I let my guard down (tears). A story about the 'Plum Vinegar Calpis' I drank when I was on the verge of heatstroke.

Hello. This is Hamurisa (Risa Hamura).

For the past ten days or so, the crazy heat has been continuing, hasn't it?
Over 35 degrees every single day! 💦
By the way, today, the temperature on my balcony exceeded 37 degrees...

During the rainy season, I was hoping that 'maybe this year the heat might return to what it was like in the Showa era,' but that was wishful thinking.
Even though we are supposedly heading toward an ice age. It's disappointing.

Last week, I was working in the field during the morning hours and almost got heatstroke.
Today is about the self-care (?) I did at that time and the heatstroke prevention drink I've been making for the past ten years.

1. I was drinking water

That day, even though it had gotten hot, I started working in the field around 8 a.m. with the attitude of 'I can still do this.'

Harvesting vegetables, watering, weeding.
I proceeded in this order and drank the cold water I brought with me several times along the way.

About an hour and a half after I started working, I started sweating like a waterfall.

I thought, 'This is dangerous!' and stopped working.
I immediately drove home (it's a 5-minute drive).

When I got out of the car, my body was in 'I don't want to move anymore' mode. I panicked.
It would be too bad to collapse in the parking lot (lol).

2. First, a cold shower

I somehow managed to drag my body to my room, and first, I took a cold shower.
I cooled myself down at any cost.

Fortunately, I was conscious, but I was clearly dehydrated.
My body felt heavy, and I started to get a headache.
Still, with the cold shower, I felt better than before and felt like I could still move.

Since I have a cat, my house is usually kept at a mild air-conditioned temperature.
After the cold shower, the coolness of the air conditioning helped settle my body heat.
Thank goodness.

3. 'Plum Vinegar Calpis' as a substitute for oral rehydration solution

After that, I just had to take in water and salt.
I put Calpis and plum vinegar into a glass and diluted it with cold water.

I was thirsty, so I drank two glasses (about 400ml?) in one go.

I lay down for a bit, and since I still wanted to drink more, I made another glass as my body craved it and added lemon juice as well.

'Plum Vinegar Calpis' is something I always make and drink instead of OS-1 or sports drinks.
Sometimes I make 'Salt Calpis' instead.

Commercially available sports drinks and oral rehydration solutions contain additives like 'amino acids, etc.' or 'high-fructose corn syrup'...
This is a substitute drink I came up with (?) to avoid those.

Usually, this would stop the dehydration, but... this time, a headache lingered slightly.
In the end, I drank about 2 liters by the next day and finally recovered.

Truly, one must never let their guard down (lol).

4. How to make 'Plum Vinegar Calpis'

Even though I call it a recipe, it's quite lazy. There are guidelines, but I don't measure anything (lol).

• Calpis: I use the white bottle (dilution type) (because it has the fewest additives). The amount is about half of what you'd use to make regular Calpis—aim for a dilution where you think, 'This is a bit thin, I want to add a little more concentrate.' Having a bit of sugar helps with the absorption of water and salt.

• Plum vinegar or sea salt: Add enough to taste the saltiness. You can use red or white plum vinegar as you like. It's best to use plum vinegar from pickled plums made with natural salt (coarse salt). I think the citric acid in the plum vinegar is also good for fatigue recovery. If you use salt, use natural salt (coarse salt) as well. If you want to measure properly, aim for a 0.3% concentration salt water (dissolve 1.5g of salt—about 1/3 teaspoon—in 500ml of water).

• Water: Dilute with an appropriate amount. Depending on the season and your preference, you can use cold water, room temperature water, or warm water.

• Lemon juice: It's delicious, and the vitamin C and citric acid are good for fatigue recovery.

Sometimes I'm so lazy that I add too much plum vinegar or salt, but if it's too salty, I just add water to dilute it.
I adjust it by focusing on how much saltiness my tongue perceives (= whether it tastes salty enough to be delicious).

Even with the same salt concentration, when you're slightly dehydrated, a higher salt content tastes delicious, but when you're hydrated, it tastes too salty.
They say, 'If OS-1 tastes sweet and delicious, you are already dehydrated.'

Some people might think, 'Isn't a strong salty taste too much salt?' but generally, modern people are often severely lacking in salt (not just sodium, but other minerals as well), and since it leaves the body quickly through sweat in the summer, I don't think it's a problem to temporarily go a little over.
(This is limited to cases where there are no issues with kidney function, though.)

I think the type of salt you use is more important than that.

5. Use 'natural salt' for salt

The one I always use is natural salt (coarse salt).

