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salt: yes or no
mayoosh_primrose
Posts: 131 Member
First I heard that not consuming salt at all was the best for health, then I heard that no, a little salt was actually good for the body. So which is it? And why?
I'm currently consuming 0.5-1 teaspoon/day, is that too much?
I'm currently consuming 0.5-1 teaspoon/day, is that too much?
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Replies
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Your body needs salt. You will have serious and painful, possibly deadly, consequences if you don't get enough.
For you personally, unless you have some medical conditions that warrants the restriction of salt, don't worry about it too much. Even in that case, the biggest problem is salt in prepackaged or restaurant foods since those tend to contain much more salt than home cooked foods. Those would be the things to be careful about, not necessarily the sprinkle of salt you use at home.11 -
1 tsp of salt is 2300 mg. If you are consuming this on top of added salt/sodium in foods.. you decide if this is bad for you or not.4
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Just what I've read from somewhere - we need about 500 mg of sodium a day. That can be gotten from food without salt.
The recommendation I have is 2300 mg of sodium a day, but I have HBP. If you don't have any medical problems where high salt or sodium affect you, I don't feel it's something to worry about.
I think it's 1 teaspoon of salt = 2300 mg sodium.1 -
A little bit, since we need sodium. Only if it's iodised.1
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amorfati601070 wrote: »A little bit, since we need sodium. Only if it's iodised.
The body needs iodine, too, but that has nothing to do with our body needed certain levels of salt.2 -
if you're working out regularly you NEED salt. Salt is crucial for muscle work, especially when you're in the gym sweating most of it away. Unless you're eating a family sized bag of Lays potato chips a day, don't stress about it. Just get your salt and drink plenty of water!10
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Thank you all, this has been very helpful!
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MissusMoon wrote: »amorfati601070 wrote: »A little bit, since we need sodium. Only if it's iodised.
The body needs iodine, too, but that has nothing to do with our body needed certain levels of salt.
Yah, but iodised salt/bread just makes it easier to get. Sea salt is pointless. So if I'm adding salt to something I just use iodised salt.2 -
amorfati601070 wrote: »MissusMoon wrote: »amorfati601070 wrote: »A little bit, since we need sodium. Only if it's iodised.
The body needs iodine, too, but that has nothing to do with our body needed certain levels of salt.
Yah, but iodised salt/bread just makes it easier to get. Sea salt is pointless. So if I'm adding salt to something I just use iodised salt.
You can get iodised sea salt!3 -
I love salt. Makes everything taste better
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I have to use salt because of its iodine content
at first I was annoyed because I got used to eating without it, but I have to admit that it does indeed make everything taste better 
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Yes you need salt. As someone mentioned, especially if you're exercising! You will sweat, and the body needs salt.
Mind you the only time I ever add salt is with chip shop / fast food chips, which is so so rare. Other that that, I don't add any. There is so much in food already.
In normal circumstances I seem to get around 1500-2500mg a day. That's without adding salt myself.1 -
I have 8 different types of salt in my pantry. You can take my salt from my cold, dead hands.21
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Alatariel75 wrote: »I have 8 different types of salt in my pantry. You can take my salt from my cold, dead hands.
I never knew there were so many types of salt in the first place 
Maybe just a pinch?
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mayoosh_primrose wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »I have 8 different types of salt in my pantry. You can take my salt from my cold, dead hands. I never knew there were so many types of salt in the first place
Maybe just a pinch?
Prepare to have your mind blown:
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Oh my God!!! *_* they look so beautiful!! Especially black salt, himalayan salt and cyprus sea salt flakes
I think I'm gonna add some variety to the salt I use
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Yes our bodies need salt, but too much salt can be damaging to our health too. Saying don't worry about it unless you have an existing medical condition may be ok for some people, but I prefer to keep a check on sodium and at least not go over the recommended 5g (1 teaspoon) to help prevent things like high blood pressure in the first place. It comes down to your personal choice really.5
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Yes our bodies need salt, but too much salt can be damaging to our health too. Saying don't worry about it unless you have an existing medical condition may be ok for some people, but I prefer to keep a check on sodium and at least not go over the recommended 5g (1 teaspoon) to help prevent things like high blood pressure in the first place. It comes down to your personal choice really.
