Difference between Salt & Sodium

jmsspr93

What is the difference and which makes you retain water? Also I am about 1200 sodium over my goal today, can I just combat this by drinking lots of water and if so how much?? (I drunk 2 pints of water after my lunch)
Cheers

Paco4gsc

It is the sodium that causes water retention. Typical table salt (sodium chloride) happens to be the most common source of it. Drinking water can help balance out excessive sodium as does getting in some potassium. High sodium intake is not usually a huge concern unless you have blood pressure or sodium sensitivity issues.

jstout365

Salt is the primary source of sodium in the diet, as the previous poster stated. Drinking water can help, but having a balanced electrolyte intake helps as well. Potassium helps balance out the sodium intake. Electrolytes are important for normal body functions.

lisaabenjamin

The chemical name for regular table salt = sodium chloride. There are other kinds of salts, but for the purposes of healthy eating, that which we call "salt" in food, whether the salt you add or the salt that is present in processed foods, is usually sodium chloride. It's this that causes water retention and can lead to high blood pressure etc.

iPlatano

The only thing I know is that here is a new type of modified salt that allows you to eat more of it with it being too high but in reality if you drink gallon of water a day or more and wont do anything to you. Your body adapts to anything so dont worry about it.

Vigilance88

1 gram salt = 0,4 gram (400mg) sodium

more products are starting to print actual sodium instead of salt nowadays.

asciiqwerty

http://www.cdc.gov/salt/pdfs/sodium_qanda.pdf

Sodium chloride, commonly known as salt, consists of 40 percent
sodium and 60 percent chloride. One level teaspoon of salt contains
approximately 2,300 mg of sodium.
To convert mg of sodium to mg of salt, multiply the mg of sodium by 2.5.

Sodium is part of salt. Too much of sodium is bad for you (whether you get it from table salt or from the rest of your diet).
There is more sodium than you would expect in most things.

also, from the same document:

More than 40% of sodium intake comes from the following 10 types of foods
:
1. Breads and rolls
2. Cold cuts and cured meats such as deli or packaged ham or turkey
3. Pizza
4. Fresh and processed poultry
5. Soups
6. Sandwiches such as cheeseburgers
7. Cheese
8. Pasta dishes (not including macaroni and cheese)
9. Meat-mixed dishes such as meat loaf with tomato sauce
10. Snacks such as chips, pretzels, and popcorn

Branstin

I combat my overload of sodium by drinking at least 64oz of water.

asciiqwerty

I combat my overload of sodium by drinking at least 64oz of water.

it is possible to drink too much water http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6263029.stm

it is probably healthier to limit your sodium intake, but 64oz (1.8l) is well within the healthy range as most guidance is ~2l

from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill/

Every hour, a healthy kidney at rest can excrete 800 to 1,000 milliliters, or 0.21 to 0.26 gallon, of water and therefore a person can drink water at a rate of 800 to 1,000 milliliters per hour without experiencing a net gain in water

Branstin

Yes, I agree too much of anything could be bad. I have high blood pressure so I go with the lesser of the two evils.

asciiqwerty

Yes, I agree too much of anything could be bad. I have high blood pressure so I go with the lesser of the two evils.