an autoimmune disease) so I tend to do better on having more. I have my scoop of magnesium malate.

Now add six grinds of Himalayan pink salt (that’s probably around a teaspoon worth) directly into the glass.

That’s it!

Quick recap

➡️ Half a squeeze lemon (and take the pips out) into a large glass
➡️ Add a little water to allow it to mix
➡️ Half a teaspoon of potassium chloride
➡️ A measure of magnesium malate (whatever works for you)
➡️ 6 grinds of Himalayan pink salt (or around a teaspoon)
➡️ Fill it up with water
➡️ Give it a good stir

Now you have an electrolyte that contains no nasties which you drink that over the course of the day.

When to make and drink it

When you make it is up to you, because we’ve all got different needs and lifestyles.

For me personally, I have fallen into a routine of making it straight after lunch.

I will then drink it over the course of the next few hours, up until dinner.

That seems to work well for me. Over time, I definitely imagine experimenting with the concentrations of some of the elements in keeping with how I’m feeling.

Occasionally, I might also add an ingredient.

For example, I’ve found taurine quite helpful for me. For some people it can help with cortisol levels and has a calming effect. If I’m feeling like I need a little bump of that, I’ll just put a single measure of that in there as well.

In terms of the taste, I’m going to be honest, this creation doesn’t taste amazing but it’s also not bad by any stretch. Magnesium doesn’t taste great and there’s not really any way of getting round that.

By using the lemon, it really does mask a lot of the flavour and it’s very drinkable. It’s just not as delicious tasting as one of the really processed options that you can buy in the shops.

The reason those often taste great is because they’re full of rubbish. The irony is a lot of these brands (not all of them!) are selling something that’s supposed to be healthy but actually just gives you all sorts of other rubbish.

Why I started making homemade electrolytes

A lot of people who have a chronic condition suffer from things like fatigue, brain fog, lack of focus and all sorts of other things. This can be exacerbated even further if you are using diet to manage your condition.

The diet I follow is fairly similar to the keto diet, which is quite well known. One of the things people often find when they follow diets similar to this is that they really need to make sure that they are keeping up on their electrolytes (things like salt and potassium).

Getting electrolytes in your diet can be really, really helpful, and not just for people who are managing a health condition.

It’s also great for people who are doing strenuous exercise because it gives your body what it needs to help you keep going.

The reason I decided to make homemade electrolytes (rather than shop bought, which I used to buy) was twofold.

1) The off-the-shelf versions are extremely expensive if you get the good stuff. By good stuff I mean the stuff that isn’t filled with other nasties. These are things that help make them taste artificially nice, and these are things that you just do not want in your electrolyte drink.

Rather than just have rubbish and rather than have to pay exorbitant prices for these tiny little sachets, which you have to have every single day, I decided to make my own.

It’s a lot cheaper, a lot healthier, and you get to add other ingredients to make it even better. By that, I mean anything that you might be taking as part of your day-to-day to manage your health or to supplement your health can be added into the mix as well.

A quick note on costs – I mentioned that there are some brands out there that have some good electrolyte solutions. The best ones I found have been US based and even if you’re living in the US they’re extremely expensive. If you’re outside of the US, it’s even more expensive because you have to pay import tax or use a company who’s importing them, which works out as really expensive.

This method simply involves buying some ingredients up front but once you have them, they last for absolutely ages and you get a lot out of each particular homemade blend.

I liked to use Himalayan pink salt even though it’s definitely more expensive because it contains more minerals (more of the good stuff) and it also tastes quite nice. That immediately gives it an edge over off-the-shelf electrolytes. Tip: If you shop online, you can buy it in bulk at a much cheaper price.

I like to use fresh lemon as that also helps with flavouring, naturally.

The other thing I add is potassium chloride. This was from a bit of trial and error because I found when I was using my previous electrolyte recipe, it just wasn’t hitting the sweet spot I was after.

I realised, after digging into some research, that maybe I wasn’t having enough potassium in my diet. You need to be really careful with potassium, don’t overdo it. Ideally you want to get it from food but that can be hard in the modern age.

I use about half a teaspoonful, which should be fine for most people. As ever, with this recipe, I’m just sharing what I’m currently doing and what is working quite well for me. See this as a springboard for your own research and get medical advice if you need it.

Why potassium chloride in particular (and not another type of potassium)?

I looked at some of the big brands who were selling the kinds of clean electrolytes I was buying before and they were using this form of potassium.

The good news is it’s really cheap and easy to get hold of!

The last ingredient is magnesium malate.

Almost all human populations, particularly in the West, are magnesium deficient.

People who are struggling with chronic health conditions like autoimmune disease, for example, are likely to have an even bigger deficiency in magnesium. Magnesium is so important. Obviously, the goal is to try and get this from your diet as well, but a lot of people can benefit from supplementing.

There’s no sort of right or wrong answer in which particular magnesium to get. There are lots available. I always recommend getting the powders because then you can absolutely measure how much you want in your drink and you can experiment a bit safely. Don’t ever overdo it and find out the right level for you.

From my own experimentation and from reading the studies, I know that it appears that magnesium malate is the most easily absorbed by the body. That’s the one I go for and it’s the one I actually prefer having tried a whole bunch of different forms of magnesium. That’s what I currently use in this electrolyte drink.

That’s really the ingredient that just sets this apart from your typical electrolyte mix, because typically you’re not going to find that featured.

You can also try different water

You can, if you want, experiment with the water you use.

If you’re using tap water that’s (and you have not problems with it) great!

You could also try filtered water using reverse osmosis or, if you want to go super hardcore like me, distilled water. Distilled water really is amore extreme option, and it’s still early days for me, but I’m enjoying it so far. If you’re interested you can listen to my initial findings with distilled water here.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. Do share how you get on, or your own electrolyte recipe in the comments below!