I’m a 44 year old chef 25 years in the game , run my own business, I’m starting to feel it on my body , cramps legs the worst , im drinking plenty of water and don’t really drink alcohol, Is this a chef problem?
I’m getting cramps on the lower legs at night in bed , anyone else experience this?
Yes. Compression socks for anyone on their feet all day.
Yeah, my Aunt who worked at Nordstrom her whole life told me that compression socks are the only reason she doesn’t have Varicose Veins. Been wearing them ever since because I don’t what that.
I have other leg issues that are made worse by compression socks, but they do help with swelling and blood flow. Imo, they keep me from getting varicose veins and swelling so that my shoes put pressure on my feet.
However, the compression on my bones spurs and Achilles tendinitis makes those pains worse.
Helps my plantar facitious though.
Drink pickle juice when you feel cramps coming on. Or eat mustard. You need more potassium in your diet. Eat a banana with breakfast.
I was a bartender for like 15 years or so. During my tenure I never had leg cramps before bed until my bar became short staffed and my co worker quit. I had to work doubles 6-7 days a week until we staffed up again. By second or third week was when I started cramping.
I would like to note bananas are awesome, but something simple like orange juice has more and sometimes is easier for those that have a hard time eating breakfast. 10/10 advice
FYI: Potatoes are a better source of potassium than bananas.
Which I never hear anyone say.
Yogurt also has more potassium than bananas
Spend the cash and invest in a good electrolyte supplement with little to no sugar.
Magnesium ( glysinate )supplement before bed
Stop drinking / cut back on alcohol. But you already know that.
Follow up and get a blood panel and talk to your doctor about any deficits
Gatorade n bananas also have that stuff
I came here to also say pickle juice
The sodium in pickle juice is generally not healthy (hypertension, high blood pressure, kidney damage, heart disease, etc.). The cramping is likely caused by insufficient Potassium and Magnesium. Potatoes contain both and have more Potassium than bananas (or pickles and pickle juice).
Let me clarify, I reccomend to drink 1/4 cup of pickle juice 3x a week. I used to do bikram yoga 5-8 times a week for a few years and I had calf cramps non-stop. No matter what I ate or drank (bananas, coconut water, potassium and magnesium supplements) this is what worked best for me. Obviously, at your own risk- I’d hate for pickle juice to put anyone into an early grave.
magnesium before bed.
Second this ⬆️ Magnesium supplements definitely help. I take one daily with breakfast. Takes a few weeks of steady dosage but I rarely get cramps anymore.
Watch it though. Higher doses when you aren’t deficient will give you the runs. Awful, crampy runs. Just a heads up
Game changer for me
Stretching. Whole body. Every day. 10 mins. Does wonders.
...will not help in the slightest if it's a potassium deficiency.
Always try the free solution first if you're unsure though. What's the worst that happens? Flexibility?
Starting with the simple stuff, 40-year olds need to take better care of joints and muscles. Potassium deficiency is something that was suggested in this thread as a possibility, but there are simpler and more common explanations. It could be magnesium deficiency for all anyone knows, but starting by ruling out the most common causes is best.
This. We'll before shift and directly after - with lots of hammie stretches throughout the day.
As well as taking vitamin k
you loose a lot of minerals while sweating. get some electrolytes to add to your water. having a too big water intake will only slush the minerals out of your system. and maybe snack on some fruit for more vitamins.
Need more Potassium
Yoga
It’s a “stand for work” problem. My wife is also industry and gets it really bad. Your IT bands are probably tight as all hell, get a foam roller.
Stretching is important as you get older. Yoga is great for that.
That used to happen to me all the time. My cousin told me about quinine. Now, I drink half a cup a day of tonic water, and they have completely disappeared.
This is the one I was looking for. I keep a small bottle on my night stand. It actually works instantly too.
Yes, it does. Works within seconds. I forgot to mention that. Glad you did. :)
Gentle calf stretching in the evening but not right before bed
Gotta start taking magnesium my brother
Need more electrolytes is my guess. More potassium and sodium. If you are on low sodium diet, you need more sodium. Magnesium as well.
Drinking water alone doesn't solve dehydration.
Magnesium, Potassium. The cramping is a response low levels of these essential minerals that are responsible for nerve signal transmission.
Drink electrolytes to balance out all the water you’re drinking.
I have been dealing with this issue. It's yoga. You are an athlete and if you don't stretch they're gunna break down.
I don't know the names of the poses but Leg Yoga, Knee Yoga. Sit on the ground, put your feet pads together so your leg is a diamond, push your knees down and lean forward.
Get all the way down on your knees, with your toes on the ground as well. Arc your feet. Pushing the ground away from with your hand can help the feet.
In that same pose, let your foot relax and let your toes point away from you so your ankles on the ground. Stick one leg out. Now with your remaining bent knee, reach to it with your opposite hand, and rock with your hips to leverage the ground against your knee. This is a big one, inside knee muscles.
