cut down on sodium! !!
89GermanG
Posts: 73 Member
Hi people, how can I cut down on sodium? Can to much affect my diet?
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Replies
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more whole foods; less processed foods. eat out less...restaurants are sodium bombs.
just remember that sodium is an essential mineral...not getting enough can be as bad as too much.0 -
What's wrong with your current sodium levels? You need sodium to live.0
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Hi people, how can I cut down on sodium? Can to much affect my diet?
If your physician has instructed you to cut back on sodium for health reasons, he/she should have provided you some literature on ways to do that and a target number you should be trying to stay within.
For people who are not sensitive to sodium, there's no hard number you must keep to, but there are some ways to reduce sodium.- Eating out can be high sodium, so cooking at home helps you control the sodium you use
- The sodium on prepared foods (microwave meals, box mixes, etc) can be high, look for low sodium options
- Make your own spice blends so you can control how much salt is in the mix, or use salt-free blends and season your food with salt separately.
- Replace your table salt with 'lite' salt, which is a 50-50 blend with potassium chloride. It tastes just as salty, but half the sodium is replaced with potassium.
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Look through your food diary and see if you have recurring items that are exceptionally high in sodium, and find ways to reduce them.
That said, unless you have hypertension or another medical condition, going over on sodium probably isn't a huge deal (other than it may cause you to hold on to a little extra water weight until you flush it through your system).0 -
Unless you have a medical condition the only way sodium is going to affect you is make you retain water. If that bugs you then trim it down a little bit. Eating out is the kiss of death when it comes to sodium. If you're trying to limit sodium eating out is almost impossible.0
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Please click this link to get reliable info on sodium:
http://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/sodium-411/
I struggled with salt until I realized that I just had to start making my own stuff. So, I learned how to make cottage cheese, etc. I just couldn't eat all the processed stuff and still keep my salt I take down.0 -
Sodium deficiency (hyponatremia) is a thing and it isn't something you want. We need sodium to live. Unless your Dr has told you that you need to watch sodium for health reasons don't get too caught up in trying to reduce it.0
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shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Sodium deficiency (hyponatremia) is a thing and it isn't something you want. We need sodium to live. Unless your Dr has told you that you need to watch sodium for health reasons don't get too caught up in trying to reduce it.
People going under the amount we actually need...never heard of a single case.0 -
All four of my nieces have been diagnosed with hyponatremia and have to add sodium to their diet. It's a genetic condition on my MIL's side. If they don't add sodium to their food, their sodium levels get way too low and they will pass out. It's an authentic medical condition.... diagnosed by their pediatricians.0
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Hyponatremia... I have it. Mild, of course. It's about a balance of sodium and water. You can't look at one without looking at the other.
I'm on a medication that, in the dosage I'm on, makes me ridiculously thirsty with a constant dry mouth and throat. Since I need this medication and need to drink the water, my doctor said that I wasn't eating enough salt to balance my fluid intake.
I eat very little in the way of packaged food so have to rely on adding my own salt to keep the sodium balance my body needs.0 -
All I know is that to much salt is not good. I'm not sure if I eat to much sodium, I'm just trying to eat healthier. I have thyroid problems and I shouldn't eat to much processed food which contains a lot of sodium.0
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All I know is that to much salt is not good. I'm not sure if I eat to much sodium, I'm just trying to eat healthier. I have thyroid problems and I shouldn't eat to much processed food which contains a lot of sodium.
If you have thyroid problems and are on the proper medication, you really don't need to avoid anything, except perhaps excess carbohydrates. "Processed" food is a word you have to be careful with - both milk and anything frozen are processed foods. So is any bread, including any bread you make at home. High amounts of sodium are really only associated with high blood pressure, and only in people who already have to worry about it. As long as you eat in moderation, you should be fine. Sodium's not something you really need to worry about, except for the fact that a lot of it will make you retain water for a couple of days.0 -
All I know is that to much salt is not good. I'm not sure if I eat to much sodium, I'm just trying to eat healthier. I have thyroid problems and I shouldn't eat to much processed food which contains a lot of sodium.
Here on the MFP forums, if I take a strawberry from my garden and throw it in the freezer, I have technically processed it, so I use the term "convenience foods" instead, although everyone does know what you mean by "processed foods."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_food
Convenience food, or tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimize ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily portable, have a long shelf life, or offer a combination of such convenient traits. Although restaurant meals meet this definition, the term is seldom applied to them. Convenience foods include ready-to-eat dry goods, frozen foods such as TV dinners, shelf-stable foods, prepared mixes such as cake mix, and snack foods.