I understand 1 teaspoon sounds enough for me too
Thank you!
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mayoosh_primrose wrote: »First I heard that not consuming salt at all was the best for health, then I heard that no, a little salt was actually good for the body. So which is it? And why?
I'm currently consuming 0.5-1 teaspoon/day, is that too much?
For a start MFP gives you a measure of how much salt you should have each day. That's a MAXIMUM. You'll always get he minimum because it occurs naturally in many foods.
Salt is the slimmers enemy because it causes you to retain water - causing weight gain and bloating. For this reason it is also implicated in high blood pressure, heart disease and hypotension.
But in hot weather and when exercising you might need a little bit more. You can tell easily if you are lacking in salt. A salted potato chip will not taste of anything atall.
As a general rule most food doesn't need salt, though if your reducing diet is bland you may find yourself adding salt to liven it up. Try to resist.
A few rules:
1. Never use table salt - it flows too freely and is full of additives.
2. Use a good quality sea salt crystal and don't grind it up. You will find that a tiny pinch of sea salt crystals will add little explosions of flavour, without overdoing the sodium dose.
3. Don't offer salt to your family. Have pepper on the table, but no salt.
4. Note that salt content on foods can be in grammes (g) or milligrammes (mg). 1g=1000mg. Hundreds of MFP database foods get his wrong.
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Your body needs salt. You will have serious and painful, possibly deadly, consequences if you don't get enough.
This isn't true. We need to consume sodium, not salt. Salt is just one way to get sodium. If you eat a well balanced diet you likely don't need any added salt, but unless you've been advised to abstain by a physician there is nothing wrong with adding it for flavor if you want.3 -
Salt is like nearly everything in our diet. A little is very good, a whole lot is toxic. Name your beneficial supplement and I'll find you the toxic dosage.
The greeks knew this, "Everything in moderation." https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/642841-pan-metron-ariston-everything-in-moderation4 -
All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison.
Paracelsus7 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Your body needs salt. You will have serious and painful, possibly deadly, consequences if you don't get enough.
This isn't true. We need to consume sodium, not salt. Salt is just one way to get sodium. If you eat a well balanced diet you likely don't need any added salt, but unless you've been advised to abstain by a physician there is nothing wrong with adding it for flavor if you want.
Yes, that's true that it's actually sodium that we need.
But we do need to get enough of it or there are consequences which can cause pain and even death.
I mentioned in a different thread, a family member of mine was suffering severe leg cramps and one time even passed out during one of those attacks. The doctor discovered that his sodium level was far too low and prescribed salt pills to correct it, and told him to start adding more salt to his food. His habit previously had been to eschew salt because he didn't want to consume too much, but he ended up with the opposite problem.
Is there a big difference between ingesting sodium and ingesting sodium chloride?1 -
Vegplotter wrote: »mayoosh_primrose wrote: »First I heard that not consuming salt at all was the best for health, then I heard that no, a little salt was actually good for the body. So which is it? And why?
I'm currently consuming 0.5-1 teaspoon/day, is that too much?
For a start MFP gives you a measure of how much salt you should have each day. That's a MAXIMUM. You'll always get he minimum because it occurs naturally in many foods.
Salt is the slimmers enemy because it causes you to retain water - causing weight gain and bloating. For this reason it is also implicated in high blood pressure, heart disease and hypotension.
But in hot weather and when exercising you might need a little bit more. You can tell easily if you are lacking in salt. A salted potato chip will not taste of anything atall.
As a general rule most food doesn't need salt, though if your reducing diet is bland you may find yourself adding salt to liven it up. Try to resist.
A few rules:
1. Never use table salt - it flows too freely and is full of additives.
2. Use a good quality sea salt crystal and don't grind it up. You will find that a tiny pinch of sea salt crystals will add little explosions of flavour, without overdoing the sodium dose.
3. Don't offer salt to your family. Have pepper on the table, but no salt.
4. Note that salt content on foods can be in grammes (g) or milligrammes (mg). 1g=1000mg. Hundreds of MFP database foods get his wrong.
Just curious what additives are in table salt? Besides iodine.2 -
Just curious what additives are in table salt? Besides iodine.
Table salt in the USofA must between 97%-99% Sodium Chloride. The other agents. 3%-1% of the product are anti caking agents.
