Potassium Broth

Got this recipe from The Kripalu Cookbook. Here are the ingredients, ready to go: carrots, potatoes, beets, onions, celery and cilantro. It actually called for parsley, but I bought cilantro by mistake.

AHHHH! Attack of the killer foaming potassium broth!

Strained and ready to drink.

Down the hatch!

Why potassium broth? During my first couple of pilates classes I was getting insane muscle cramps in my calves and feet. Blindingly painful cramps. The instructor had to come over at one point and massage it out for me. She said that's normal for a beginner, and most likely has to do with the pointing of the toes, which uses muscles that you don't normally use. She said if it kept happening after a month that I would need to eat more bananas, which I took to mean I'd need more potassium. After consulting my ADA Complete Food and Nutrition Guide I discovered that potassium helps your muscles contract, so now I'm sure she was referring to needing more potassium.

The insane cramping has stopped, but I still get small cramps, which doesn't seem like a problem. But I stumbled upon this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. The cookbook says the broth not only replenishes the body's potassium, but also replaces many other trace minerals and nutrients and "provides a feeling of well-being and is especially useful for someone on a temporary purification diet or for someone who is ill and needs some robust, easy-to-digest liquid nourishment."

It doesn't taste bad at all. It's mild and goes down easily. I am going to guess I have not been getting enough potassium, as according to the ADA the "adequate intake" level is 4,500 milligrams daily. To put this in perspective, the food with the most potassium listed on their chart is a banana, with only 420 milligrams. You'd need to eat nearly 11 bananas a day to get enough! No wonder my muscles were spazzing out! Well, potassium is now on my radar and I'm going to try and get more.