Dietary Advice to Reduce the Risk of Muscle Cramping

Ever get a really bad leg cramp? I mean one of those cramps where you can actually see the twisted muscle in your leg and the pain is so unbearable that you start to cry and wish you were dead? Muscle cramps are usually the result of a deficiency in the supply of blood to the muscle. Everybody is subject to the imposition of painful muscle cramps, but there is a reason that athletes are affected more often. This is because athletes are more likely to deplete their glycogen reserves through hyperactivity and as a result they lose potassium and salt through sweating. For this reason, one perfectly good way to reduce the potential for muscle cramping is through a healthy consumption of foods high in potassium.

Your first thought may be to increase your ingestion of bananas. That is a good idea because bananas are notoriously great resources for potassium. In addition to bananas, other great foods high in potassium are sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts and apricots. And while you're at it, why not toss back a glass of tomato juice or, if that is as distinctly unappealing to you as it is to me, citrus juice. Getting enough potassium in your daily diet can significantly reduce the number and intensity of muscle cramps you may experience. As with almost every kind of health problem, one very simple way to abandon the world of knotted muscles is to quit smoking. There are at least six million reasons to quit smoking and now you have another one. In addition to giving up nicotine, you might also want to cut back on your intake of caffeine. Caffeine serves to constrict blood vessels which negatively affects circulation, making it a primary contributor to regular bouts of muscle cramping.