Sodium Intake

surrahlouise

So I'm noticing that no matter how hard I try to avoid too much sodium, I always end up with at least 300-500 mg over the recommended amount of 2300 mg. I typically drink 65+ oz water a day.. would taking in over the recommended amount of water counteract some of the sodium intake? I haven't been adding salt that recipes call for just to try and limit the amount and it's STILL not working. I don't eat all that much processed food either. HELP.

Aaron_K123

Your body homeostatically regulates the osmotic pressure of your blood through sodium and water. It is a balance. If you drink more water then you should consume more sodium. That "daily recommended" sodium intake is rather specific and arbitrary.

If you want to know if you are drinking too much water or eating too much sodium the color of your urine is a pretty good indicator. Straw colored you are good, too dark and you aren't getting enough water or are consuming too much sodium, too light and you are drinking too much water or perhaps undereating sodium.

The only real reason you need to track your sodium intake is if you have problems with high blood pressure. If you don't it is pretty safe to ignore it.

I wrote a long-*ss post on this earlier if you really want the detail.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10615700/biochemistry-answers-for-common-weight-loss-questions-sodium-warning-long-and-nerdy/p1

surrahlouise

Thank you so much for sharing! I don't have any real health issues.. just trying to do right by my body and take better care of it as I'm entering the last year of my 20s...

Aaron_K123

surrahlouise wrote: »

Thank you so much for sharing! I don't have any real health issues.. just trying to do right by my body and take better care of it as I'm entering the last year of my 20s...

Honestly, there are a lot of other things you could spend time worrying about that would have a more meaningful impact on your health. I wouldn't bother tracking sodium at all. If you happen to overeat sodium on a given day all that is going to happen is that your body will retain more water to keep the concentration of sodium (amount per unit liquid) the same. You will gain weight from that but just water weight which doesn't matter and you will flush it out eventually as your body rids itself of the excess sodium through urine. If you all the time had really high sodium in your diet and you weren't drinking enough water to flush it out of you and it built up then eventually that would result in chronic high blood pressure that could over time cause damage. But that isn't likely for someone with a diet that is at all reasonable and that is fairly young and healthy.