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08-20-2008, 09:19 AM
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#1
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,645
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Calf/foot cramps
Been doing the low carb diet for a while, but getting foot and calf cramps that wake me up at night.
What's a good source of potassium? May break down and eat a few bananas, they seem to be the best bang for the buck. Lots of carbs tho...
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08-20-2008, 10:01 AM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 13,227
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This is a pretty good article:
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Dumm...n.id-4150.html
I get them once in awhile too. Less since I started eating a banana every night (I also eat one with breakfast almost every morning).
I think the hydration tip is a good one too. The stretching tip probably is too, I know I have tight calf muscles.
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08-20-2008, 10:16 AM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Central, Ohio, USA
Posts: 2,635
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I saw your subject for this thread and immediately thought Bananas. I had cramps several years ago and my SIL (who is a doctor) suggested them to me. Been eating them for the past 20 years and have had virtually no further cramps. It will take about a week to take effect but it is good and inexpensive (buy the old ones they mark down) therapy. Much better IMHO than potassium supplements.
__________________
Vietnam Veteran, CW4 USA, Retired 1979
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08-20-2008, 10:19 AM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
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Swimmers like me get them if you don't have enough water in your system before you hit the pool (at least over 4 glasses for me) and enough potassium in my system. Those suckers really hurt, too. Heck with the carbs: eat bananas!
I did take supplements for a month or so when those cramps first started waking me up in the middle of the night with calf cramps. They work, too...but I like bananas, anyway.
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Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
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08-20-2008, 12:50 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,645
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Yeah, I knew bananas worked. I looked at supplements, but they only provide 3% per pill and I didn't want to eat a pile of them. I'm well hydrated, just think I'm missing out on some vitamins/minerals doing the low carb diet.
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08-20-2008, 12:59 PM
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#6
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 284
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Make sure you are getting enough calcium, too. Taking a couple of Tums right before bed may help.
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08-20-2008, 01:31 PM
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#7
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 598
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You can have half an avocado without breaking your diet. Tasty too.
Also switch to lite salt-it's a combination of sodium and potassium. Cuts down on sodium that you always get enough of and adds something you don't.
ps Don't take diet advice from me, I'm the poster child for all the before pictures in those ads. 
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08-20-2008, 01:47 PM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,297
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Sis takes Quinine if leg muscle or foot cramps are too fierce - dunno what the adverse effects might be, but i like the hint of British Empire that emanates therefrom.
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08-20-2008, 02:54 PM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by OAG
I saw your subject for this thread and immediately thought Bananas
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Thats what I think when I see the subject for most threads.
I think I know why your foot is cramping. There's a calf sitting on it.
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
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08-20-2008, 03:08 PM
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#10
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
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There are other sources of potassium besides bananas.
( http://www.health.gov/DIETARYGUIDELI.../AppendixB.htm )
I stopped having leg cramps after adding magnesium supplements.
(Kicked the cat off the bed one night.)
__________________
"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
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08-20-2008, 03:17 PM
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#11
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Leesburg, VA
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Magnesium cramps differ from potassium cramps for me. The potassium cramps can be worked out and stopped (that particular cramp, anyway) by flexing the muscle. The magnesium cramps are wierd, come on slowly, and almost nothing seems to make the cramp go away.
Mike D.
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08-20-2008, 05:50 PM
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#12
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Central, Ohio, USA
Posts: 2,635
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CFB-Is sick. Send him flowers, or something.
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Vietnam Veteran, CW4 USA, Retired 1979
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08-20-2008, 07:44 PM
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#13
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Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 44
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Agree from personal experience with the need for magnesium supplements sometimes on low carb.
The Eades (Protein Power) have good info on this in their books and website.
I now take cal-mag together at night (there is a ratio of the two you are aiming for)
Tomato juice or v8 works better for me than bananas cause of the sugar. Other fruits might be better like berries or melon.
good luck...
kitty
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08-20-2008, 09:17 PM
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#14
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 649
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Ditto on the lite salt suggestion. It worked for me anyway.
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"There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means." Calvin Coolidge
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08-21-2008, 06:31 AM
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#15
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,321
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I have been on low carb diet for many years and tried lots of different stuff for leg cramps. What works for me is a combination of Balanced B vitamins (50mg) and magnesium (250mg x 2). Still get them when I swim but no longer bothered by cramps in bed at night.
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08-21-2008, 12:06 PM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 5,214
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Cramps are usually caused by imbalance of calcium/magnesium/potassium. High protein intake depletes more calcium from your body. In addition, being really high on protein with low carb could make you lose minerals in general, by excreting more fluid, so maybe you should take multi-mineral supplements?
For potassium, Id' do tomato juice before bananas if I were doing low carb... 6oz of tomato juice should give you the same amount or more of potassium as a banana.
tmm
tmm
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08-21-2008, 04:30 PM
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#17
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 331
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I have been on the South Beach Diet for three weeks now and I agree with the tomato juice suggestion. I suffered from leg cramps during the first week and then I added V8 juice to my breakfast routine, and no more leg cramps. 1 small can is thirty calories. I use the low sodium type. This is recommended on South Beach.
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08-26-2008, 07:24 PM
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#18
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 118
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Don't throw the best part of the banana away, scrap the inside of the peel with a spoon and eat that. It contains the most potassium.
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08-26-2008, 07:29 PM
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#19
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny
I think I know why your foot is cramping. There's a calf sitting on it.
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People have been shot for puns better than that. 
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When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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08-26-2008, 07:31 PM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
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Aww dude, dont have a cow! I was just trying to get a leg up!
I oughta be more careful on a forum full of retired law enforcement guys.
I might have to moove quickly.
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
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