My god, it's everywhere...

stuntmonkeyok

Sodium.
Only two days on here and calories, fat, fiber, protein is good, I can sustain this.
But wow, sodium. I had no idea I was eating so much, and how so heavy in breads!
Time to change grocery shopping habits.

Thank you myfitnesspal, opened my eyes.

MyChocolateDiet

Oh I thought this was about a sea monster.

lauractemple85

Sugar too! They (food companies) hide it in almost everything!

CMoeDee

Welcome to the MFP "Oh, Jesus" week. Congrats on paying attention to your food and learning from it.

SugaryLynx

Ermegerd. Sodium and sugars aren't the debil.

SugaryLynx

Sugar too! They (food companies) hide it in almost everything!

I'mma fastening my tin foil hat for dem sneaky fooood companies making ma food tasty

Taiser

It's freaking bad!!! So bad I gave up on trying to get it below the limit. Luckily at this time I have no health problems that cause me to reduce it. I don't add it to anything except when I have a salad, and don' t add that much to it either and my daily "limit" is always blown away. IT'S IN EVERYTHING!!!!

lissdawn

I've been using MFP for about a month and I am still shocked some days at sodium. All I can say is that it's making me 'aware'..I'm still over by a bit most days but definitely less than before!

MysteriousMerlin

Ermegerd. Sodium and sugars aren't the debil.

A glut of them can be. Especially over long periods of time.

MizTerry

...air, yes it IS everywhere, and no matter what, people still die.

Same for sodium. It's everywhere and people still die.

firstsip

Ermegerd. Sodium and sugars aren't the debil.

Sodium actually protects you from the devil!!!!

skippygirlsmom

Sodium is if you have high blood pressure.

KWake1

Lol - the first few weeks of logging are always a bit of an eye opener. A small tip, if you had to open a package to get to the food, it's probably got some added sodium. Also, if you find you're really struggling with sodium and getting your amounts down, drink plenty of water. It can help a bit - it's not a 100% fix, but it certainly won't hurt.

JTick

Ermegerd. Sodium and sugars aren't the debil.

Sodium actually protects you from the devil!!!!

I thought that just worked for demons?

lisabinco

Oooh, yes. Now that our eyes are opened, we have to make a change. :-0
I too had the same experience. In fact, I joined MFP mostly because it was an easy way to track my sodium intake, after struggling to keep my blood pressure down with pills which made me feel icky. But after seeing that I was ingesting a whopping 3000+ mg a day on average, I made changes. It took me about 6-8 months to really nail it, so that my average sodium intake is now under 1000mg a day. The doctor said to keep sodium intake under 1500 to see if that would help, and BAM! Within a few days, my BP dropped dramatically. I went off my BP meds about 2 years ago, and have not had to go back to them.
These days, I have an average BP from my younger years -- so well worth the effort, for me. You will find that your taste buds eventually "wake up" and you can start tasting more flavors than just salt. Vegetables have a subtle but deliciously distinct tastes, but I could never taste it with all the sodium with which I was numbing my taste buds. (Same for sweets. Fruit is so sweet to me now that I don't saturate my taste buds with sugary junk.)

CrusherKun

Sodium can suck on a big floppy donkey....... well you know...

I try to keep it in check, but well, if that's the only thing I fail on and I keep the rest in check well then I could care less!

Drink more water and work up a good sweat daily...problem solved.

Next!

lisabinco

Sodium is if you have high blood pressure.

Well, sort of. Excess sodium, for me, was the single biggest reason my blood pressure was so high, even with medication. Excess sodium makes your kidneys work harder to get rid of it. Hence the advice to drink a lot of water, and the admonition to cut out salt for dialysis patients. The excess water retention from high sodium intake can cause joint pain, at least for me. There is even a study that shows excess sodium can exacerbate asthma. All in all, cutting your sodium intake back at least to RDA recommendations is a good thing, in my opinion.

lisabinco

Drink more water and work up a good sweat daily...problem solved.

Since I'm too lazy to have to sweat daily just so I can eat lots of sodium-laden foods, I'd rather just cut back on sodium. Easy peasy. Some of us just don't like to sweat, especially daily.

darkguardian419

Increased water and exercise and don't worry about it unless you already have high blood pressure. I'm overweight, I eat wayyy more than the DRV of sodium, and all of my blood work comes back nearly perfect.

MiloBloom83

I went "full retard" on sodium reduction waaaay back when I first started on MFP, while running lots of miles training for a half marathon . The result was my continually getting light headed every time I stood up quick or bent over. So I decided that too low of blood pressure was as potentially hazardous as well, and stopped caring about sodium.

So get your sweat on and don't worry about it.

jnewberry81

Sodium is pretty hard especially when you eat out. If you up your water intake it should help flush it out even though you'll retain some water weight.

lisabinco

Sodium actually protects you from the devil!!!!

Funny, I actually read a report that stated that, for people whose arteries are kinda clogging up with animal fats slowly over the years, excess sodium will actually help keep those arteries from hardening as fast and lessens the risk of ischemic strokes (caused by clogged up arteries and vessels). And the inverse is true, apparently. Those who eat very little or no animal fat should not ingest excess sodium, since that increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (caused by blood leaking out of blood vessels into, say, the brain cavity). So in a sense, sodium does protect [some of] you from the devil.

MindyM80

anything that is not prepared freshly at home is loaded with sodium.
Yikes! heres to puffy ankles.

MissKriss3

Sodium is delicious, its my favorite flavor mmm

CrusherKun

Drink more water and work up a good sweat daily...problem solved.

Since I'm too lazy to have to sweat daily just so I can eat lots of sodium-laden foods, I'd rather just cut back on sodium. Easy peasy. Some of us just don't like to sweat, especially daily.

Good to know....but im in favor of working within the system. Its all about options to me.

pinkgardens

I agree. I had no idea how much sodium was in food that is supposed to be "healthy".

CallMeCupcakeDammit

I can't find the actual study, but... http://scienceblog.com/71412/levels-of-sodium-intake-recommended-by-cdc-associated-with-harmful-health-outcomes/

mochakochalatte

It really is the worst!

deksgrl

Sodium is great, it makes me drink more water.

Deipneus

Sodium. Only two days on here and calories, fat, fiber, protein is good, I can sustain this.
But wow, sodium. I had no idea I was eating so much, and how so heavy in breads!
Time to change grocery shopping habits.

Yeah, one of the first things I learned was that I could pretty much forget anything that requires a can opener. There must be something in the canning process because it seems like everything in a can has high sodium content.

jkwolly

Ermegerd. Sodium and sugars aren't the debil.

Sodium actually protects you from the devil!!!!

I thought that just worked for demons?

Isn't that garlic salt?!