They don't have much, when it comes to additives, in them. But Whole Foods sells Kosher Salt for 9.00 a bottle so it must be better for you.3 -
mjneidlinger wrote: »Just curious what additives are in table salt? Besides iodine.
Table salt in the USofA must between 97%-99% Sodium Chloride. The other agents. 3%-1% of the product are anti caking agents.
They don't have much, when it comes to additives, in them. But Whole Foods sells Kosher Salt for 9.00 a bottle so it must be better for you.
Anti-caking agents, like corn starch or cellulose?0 -
Vegplotter wrote: »mayoosh_primrose wrote: »First I heard that not consuming salt at all was the best for health, then I heard that no, a little salt was actually good for the body. So which is it? And why?
I'm currently consuming 0.5-1 teaspoon/day, is that too much?
For a start MFP gives you a measure of how much salt you should have each day. That's a MAXIMUM. You'll always get he minimum because it occurs naturally in many foods.
Salt is the slimmers enemy because it causes you to retain water - causing weight gain and bloating. For this reason it is also implicated in high blood pressure, heart disease and hypotension.
But in hot weather and when exercising you might need a little bit more. You can tell easily if you are lacking in salt. A salted potato chip will not taste of anything atall.
As a general rule most food doesn't need salt, though if your reducing diet is bland you may find yourself adding salt to liven it up. Try to resist.
A few rules:
1. Never use table salt - it flows too freely and is full of additives.
2. Use a good quality sea salt crystal and don't grind it up. You will find that a tiny pinch of sea salt crystals will add little explosions of flavour, without overdoing the sodium dose.
3. Don't offer salt to your family. Have pepper on the table, but no salt.
4. Note that salt content on foods can be in grammes (g) or milligrammes (mg). 1g=1000mg. Hundreds of MFP database foods get his wrong.
1) Bolded, please explain the additives..
2) And why sea salt crystals only, will I die if I consume regular table salt or regular sea salt?
3) And I can no longer put a salt shaker on my table? Isn't that for individuals to decide if they like my tasteless cooking or not?
4) And if you actually use your brain and review your entries, sodium is usually right on most entries.
I feel like I have been over schooled on this one! And I have hit a MAXIMUM that exceed possibly 4 days worth and I am still here!
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mayoosh_primrose wrote: »First I heard that not consuming salt at all was the best for health, then I heard that no, a little salt was actually good for the body. So which is it? And why?
I'm currently consuming 0.5-1 teaspoon/day, is that too much?
sodium is an essential electrolyte...you can definitely have too little, just as you can have too much. If you're active, you will require more than someone who is not active because you'll sweat a lot out.4 -
I was wondering too about why only sea salt. What if I like Himalayan pink salt?
Salt is implicated in both hypertension and hypotension? If you have hypotension, a little more salt can be a good thing.
Finally, there is a reason why table salt is iodised. I hope your family has an alternative source of iodine, barring any health reasons for avoiding it, of course.Vegplotter wrote: »mayoosh_primrose wrote: »First I heard that not consuming salt at all was the best for health, then I heard that no, a little salt was actually good for the body. So which is it? And why?
I'm currently consuming 0.5-1 teaspoon/day, is that too much?
For a start MFP gives you a measure of how much salt you should have each day. That's a MAXIMUM. You'll always get he minimum because it occurs naturally in many foods.
Salt is the slimmers enemy because it causes you to retain water - causing weight gain and bloating. For this reason it is also implicated in high blood pressure, heart disease and hypotension.
But in hot weather and when exercising you might need a little bit more. You can tell easily if you are lacking in salt. A salted potato chip will not taste of anything atall.
As a general rule most food doesn't need salt, though if your reducing diet is bland you may find yourself adding salt to liven it up. Try to resist.
A few rules:
1. Never use table salt - it flows too freely and is full of additives.
2. Use a good quality sea salt crystal and don't grind it up. You will find that a tiny pinch of sea salt crystals will add little explosions of flavour, without overdoing the sodium dose.
3. Don't offer salt to your family. Have pepper on the table, but no salt.
4. Note that salt content on foods can be in grammes (g) or milligrammes (mg). 1g=1000mg. Hundreds of MFP database foods get his wrong.
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I only avoid excess salt due to the fact I bloat like a balloon if I consume too much lol.4
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