sodium, cravings and problems losing weight
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cstehansen
Posts: 1,984 Member
@Sunny_Bunny_ suggested I post something like this, so here goes:
Warning: This post may be a bit long. However, if you are struggling with cravings and an inability to lose weight, this may be very helpful. I have included links to articles and scientific studies so you can see much of what I have here is based on science and from there I have added in some personal n=1 experimentation data.
First, SODIUM IS NOT THE ENEMY!!!!!! Take the study recently published showing results of mortality as it correlated to sodium and potassium intake for nearly 102,000 people in Canada.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1311889
In this study, researchers measured sodium by how much was excreted in urine as this is a near perfect indicator of how much was consumed the previous day. I know we lose it through sweat as well, but in proportion, that is a very small amount. As you can see from the chart below, mortality was lowest in those who were between 4000 and 6000 mg per day with some having the range expanded to 3000-6000. Those who were below 3000 mg (dietary guidelines say to stay below 2300) had HIGHER mortality than those over 7000.
You have to keep in mind these are people eating the standard western diet. Knowing what we know about how eating LC increases sodium needs, it comes to reason we need to be especially vigilant in regard to getting AT LEAST 4000 mg per day and likely closer to 6000.
There is approximately 15% of people who have high blood pressure. Of those, a small percentage have a negative reaction to higher sodium. This is a minority of a minority. In order to protect these individuals, “experts” made the recommendation to keep sodium below 2300 mg with the assumption the lower sodium would not negatively impact everyone else. I think we all know what happens when we assume. Now we have some scientific data showing that was likely not a good assumption.
Whenever our bodies are deficient in anything it needs, cravings occur. Just think about the cravings a pregnant woman has. These cravings are designed to get us to get what we need. Unfortunately, because most of our “food” now is not natural, these cravings can be misguided. Here is a link to an article specifically about sodium where the author explains it better than I can:
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/is-salt-deficiency-contributing-to-the-obesity-epidemic
From personal experience, I have found when I have a craving – which I would describe as a desire to eat either a particular food or just eat in general when I am not actually hungry – that frequently just having some salt and washing it down with some water will alleviate it. Yes, I will literally just pour some salt in my hand and eat it. Others may prefer salty bone broth, pickle juice or adding salt to water.
IMHO, the biggest enemy of anyone trying to eat better is craving.
In case anyone is interested, here is the chart for potassium from the earlier study:
Warning: This post may be a bit long. However, if you are struggling with cravings and an inability to lose weight, this may be very helpful. I have included links to articles and scientific studies so you can see much of what I have here is based on science and from there I have added in some personal n=1 experimentation data.
First, SODIUM IS NOT THE ENEMY!!!!!! Take the study recently published showing results of mortality as it correlated to sodium and potassium intake for nearly 102,000 people in Canada.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1311889
In this study, researchers measured sodium by how much was excreted in urine as this is a near perfect indicator of how much was consumed the previous day. I know we lose it through sweat as well, but in proportion, that is a very small amount. As you can see from the chart below, mortality was lowest in those who were between 4000 and 6000 mg per day with some having the range expanded to 3000-6000. Those who were below 3000 mg (dietary guidelines say to stay below 2300) had HIGHER mortality than those over 7000.
You have to keep in mind these are people eating the standard western diet. Knowing what we know about how eating LC increases sodium needs, it comes to reason we need to be especially vigilant in regard to getting AT LEAST 4000 mg per day and likely closer to 6000.
There is approximately 15% of people who have high blood pressure. Of those, a small percentage have a negative reaction to higher sodium. This is a minority of a minority. In order to protect these individuals, “experts” made the recommendation to keep sodium below 2300 mg with the assumption the lower sodium would not negatively impact everyone else. I think we all know what happens when we assume. Now we have some scientific data showing that was likely not a good assumption.
Whenever our bodies are deficient in anything it needs, cravings occur. Just think about the cravings a pregnant woman has. These cravings are designed to get us to get what we need. Unfortunately, because most of our “food” now is not natural, these cravings can be misguided. Here is a link to an article specifically about sodium where the author explains it better than I can:
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/is-salt-deficiency-contributing-to-the-obesity-epidemic
From personal experience, I have found when I have a craving – which I would describe as a desire to eat either a particular food or just eat in general when I am not actually hungry – that frequently just having some salt and washing it down with some water will alleviate it. Yes, I will literally just pour some salt in my hand and eat it. Others may prefer salty bone broth, pickle juice or adding salt to water.
IMHO, the biggest enemy of anyone trying to eat better is craving.
In case anyone is interested, here is the chart for potassium from the earlier study:
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As a note regarding those two inserts, 1.00 would be the baseline mortality rate. If the number is higher, then the mortality rate is higher. If it is lower, then the mortality rate is lower.
With that, you can see having potassium levels above 1.5 g (1500 mg) across the board has a lower mortality rate than if it is below 1.5 g.
The 4g-5.99g (4000 - 5990 mg) level of sodium was used as the baseline 1.00 risk since it was the lowest in most cases. Therefore, when you see for those in the "very low risk" group which were those who had no type of cardiovascular disease, cancer, smoking or diabetes who were in the group below 3g (3000 mg) had a factor of 1.62 which is 62% higher than the baseline and only a slightly higher risk 1.14 if they went over 7g (7000mg).2 -
Wow! That was fantastic! Thank you for putting together such great info! You killed it!
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You Rock (Salt), @cstehansen!3
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bump for @2t9nty and partner
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canadjineh wrote: »bump for @2t9nty and partner
Thanks!0 -
More interesting sodium talk
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/health/salt-health-effects.html?referer=http://m.facebook.com/
"The research, published recently in two dense papers in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, contradicts much of the conventional wisdom about how the body handles salt and suggests that high levels may play a role in weight loss."1 -
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cstehansen wrote: »
Holy mackerel! Dr. Lewis Dahl was a 50's quack!1
