Salt, everywhere salt

chevyman777
chevyman777 Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
Sodium intake. Wow everything you buy has salt. My ? is this. besides sweating it out and water drinking, anybody have a idea on how to reduce sodium intake. I know raw veggiges are good. Low sodium is hard to find in the food that is produced today. i am type 2 dibetic. watch sugar intake, try to count calories. kind old fashion. Eat to get energy to be active. but the salt is so much. Does salt make you retain water?. which then changes your weight. I am a yo yo right now. feel like going on a fast but that is not advised by my doct. so any sugggestions would be helpful. thank you. :smile:

Replies

  • FrauHaas2013
    FrauHaas2013 Posts: 615 Member
    Do you know what you want to limit your sodium intake to? Or what MFP recommends? I completely agree, avoiding too much salt and really be tough!!! I bought some Udon noodle bowls for my husband to try because he loves soup and noodles...he asked me how much sodium was in a bowl, and I said "460...not bad for soup, really" to which he replied, "OMG that's a lot of salt!" I told him to take a look at his Progresso cans and I bet the soups he regularly eats start out at about 700 or so...I was right!

    The best way to be sure is to cook your own food and incorporate lots of fruits and veggies.
  • cookiealbright
    cookiealbright Posts: 605 Member
    My husband has high blood pressure and has to watch his sodium. I told him not to eat anything in a can. Only fresh or frozen. He makes his own soups & freezes them for his lunch.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,272 Member
    I just started making everything from scratch. You can get no-salt added products and use those as the base.
    I've always had a garden as well. Substitute savoury, spicy, and sour for salty.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Unless you have a reason to eat low sodium, don't worry about it. Even fresh fruits and veggies have sodium. You may gain or lose a bit of water weight but it's water, not fat.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    the nice thing is i think low sodium is going to be the newest diet craze, i'm finding tons of no salt added canned veggies, reduced salt canned beans, no salt soups, tomato sauces, etc. i haven't been trying too hard this week, but in the past weeks my sodium intake was significantly reduced just by using the new products.
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    Unless you have a reason to eat low sodium, don't worry about it. Even fresh fruits and veggies have sodium. You may gain or lose a bit of water weight but it's water, not fat.
    This. I have never tracked sodium and it has not affected my weight loss.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    You do also need salt to survive - unless you have a medical issue I really wouldn't worry to much about it. Your body has natural mechanisms for dealing with excess salt.
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
    I have the opposite problem, I have trouble to hit the required 500mg that your body needs to function :-)

    Anyway, I eat lots and lots of veggies and fruit. I have salads and stirfrys. Anyway, one way to cut down is to make your own spice rubs or mixes as the commercial varieties always have a lot of salt in them.

    Since you are diabetic, you probably have to limit your carbohydrates somewhat in this case bread and it's relations could be limited and that would reduce you sodium greatly as well. Don't add salt to anything (pasta water, veggies etc etc), it takes some time to become accustomed to the change, but after a while it is okay (so my dad tells me, because I have never added salt so whenever he comes to me he is detoxing his tastebuds :-) )

    I assume you are going to aim for 1500mg daily, so I think watching your diary and seeing which foods have the most and see whether you can substitute them for lower salt varieties, might be the way to go. Good luck :-)
  • czechwolf52
    czechwolf52 Posts: 194 Member
    Does salt make you retain water?. which then changes your weight. I am a yo yo right now. feel like going on a fast but that is not advised by my doct. so any sugggestions would be helpful. thank you. :smile:

    You need to listen to your body and see how is reacts when you have a low, medium, or high sodium day. I have been told by a cardiologist that I need more salt in my diet because my blood pressure is a bit lower than normal and I can be prone to feeling faint. So if I've had a few low sodium days and don't feel good, I have something salty and I feel better quickly. If you just keep your water intake up then any excess salt shouldn't make you retain water.

    You said you were diabetic but you also want to go on a fast? That sounds like a terrible idea. I'm not an expert on diabetes, but doesn't fasting mess with your blood sugar levels? I thought the goal of a diabetic was to keep your glucose levels in a normal range, which fasting can interfere with. I would list to the doctor on this one.

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