Raise your legs while your sleep and take a few minutes to straighten out your legs and point your toes towards your face.
Stand against a wall put one foot right against so your ankle angle is like 35 degrees, this will do your calf.
Lay down on your belly, stretch long. Bring one knee up to your chest, against its opposite nipple. This is for gluten and inner thigh. You can do the same pose standing up and it will hit different.
Pull your legs back, pull them back and side to side.
Warrior poses, really focus on the back leg stretching back
Yoga w Ari Shaffir is super fun.
Some of this stuff is gunna hurt and concern you. That's good. Shit is almost calcified at this point so it's alot like massaging an old scar. This is time consuming as fuck, you should do it for at least 25 minutes and remember to take deep breaths during the most difficult poses.
Thank you for detail
I walk everyday (as exercise), take two magnesium gummies 30 minutes before bed, drink lots of fluids including at least one Powerade a day to replace stuff and eat a banana almost every day.
I have cramps the nights I don’t eat a banana. Magnesium and potassium are very helpful.
Another great source is low sodium V8.
Insoles can help a lot. Certain shoes I wear don't have the level of support and do the same thing. Also magnesium as others have said should help.
I would definitely check out the footwear. Arch support and a raised heal. All of these problems when away when I started wearing Birkenstock clogs with an insole. Great for the legs and lower back, I can do 16 hour days on my feet in those quite comfortably.
Also - get in the habit of shifting your foot positions every few minutes when you are standing in one spot at a station for a chunk of time. Lots of prep cooks will keep a small box or wood block under their table, and put one or the other foot up onto it.
Yes I wear berkinstocks , I’ll have to try shifting foot
I used to get cramps all the time, calcium-magnesium pills help.
Potassium, stretch, hydrate, invest in good shoes, compression socks.
Get more electrolytes, and start stretching
It's a, "you're getting old" problem.
Magnesium 300mg as per my Dr. At night before bed, same for me . Restless legs syndrome
You need potassium. Pickle juice works, but the best I've found is a mouthful of molasses before bed.
Need potassium and electrolytes. Welcome to getting old
Eat bananas and see a doctor to have your potassium levels checked. Leg cramps typically indicate a potassium deficiency.
Potassium.
Take magnesium at night. Saved my life as a chef.
Magnesium glycinate 400mg daily before bed.
I’m an Ironworker not a chef. Cramps used to get so bad I’d have to pull over driving home. Solution: chelated magnesium glycinate before bed and some potassium supplements during the day along with water, lots of water.
You might actually be drinking too much water and flushing out your salts. You need electrolytes like the other comments suggested. If you want a cheap homemade solution Google "ketoaid". People on keto often need electrolytes too and they make it with Salt Free for potassium, normal salt, lemon juice and water
Brawndo. It's got electrolytes.
Magnesium and try lifting the foot of your bed or mattress up by 10cm
Magnesium pills worked for me
How funny! I myself am 44 and have been a chef for 25 years. I've found that aside from A good pair of shoes is .... compression socks! I haven't been able to wear compression socks The last several months Due to being on disability, recovering from a surgery on my hand, And I can feel the difference in my legs! My husband moved out recently, so I'm living alone. And I wish there was someone here to put my socks on me for me😂
😂😂 very funny , hope you get well soon , must be tough not being able to use your hands
It has been absolutely horrible. Not only has it been difficult to take care of myself, but it's coming off the heel of my husband Moving Out. I'm anxious to get back to work, so I didn't let my right hand heal Before having my left side done. 🙃 I have no one to blame but myself. Lol
250mg of magnesium daily and you will never cramp up again
Thank you everyone for all your great tips
Magnesium may help. Epsom salt baths is a good way to relieve cramps, or take an oral supplement. B12 also, especially if you are vegetarian or vegan. If bloodwork shows you low enough, your doctor may recommend shots.
Take a magnesium supplement.
If you're drinking a lot of water you probably flushing out of a lot of electrolytes potassium magnesium and regular salt and your body is missing these and so you need to get at least some more potassium and definitely magnesium
Banana help, 39 year old female chef here, also been doing it a long time. I drink tons of water but still find the potassium helps with cramps, and also heartburn.
Potassium and magnesium tablets
There are pills aimed at people on the keto diet that are supplements for all the salts that you won’t get if you eat too cleanly. They work great and BONUS, they really seem to help my hangovers to not be as bad.
I helped flip and open a restaurant two years ago, and between 90 hr weeks and the walk in being down a flight of stairs (and being a big dude), I was getting horrendous calf cramps/charlie horses at night.
Magnesium/potassium pills reduced them considerably. Once the hours reduced a bit I started going for a walk in the evening, and that helped too.
Compression socks & going for pedicures with leg massages..
Get some magnesium oil spray and keep it on your bedside table. Works immediately!
