How important is sodium?

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  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I'm in the same boat. My parents are salt-phobic and never add it to anything, and neither do I. I just never think of it. I also don't eat a lot of meat, unless I'm at a restaurant. I never realized how low my sodium was until I got on MFP!!! I was barely getting 500 mg, which is the minimum.

    It's actually more dangerous to get NOT ENOUGH salt than too much, unless you have high blood pressure and know salt triggers high pressure for you.

    Most people get enough salt because there is so much in processed foods, meat, etc. But if you cook everything from scratch, mostly eat veggies, you have to add salt. I forget ll the time....

    I try to eat pickles and salty chips as snacks to get more salt. But probably the easiest way would just be to try to remember to add it to veggies, grains, etc. Or add sauces higher in sodium.

    ETA: FETA CHEESE! I started putting feta on salad or spaghetti squash for more protein/sodium. How could I forget feta?

    No. Vegetables naturally have sodium. Most whole foods do. If you are healthy and not taking any medications (some meds mess with sodium levels), you shouldn't need to add sodium to natural foods. Mother Nature provides all the sodium we need. If not, the human race would have diet out a long time ago.

    It's easy enough to tell if you deficient though. It's just a simple blood test and one that you likely already get routinely if you have regular health check-ups.

    I didn't say vegetables had NO sodium. But they are very low in sodium compare to meat.

    "Mother nature provides all the sodium we need".... yes, including salt. You're not making any sense.

    Humans need a certain amount of sodium to survive. They need to get it somewhere in their diet. Usually from meat or other sources of food high in sodium.

    I never said you said vegetables had no salt. But, can you site any reputible source to back up the quote below?

    "Most people get enough salt because there is so much in processed foods, meat, etc. But if you cook everything from scratch, mostly eat veggies, you have to add salt."

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