Water & Sodium

Dotyfahed

I know we all try to keep our sodium in check. But there are things that have lots of sodium in them that I NEVER thought would have that much. I read that if your diet is high in sodium, you should drink your body weight(in ounces) in water. ex:180 pounds=180 ounces. And that you shouldn't "chug" it but space it out throughout the entire day. Do you believe this to be a fact? How much do you all drink per day and do you drink just plain water or do you add water enhancements? I drink about 80-100 ounces a day now but in light of recent information, I realized I am consuming a lot of sodium & I'm trying to work on that. But wanted info on water consumption in conjunction with sodium intake as well. Thanks for any help.

nicruns

Sodium/salt is my FAVOURITE.
Candy/sweets/dessert I could give up... but do NOT hand me a bag of chips!
I feel like drinking that much water over the course of a day would very literally have me running back & forth to the bathroom instead of having a productive work day.
No clue if this will help... but here are a couple of random articles:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/267555-foods-that-flush-sodium-out-of-the-body/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/458988-should-i-drink-a-lot-of-water-even-if-im-not-thirsty/

BrianSharpe

There is an element of truth to consuming more water to help shed some excess sodium but it also strips out other electrolytes too and, in extreme cases, people have actually died from it (hyponatremia) I have yet to see any compelling reason to consume much more than 2 litres of fluids (including that in foods) per day unless you're engaged in endurance sports or exercising in high heat/humidity.

You may consider just increasing your potassium intake. It seems to be a well kept secret that the average adult should be consuming about 4,700mg of potassium daily (potassium helps shed excess sodium too hence it's usefulness if you have high blood pressure).

https://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/a_primer_on_potassium