Quick and dumb question about sodium

DonPendergraft

I'm planning on starting this very soon and have read repeatedly about taking more sodium. Does this mean just using more salt on your food? Will that do it? Or is there more to it than that?

Fat4Fuel2

While starting out and adjusting, a lot of people recommend bone broth with salt to aid with "keto flu" symptoms. I still find that when my sodium is too low I get light headed. I add salt when I want and to taste. If I notice I'm not getting enough, I have chicken bullion cubes on hand to make a quick broth with. Not the greatest quality, but makes me feel better. I should note that I work out pretty intensely and guzzle water, so others might have different experiences.

radiii

Liberally salting everything (and eating bacon daily! and whatever sodium is in meats I suppose) is usually enough for me. Whenever I feel crappy though the first thing I do is heat up a cup of chicken broth (make sure you don't get the low-sodium kind) and dump some extra salt in it and drink that.

KnitOrMiss

My research showed me that instead of doing 2500 mg maximum sodium, on this WOE you need 4500 mg minimum. You can up that sodium however you choose - broth, adding salt to things, eating higher sodium foods, adding decadent sauces to everything, etc. It is truly all about what works for you.

baconslave

Lower carb diets tend to cause your kidneys to excrete more electrolytes than the Standard American Diet (SAD). So there is less available to work with. You also are often thirstier going low-carb, so you drink more water, which further dilutes your electrolytes. So you need to replenish them more often. Otherwise you feel lightheaded, run down, or weak. Get more sodium, potassium, and magnesium in. Try to eat on-plan foods rich in potassium and magnesium. Liberally salt foods. Invest in a potassium salt (potassium chloride). Drink some potassium salt in with the salty broth. Some bouillon cubes have MSG or taste nasty to me so instead I mix water, a flavoring like Mio, and 1/4 tsp salt, plus some potassium salt. It's super concentrated Gatorade. Try to get at least 3,000mg of sodium (they recommend 3,000-5,000 in the beginning. I personally blow up like a puffer fish at anything higher than 3,500 so you'll need to find your magic number. I'm fully fat-adapted though, so increased efficiency may be why I don't need as much), half that of potassium (1500mg or more if you can swing it). I get my mag from a magnesium citrate supplement. Try to reach 300mg of that if you can. Magnesium can cause a laxative effect in those not used to it, so I would ease into it.

If you don't get enough salt, it will leech your potassium, too. So do your best to make sure you don't get low on the electrolytes. Much carb flu or weakness is a result of low electrolytes. You'll just all-around feel and perform better with them. I speak from experience.

KnitOrMiss

Oh, and for the record, @DonPendergraft I don't personally think there are any dumb questions when it comes to improving your health. (hugs)

and @baconslave, I hadn't thought about the fact that the needs would change with adaption, so that's great. I set myself back when I worked that faire recently, so I'm back to adapting again!

DonPendergraft

Thank you all for the responses! I use SaltStick Capsules for runs longer than a couple of hours. I may just start popping those when I start. Check out the profile. It's very close to sweat is why I picked it. Nice mixture of goodies. But more salt on my food too. Cheaper than these capsules.

wabmester

The loss of sodium is kind of interesting. It's called natriuresis of starvation. When you restrict calories or carbs, you make ketones (you knew this). The ketones are anions (negatively charged), and initially a good quantity is excreted in the urine. That's why ketostix initially detect high levels of ketones.

The anions must be accompanied by a cation, and that is initially sodium. That's why we excrete too much sodium during starvation (or ketosis).

DonPendergraft

wabmester wrote: »

The loss of sodium is kind of interesting. It's called natriuresis of starvation. When you restrict calories or carbs, you make ketones (you knew this). The ketones are anions (negatively charged), and initially a good quantity is excreted in the urine. That's why ketostix initially detect high levels of ketones.

The anions must be accompanied by a cation, and that is initially sodium. That's why we excrete too much sodium during starvation (or ketosis).

Awesome. It's good to know the "why" of it!

wabmester

I think you'll only need to supplement sodium for the first couple weeks.

saraphim41

Tu to all. So glad I found this thread. I had no idea that not getting enough salt could make me feel weak. Been wondering what was wrong.

Twibbly

I salt my water when it sounds good to me. Sometimes it doesn't, and I assume that means I got enough those times.