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Don't reduce sodium unless your doc advised that. Too little has its own hazards. E.g. after a vasovagal syncope episode in my 20's, my GP sent me to a cardiologist. Net: everything was fine but he advised increasing dietary salt. (I have low blood pressure.)0
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Check your micronutrients level in your food log. The official recommended amount of sodium for the average person is 2300mg per day or about 1 teaspoon. That's a lot of shaking of the salt shaker, but if you're eating convenience food, it can add up fast. Use this recommendation as a guide regarding whether you need/want to change your sodium intake.0
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Unless you have a medical condition, there really is no need to reduce sodium, I very much doubt you are getting too much! Plus sodium does lots of good things and makes food taste nice!
Just eat it in moderation! Like everything else!0 -
shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Sodium deficiency (hyponatremia) is a thing and it isn't something you want. We need sodium to live. Unless your Dr has told you that you need to watch sodium for health reasons don't get too caught up in trying to reduce it.
People going under the amount we actually need...never heard of a single case.
So you know everyone's medical diagnosis everywhere? Yeah... Didn't think so.
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I've literally never seen or heard of a person who was hyponatremic due to a dietary deficiency of sodium. It's almost always illness and, in rare cases, too much water or too much sweating and too much water (like ultra-endurance athletes.)
People going under the amount we actually need...never heard of a single case.
Sure there is. Vasovagal syncope and postural othostatic hypotension. Meds were quite expensive when I was diagnosed years ago by a Johns Hopkins cardiologist, but eventually an increase in dietary sodium, salt tablets and increase in water intake helped regulate my blood volume & low blood pressure enough to ditch the meds. He said it's actually a radically underdiagnosed condition in its milder stages, and the anti-sodium health kick is not helping.
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shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Sodium deficiency (hyponatremia) is a thing and it isn't something you want. We need sodium to live. Unless your Dr has told you that you need to watch sodium for health reasons don't get too caught up in trying to reduce it.
People going under the amount we actually need...never heard of a single case.
So you know everyone's medical diagnosis everywhere? Yeah... Didn't think so.
It's common on MFP to read people saying that nobody has to worry about their salt intake until it causes cardiovascular issues, but that's an MFP thing, not what experts advise.
This 2300 number is a maximum and isn't even advised by many. It excludes people who have a history of various cardiovascular issues, people over 40 and black people. That's a lot of people. Even backing out medical issues, that is still only white people under 40 years of age.
Is it possible that someone became hyponatremic because they didn't take in enough salt? Sure. But it's a freaking rare occurrence and one I've never seen or heard anyone mention.
I don't care if someone wants to eat 50,000g of sodium a day. Chow down. I'm not trying to make anyone lower their salt intake. I'm just saying that this idea of needing to make sure you get enough...it's not a problem for anyone I've ever heard of. Ever.
I'm sure that MFPers will now be coming out of the cracks to say, "I was hospitalized because I only ate 100mg a day for months!" but if it's happened, it's an exceedingly rare thing.
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shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Sodium deficiency (hyponatremia) is a thing and it isn't something you want. We need sodium to live. Unless your Dr has told you that you need to watch sodium for health reasons don't get too caught up in trying to reduce it.
People going under the amount we actually need...never heard of a single case.
So you know everyone's medical diagnosis everywhere? Yeah... Didn't think so.
It's common on MFP to read people saying that nobody has to worry about their salt intake until it causes cardiovascular issues, but that's an MFP thing, not what experts advise.
This 2300 number is a maximum and isn't even advised by many. It excludes people who have a history of various cardiovascular issues, people over 40 and black people. That's a lot of people. Even backing out medical issues, that is still only white people under 40 years of age.
Is it possible that someone became hyponatremic because they didn't take in enough salt? Sure. But it's a freaking rare occurrence and one I've never seen or heard anyone mention.
I don't care if someone wants to eat 50,000g of sodium a day. Chow down. I'm not trying to make anyone lower their salt intake. I'm just saying that this idea of needing to make sure you get enough...it's not a problem for anyone I've ever heard of. Ever.
I'm sure that MFPers will now be coming out of the cracks to say, "I was hospitalized because I only ate 100mg a day for months!" but if it's happened, it's an exceedingly rare thing.
Hyponatremia is a medical issue by itself. Saying that you don't believe it can happen due to low sodium intake can lead people to believe that it never can, which is false. I have seen many people with this issue, usually right after starting a new "diet" plan.
Do you work in medicine? It is actually somewhat common, especially in those who drastically lower their sodium intake while increasing water intake at the same time. It can actually be fatal, and does not require "months of eating 100mg". It can actually happen within several hours.
Please stop giving misinformation because you "have never seen it".0
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