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Sodium! Please solve this years long debate
CeeBeeSlim
Posts: 1,358 Member
in Debate Club
Simply - does one reduce the sodium content in canned soup if one adds a lot of water?
I’m trying to have my dad eat less salt due to his high blood pressure but he loves canned soup - and he eats the whole can.
His claim: The fix is to just add a bunch of water - that will dilute the soup and therefore dilute the sodium - thereby reducing any harmful effects.
Me- the addition of water may indeed dilute the TASTE of the soup, but if the label says 800mg in a full can and you’re eating the whole can, you just ate 800mg of sodium - diluted or not.
If he used the water to stretch the number of servings and not the eat whole can, then I can see his point.
Am I missing something?
I’m trying to have my dad eat less salt due to his high blood pressure but he loves canned soup - and he eats the whole can.
His claim: The fix is to just add a bunch of water - that will dilute the soup and therefore dilute the sodium - thereby reducing any harmful effects.
Me- the addition of water may indeed dilute the TASTE of the soup, but if the label says 800mg in a full can and you’re eating the whole can, you just ate 800mg of sodium - diluted or not.
If he used the water to stretch the number of servings and not the eat whole can, then I can see his point.
Am I missing something?
3
Replies
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You're not missing anything, he's just wrong
17 -
Well..if he still ends up eating all the soup from the can, ( at one time) he still gets all the sodium..just extra pee as well. 2
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Nope...still 800Mg sodium...extra water just adds more volume, which may be nice, but it doesn't reduce the amount of sodium in that can of soup.2
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Where does he think the sodium goes when he dilutes his soup?
Do his favorite soup flavors come in a Reduced Sodium variety? I think Campbell's Low Sodium line has all the hits, but if he's one of those weirdos that likes cream of asparagus he might be SOL, not sure.1 -
Learning that I was pre-hypertensive was one of the greatest motivators I ever had. Losing 20lbs into normal BMI and doing regular cardo basically cured it. It also helps to limit alcohol and salt.
What's happening is that we oldies can't expel the sodium the way we used to, so it builds up in the body. If I eat a salty meal, I'll bump up in weight the next day. If I have a "pub night" with beer and salty food, I'll bump up more. The cardio helps keep the system limber and it also directly expels sodium in your sweat. Double bonus!
As for soup flavor: I switched to buying low-sodium chicken broth instead of canned soup. I use it for a lot of things, but, if I want chicken soup, I add left-over chicken to it plus whatever other leftover rice, pasta, or vegetables are in the fridge or freezer. Heat it in the microwave or stove-top and eat it immediately. It is so much better than canned soup that it's almost comical. You can make it it minutes and get the salt level to whatever you want. Instead of a lot of salt, you can add red pepper flakes and/or lemon juice.
Anyway, once you get used to low salt, you grow to prefer it.3 -
@Jthanmyfitnesspal Thanks for that suggestion. I’ll recommend that to him.
@goal06082021 it’s strange. Horrible analogy but he somehow equates it to a situation like this - if someone drinks straight Clorox vs someone drinks Clorox mixed with water - that latter mixture - because it was diluted - decreases the bad effects. Both are bad but one is situation better than the other. He surmises then that the sodium becomes “weaker” or less bad for you?!
I don’t know how to get through to him. He was so adamant I had to question myself!3 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »@Jthanmyfitnesspal Thanks for that suggestion. I’ll recommend that to him.
@goal06082021 it’s strange. Horrible analogy but he somehow equates it to a situation like this - if someone drinks straight Clorox vs someone drinks Clorox mixed with water - that latter mixture - because it was diluted - decreases the bad effects. Both are bad but one is situation better than the other. He surmises then that the sodium becomes “weaker” or less bad for you?!
I don’t know how to get through to him. He was so adamant I had to question myself!
He's be wrong about that too.5 -
I see where he's coming from, but he's still thinking magically. Water cannot do anything to sodium to magically turn it into a different substance. If the doc says he needs to keep his sodium under 1200mg per day (or whatever the limit is), it doesn't matter if he snorts a line of salt right off the table first thing in the morning or if he dilutes his soup out to four gallons and nurses that all day long, at the end of the day he's still brought the same amount of sodium into his body.2
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »
Me- the addition of water may indeed dilute the TASTE of the soup, but if the label says 800mg in a full can and you’re eating the whole can, you just ate 800mg of sodium - diluted or not.
Correct.
Eta: If you like, I can have my sodium-restricted dad call your sodium-restricted dad and set him straight. However, he will also nag about sugar consumption, and probably a few other things. 2 -
@ythannah Haha! My pops is sodium/sugar/saturated fat restricted.
And still, he deep fries pork jowls.
I’m barely surviving trying to pick my battles.
😂😂 to keep from 😭😭4 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »@ythannah Haha! My pops is sodium/sugar/saturated fat restricted.
Oh excellent! My dad will cheerfully rattle off a long list of the sugar content of various foods. He can probably do sat fat too.
