Sodium?

danidanibobani

I know I am supposed to up the sodium intake. I've never been shy about salting my food. I added pickles when I felt the keto flu and any time I'm feeling off. I've been at this a month. I'm wondering if I should be adding more salt or if at this point it can be a 'to taste' sort of thing and I don't need extra salt as I'm likely keto adapted. Or is it extra salt (and mag/potassium) forever? Or, can/should I back off to my old (normal) salt level? I guess I'm asking because I just got back from a walk, and it's not particularly hot, and my fingers swelled up like crazy, which usually only happens when it's really hot or I've had too much salt.

GrannyMayOz

I get that finger swelling and tingling sometimes, it's not pleasant really is it? My personal opinion is that if you've always liked your salt, as I do, you can return to normal. You can tell that you're OK if you don't get cramps at night. I actually think I was overdoing the salt for a while and didn't feel too good. I feel far better now I've backed off somewhat.

I'll let others advise you on the mag/pot. I get an unpleasant fluttery/palpitation feeling in the centre of my chest if I take any quantity of either of those.

GaleHawkins

I have started putting salt in a glass of water. Yesterday I was out using the tractor and all of my clothes were soaked with sweat and my head started feeling weird so when I got to the house I took some salt. I had put on coconut oil to prevent sunburn and I think I was about to get too hot. I was not getting close to 2000 mg daily on low carb.

wabmester

I don't know of any studies specific to nutritional ketosis, but this has been looked at in terms of fasting-induced ketosis:



So you stop losing sodium after a couple weeks of fasting. I doubt NK works the same way since fasting depletes sodium and NK doesn't.

Here's what Volek had to say in a presentation he gave:

"Sodium supplementation needs to be continued as long as nutritional ketosis."

GaleHawkins

wabmester wrote: »

I don't know of any studies specific to nutritional ketosis, but this has been looked at in terms of fasting-induced ketosis:



So you stop losing sodium after a couple weeks of fasting. I doubt NK works the same way since fasting depletes sodium and NK doesn't.

Here's what Volek had to say in a presentation he gave:

"Sodium supplementation needs to be continued as long as nutritional ketosis."

Ketones excreted levels should drop as one's body learns to burn them I have read. From my experience I agree with him on sodium supplementation.

FIT_Goat

After the initial adaptation period, you likely don't need to add salt or anything else. I know people who never salt their food and haven't for years (talking other nutjobs who eat like myself). That said, I happen to like salt. It's one of my addictions (as Stefansson would say about salt use). So, I haven't actually gone that long without it myself. I think the longest period has been like 3 days, and that was simply because I kept forgetting to season the steaks while they cooked on the grill.

Edit: Your diet will likely never be sodium free, as meat and other foods will all contain some amount. I would get over 600 mg of sodium a day just from my beef, even without adding salt. That's lower than normal, but it's likely enough to cover whatever amount my body is losing.

jonnybhoy

Got myself some salted Pistachios from Aldi today, I have never been one for salting my food

wabmester

FIT_Goat wrote: »

After the initial adaptation period, you likely don't need to add salt or anything else. I know people who never salt their food and haven't for years (talking other nutjobs who eat like myself).

You can see from the fasting experiments that ketones still end up in the urine even after "adaptation." You can also see that ammonium ions get wasted as well. A couple of things to note about this:

1) People generate different amounts of ketone waste. The more "ketogenic" your diet, the more waste there will be.

2) The ammonium ions come from protein catabolic waste. In the fasting case, this is coming from your muscle tissue. In the carnivore case, this is coming from the excess protein in your diet. In the NK case, you may continue to waste sodium.

danidanibobani

I am wondering if the swelling of my fingers means I should cut back a bit? Or if it's the potassium? I supplement with mag, so I doubt it's that. I just don't want to overdo the sodium and the swelling seems like its my body telling me something isn't quite right.

wabmester

http://askdrgottmd.com/so-whats-the-cause-of-swollen-fingers/

Do you regularly eat salty foods or snacks? If so, you might want to discontinue the habit to determine if any change is noted. On the flip side of this, swollen fingers and hands could be a sign of hyponatremia, too low a level of sodium in the body that could be the result of drinking too much water during extreme exercise or too little salt in the diet

So try reducing sodium. If that doesn't help, try increasing sodium.

danidanibobani

Ah! Thanks! I will give that a try.

JessicaLCHF

Good! I've been addicted to sunflower seeds as of late and everytime I input them I get the "this food is high in sodium" warning so I was slightly worried. Not enough to stop, mind you! I eat one serving bag a night while watching TV.

wabmester

I've been trying to run a little earlier than usual due to the heat. This morning I felt a little tired and blah (before LC, I left like that every morning). I decided to try a little pickle juice. Zowie! My new love.

Instantly felt better and went for a morning run.