Those pedialyte water flavorers are something you should consider mid day.
I was getting pretty bad cramps in my calves and feet at one point, and taking supplemental magnesium seemed to help quite a bit.
I started getting weird calf/leg cramps at night, random frequent toe cramps, and also plantar fasciitis-type pain in my arches. Game changer? Doing hamstring stretches! Who knew??
Highly recommend a tempurpedic mattress that adjusts to sleep with your legs slightly elevated. Worked wonders for me
Bananas, take a one a day vitamin. Hydrate hydrate hydrate. Hit the gym
Dehydration
Up your fluids, maybe add an occasional hiking type electrolyte tab to your water, they pretty much all taste like shit but they work
Eat 2-4 banana each day. Monkey never cramp.
Could also be environmental. Do you keep a fan on at night? I discovered the cool air and uncovered legs ( I slept with a thin sheet barely covered) were a big cause of my nighttime leg cramps. After I redirected the fan and covered my legs cramps were instantly gone.
I usually sleep with my legs out , I hate hot feet , I’ll cover up tonight
Go to a doctor, could be all sorts of deficiencies or actual problems. Only way to know is to get a check up. You are in your 40s, time for a routine checkup anyways, test blood for cancer, diabetes and all that.
I am not saying it is one of those things, I am saying you are in an age where you should let a doctor check for these things and rule them out instead of relying on the diagnosis of random internet strangers that have not examined you.
Yes , good tips here from everyone and I’ll definitely go back to doctor got tested at the beginning of year and was low in folic acid and vitamin d
get checked for blood clots
take an aspirin as a blood thinner see if it goes away
Yoga bro
This began for me 3 years ago. I was 34. Lost weight, wore compression socks, and worked a little less. 12-14 hour days became 10 hour days. I began seeing a massage therapist who focused on the lower body only. I now feel as if I had just started cooking 14 years ago. No foot, ankle, or knee pain. And most important no more exhausted days.
This profession is hard on the body. You need to invest and take care of yourself.
It’s a very tough profession, every week draining and I’ve always worked in crazy busy establishments
Trust me I know. I've been everywhere from dish to executive sous. From mom and pop places to ones that hold stars. Health is wealth in this game.
Try to go see a doctor. Ask to check your blood, Maybe you have Uric Acid. But better to go check a specialist dor it.
Congratulations you are old now
🤦🏻♂️
Wear compression stocking and try to drink more water, could introduce electrolyte solutions (Gatorade, pedialyte, etc). Can also grab a tennis ball and roll out what’s cramping. It’ll hurt like hell to roll it but it works.
I had the same problem ,and hopefully not the case but I got blood clots out of nowhere. I was like 30.
Potassium and magnesium helped me. I also take a supplement called ZMA. I find also help with athrhitic pain in my wrist.
Do you smoke? If so stop. Also look into some Compression socks to wear during the day. Aside from that hydration and potassium
Charlie horse? Yeah i get them regularly.
Get new shoes. Not danskos. Not slip ons with no arch support. Nice, comfortable ass sneaks.
When this was happening to me my doctor told me it was a magnesium deficiency and taking some supplements helped. But hard to know exactly what your body needs without blood work
Compression socks , no going back
Buy a big box of rehydration salts, potassium and magnesium supplements. Absolutely use the rehydration salts daily.
Source: owner and chef that bought in at 55. Started getting loads of cramps. Have to sleep with my legs straight so my calves don’t cramp in the middle of the night. Granted, I’m not looking after myself. Poor eating, too much drinking. You know, the usual stuff
do you get any exercise?
Bananas. Monkeys don’t cramp. 3 bananas
Yoga... Some people call it glorified stretching, but it's more than that. The poses are designed to help your body maintain proper alignment which is key
If you’re a woman, that’s about right for perimenopause, which is super fun for all sorts of reasons when you work in a kitchen. :/ Regardless, stretching and replacing electrolytes can help, and if you’ve got pickle juice around, don’t knock sipping on a half pint through the day. My mom used to do the tonic water thing, but quinine is risky for people with heart and kidney issues.
If you have back pain or herniated discs, it could be related to that.
I didn't believe it either. But before I had back surgery I was waking up with Charlie horses in my calves every damn night. The surgeon I had explained why that was happening.
But it's shocking how deeply connected everything is to the spine.
half-a galoon of water with Liquid IV worked for me, turns out I was just hella dehydrated
I never got them from work, but I'm a former competitive cyclist, and the best thing that I ever learned to fight that was to have a big glass of milk, I'm talking 16 to 24 oz, after you finish up. You can add whatever you want to milk as far as flavorings, as long as you're getting the cow juice in your belly.
In all honesty I had this issue, started drinking more water, it went away.
I was told recently to try Compression socks. A fellow chef I know started using them at the request of her nurse wife that is very invested in proper food care and she said the difference is stark.