I am also sodium-restricted so it would be awesome for my dad to have a new victim audience. 3 -
Does a watered down soup last for two meals instead of just one, that might reduce his salt intake.
I expect he thinks the extra water helps flush sodium, a common misconception.
Since he really likes the soup, you might have more luck trying to increase his potassium intake.
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If you took 1 cup of milk and added water to it, there's STILL a cup of milk in it. You just added water and now have to drink more.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
3 -
If you want to absorb some of the salt in a dish (sometimes I put too much in by mistake) throw in a potato cut in big chunks. You can fish it out and eat it later, or cube it, add it to your soup, and just eat half now, with the other half saved for another meal.2
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »@ythannah Haha! My pops is sodium/sugar/saturated fat restricted.
And still, he deep fries pork jowls.
I’m barely surviving trying to pick my battles.
😂😂 to keep from 😭😭
My mom thinks she can eat all the sodium and saturated fat she wants because "I take pills for that". (She is on blood pressure and cholesterol meds.) She is 87 so at this point I just let her do what she wants.4 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Simply - does one reduce the sodium content in canned soup if one adds a lot of water?
I’m trying to have my dad eat less salt due to his high blood pressure but he loves canned soup - and he eats the whole can.
His claim: The fix is to just add a bunch of water - that will dilute the soup and therefore dilute the sodium - thereby reducing any harmful effects.
Me- the addition of water may indeed dilute the TASTE of the soup, but if the label says 800mg in a full can and you’re eating the whole can, you just ate 800mg of sodium - diluted or not.
If he used the water to stretch the number of servings and not the eat whole can, then I can see his point.
Am I missing something?
The only way this works is if he eats one can instead of two cans. If you double the volume of soup with the same amount of water, you have the same volume as two cans. You cut the sodium, fat, AND calories in half. It's not the dilution that reduces these; it's the fact that you don't have the second can.
The good news is it's easy to make soup from scratch! You can control the salt content during cooking, and you can even make it VERY low salt and adjust at the table... carefully. Other benefits are that you can save money making your own soup, and you don't risk the plastic liner from the an leaching into your food.0 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »@Jthanmyfitnesspal Thanks for that suggestion. I’ll recommend that to him.
@goal06082021 it’s strange. Horrible analogy but he somehow equates it to a situation like this - if someone drinks straight Clorox vs someone drinks Clorox mixed with water - that latter mixture - because it was diluted - decreases the bad effects. Both are bad but one is situation better than the other. He surmises then that the sodium becomes “weaker” or less bad for you?!
I don’t know how to get through to him. He was so adamant I had to question myself!
Well, I add bleach to drinking water. Not much. Two drops per gallon. Not tap water; it already has about 1.0 mg/L of free available chlorine that was added at the drinking water treatment plant and keeps the water safe in the distribution system. On river trips, we have to treat our own water. I have a filter that takes out bacteria, protozoa, and cysts. It does not remove viruses, so we add a little bleach and then give it time to work. This can be an alternative to boiling if you have a boil water order (Sorry Texas). Just don't use too much because the amount they USED to recommend (ten drops per gallon) tastes awful. After the contact time, you can add ascorbic acid to remove the chlorine.
But yes, if you were going to drink a quart of bleach in one day, it would be a bad idea. You couldn't dilute it to a safe level without killing yourself with hyponatremia. And the cure for hyponatremia? More salt
2 -
@33gail33 Deep deep sigh! My dad as well. He takes pills for hbp and cholesterol - in addition to a bi-weekly injection for cholesterol!!
I do wish - although I’m sure there’s some truth to it - that my dad’s doc hadn’t told him that his cholesterol was sooo high that it has to be partly due to genetics. That’s all my dad needed to hear - he inferred “see, it ain’t my fault - it’s in the family”. 🙄🙄
My dad and mom are 77 and 81 respectively. I’m wondering at what point I also just release it all and let them do what they want. The good thing is that I’ve been so stressed having lived with them since last year due to covid - I lost 30 lbs!
Sheesh!3 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »@33gail33 Deep deep sigh! My dad as well. He takes pills for hbp and cholesterol - in addition to a bi-weekly injection for cholesterol!!
I do wish - although I’m sure there’s some truth to it - that my dad’s doc hadn’t told him that his cholesterol was sooo high that it has to be partly due to genetics. That’s all my dad needed to hear - he inferred “see, it ain’t my fault - it’s in the family”. 🙄🙄
My dad and mom are 77 and 81 respectively. I’m wondering at what point I also just release it all and let them do what they want. The good thing is that I’ve been so stressed having lived with them since last year due to covid - I lost 30 lbs!
Sheesh!
Are we related? My mom insisted for years that her "asthma" ran in the family (rather than, you know, the actual cause being COPD from smoking for 50 years). What are you gonna do ....3 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »@33gail33 Deep deep sigh! My dad as well. He takes pills for hbp and cholesterol - in addition to a bi-weekly injection for cholesterol!!