Refined salt (common table salt) has almost all its minerals removed during the manufacturing process.
What remains is almost entirely just sodium.

In contrast, sea salt retains trace minerals like magnesium, potassium, and calcium.
This is especially true for sea salt made using traditional methods, which has a good mineral balance.

As for plum vinegar, I use the kind from pickled plums I made myself using sea salt, or the plum vinegar from Plum Boys. Plum Boys' pickled plums are made using traditional methods and sea salt.The plum vinegar, which is a byproduct of their pickled plum production, contains all the good qualities of the salt, and it also contains the citric acid from the plums.

Plum Boys is actually a brand I've been supporting for a long time.

I was really struggling because I couldn't find pickled plums at the supermarket that didn't use seasoning liquids.
Making my own pickled plums is fine, but time and space are limited, so I'm grateful to be able to buy them.
When I found Plum Boys' pickled plums, it felt like, 'This is exactly what I was looking for!' I was so grateful.

I wondered what kind of company it was, so I looked them up.

The founder, Yoshiro Yamamoto, is a graduate of the Hokkaido University Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
His family are plum farmers, and it seems his older brother took over the plum farm, and his older brother's

After cultivating plums, every plum ends up with a uniform taste due to the sweet seasoning liquid. Honestly, there is no sense of fulfillment in the cultivation.

Hearing those words, and knowing the reality that the traditional pickled plums I had been familiar with since childhood were no longer being produced, he reportedly turned down a job offer from a pharmaceutical company and started his own business, thinking, 'In that case, I will make the kind of pickled plums that my brother can be satisfied with.'
Now, while consistently handling the production, processing, and sales of plums, he is also working on supporting young people in starting new farms and preserving plum orchards and mountains that are becoming overgrown due to aging.

While creating products that delight consumers, he also pours his efforts into the problems faced by farmers and mountain preservation.
It's inspiring, isn't it, this story✨

Moreover, he has a background in pharmacy, just like me.
This middle-aged lady can't help but want to support him.
Of course, the most important thing is that the pickled plums and plum vinegar are delicious (laughs).

6. A story about why I avoid commercially available products

From here on, it becomes a bit of a personal story.

I started paying attention to what I eat back in my mid-30s.
I ruined my health and resigned from the pharmaceutical company I was working at the time.

I was busy and kept eating out. I think I was in a state of what is now called 'new-type malnutrition.'
Even though I was eating proper meals, I was lacking the necessary nutrients.

From there, I properly reviewed my nutrition and food, paid attention to what I put in my mouth, and started trying natural foods.
I stopped using things with chemical seasonings and started using only seasonings made with traditional methods—what you might call 'things with simple ingredients.'

Then, at some point, I noticed that when I occasionally ate out or had commercially available products, my tongue would tingle after eating.

At first, I just thought, 'Maybe it's because I ate something with a strong flavor.'
When I avoided chemical seasonings, those symptoms didn't appear.
When I ate commercially available products, they appeared again.

After verifying various things, it turned out that I was reacting to 'amino acids, etc.' and getting the tingling symptoms.

('Amino acids, etc.' is a general term for umami seasonings such as monosodium glutamate, and it is widely used in processed foods, snacks, and drinks.)

Since then, I have become even more cautious about what I eat, checking the ingredient labels, and I try to avoid things that contain chemical seasonings and food additives like 'amino acids, etc.' and 'high-fructose corn syrup.'
There are times when I have to eat them when eating out, but I feel that it is easier to maintain my health when I am able to avoid such things.

7. In the scorching summer, let's be careful

Even though I knew how to prevent dehydration in my own way like this, this time, I completely let my guard down and almost got heatstroke (laughs).

Come to think of it, I had stopped drinking hot water with plum vinegar first thing in the morning, which I had been doing in the winter, because it had started to get hot.

Besides, I should not have underestimated the heat, thinking 'I'll be fine.'
It was too dangerous, really.

To those reading this, please do not push yourselves too hard in the scorching heat.
In the summer, even if you take in salt, it quickly goes out with sweat, so taking in water plus salt is really important.

If commercially available sports drinks or oral rehydration solutions suit you, please use those, and if you are interested, please try 'Plum Vinegar Calpis' (or Salt Calpis) once.

In particular, I think many people will experience 'this feels kind of good' if they are conscious of using 'sea salt' in their daily lives, not just for dehydration measures.

Today was an introduction to my 'dangerous blunder' and my homemade heatstroke prevention drink that I've been using for 10 years.
I hope this serves as a warning or reference for everyone (laughs).

Let's get through this scorching heat together!

Thank you for reading until the end.

(★This article contains affiliate links.)