I do wish - although I’m sure there’s some truth to it - that my dad’s doc hadn’t told him that his cholesterol was sooo high that it has to be partly due to genetics. That’s all my dad needed to hear - he inferred “see, it ain’t my fault - it’s in the family”. 🙄🙄
My dad and mom are 77 and 81 respectively. I’m wondering at what point I also just release it all and let them do what they want. The good thing is that I’ve been so stressed having lived with them since last year due to covid - I lost 30 lbs!
Sheesh!
Are we related? My mom insisted for years that her "asthma" ran in the family (rather than, you know, the actual cause being COPD from smoking for 50 years). What are you gonna do ....
Well my 81 year old father who is a) wickedly smart (he was a physicist) b) super anal about nutrition when it comes to sugar, sodium, vitamin content, etc is also c) an alcoholic. I think focusing on fairly inconsequential things helps him ignore the real problem.5 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »@33gail33 Deep deep sigh! My dad as well. He takes pills for hbp and cholesterol - in addition to a bi-weekly injection for cholesterol!!
I do wish - although I’m sure there’s some truth to it - that my dad’s doc hadn’t told him that his cholesterol was sooo high that it has to be partly due to genetics. That’s all my dad needed to hear - he inferred “see, it ain’t my fault - it’s in the family”. 🙄🙄
My dad and mom are 77 and 81 respectively. I’m wondering at what point I also just release it all and let them do what they want. The good thing is that I’ve been so stressed having lived with them since last year due to covid - I lost 30 lbs!
Sheesh!
Are we related? My mom insisted for years that her "asthma" ran in the family (rather than, you know, the actual cause being COPD from smoking for 50 years). What are you gonna do ....
Well my 81 year old father who is a) wickedly smart (he was a physicist) b) super anal about nutrition when it comes to sugar, sodium, vitamin content, etc is also c) an alcoholic. I think focusing on fairly inconsequential things helps him ignore the real problem.
Aren't families great!1 -
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Simply - does one reduce the sodium content in canned soup if one adds a lot of water?
I’m trying to have my dad eat less salt due to his high blood pressure but he loves canned soup - and he eats the whole can.
His claim: The fix is to just add a bunch of water - that will dilute the soup and therefore dilute the sodium - thereby reducing any harmful effects.
Me- the addition of water may indeed dilute the TASTE of the soup, but if the label says 800mg in a full can and you’re eating the whole can, you just ate 800mg of sodium - diluted or not.
If he used the water to stretch the number of servings and not the eat whole can, then I can see his point.
Am I missing something?
He sounds like he is making an excuse. The best way to offset sodium and potassium. I get potassium that I can add to food to help me make my daily recommended amount.0 -
My spouse adds salt before he even tastes the food and it drives me crazy!2
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LisaGetsMoving wrote: »My spouse adds salt before he even tastes the food and it drives me crazy!
I wonder if this is a childhood habit thing. We always had salt and pepper on the table growing up, and I always used them both because our food was almost never seasoned while cooking. No spices, no herbs, no salt, no nothing. When I started learning how to cook, I seasoned while cooking, and then I found I didn't need to add anything because it already tasted right! Also, I learned that the spice jars weren't supposed to be covered in dust and just take up space in a cupboard for years and years without being used, while turning to brown plant-y ash.
The OP made me gag a little bit, because that sounds terrible. I don't generally think sodium is the enemy, but I wouldn't want to be getting it in diluted canned soup.1 -
Not sure I saw it... But if you are adding more water, you are going to pee more and expel more sodium via your urine. So at some level it would help. Same as if you drink lots of water for example.0
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what i know is if i eat more salt My high blood pressure is crazy
I retain water in my tissues if I eat too much sodium and as I have lymphedema in my low extremities ,everything is a mess
the less sodium i eat ,the more the need to drink water and water I drink easily
The more sodium, I am not thirsty, I do not drink water, but as I also retain , again it a mess for my edema
For me the only working solution is less salt, more water
I found difficult for some food not to put salt, but there are plenty which you can solve with condiments
Like for example meat fruits vegetables even pasta , potatoes ,rice, do not require necessary a lot of salt
Homemade Soup is one dish that for me does not taste ok without salt, so I sometimes try to avoid although I like a lot, sometimes I can put more lemon, but that's it
Also everything canned or junk food or sauces , I try to avoid , use natural dishes , sauces made at home
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Maybe this analogy will help get through to him. If you have an ounce of vodka in a glass and add an ounce of water. Do you not still have an ounce of vodka in there.
Works the same with sodiuim.
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@mikhnpaitsmum Thank you, I tried that. What I think he wants to believe - so that he can continue eating his salt of course - is to reply with a “yes, I may still have that ounce of vodka in there - but because I added the water, I have therefore decreased the “bad” effects of the vodka.
What he doesn’t get is if the doc says you can’t have have more than x milligrams of sodium per day, having x milligrams of sodium plus water still means you had x milligrams of sodium. Argh!
I’m being successfully gaslit. Is diluted sodium better?!0 -
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