Yet another sodium question...

emmerrs

So I should know the answer to this, but I'm afraid I don't and I can't find it in any of the other thread, can anybody help me out?

I have been monitoring my sodium for the last 10 days, and I am continually going over by between 100 to 500 mg.

Question 1: If I drink extra water, will this "even out" and lower my sodium levels?

Question 2: If that does work, how much water should I be drinking in a day?

Right now I'm aiming for 2L per day.

Thanks!

thelima

Hate to say it, but it depends.

When I was eating more processed foods and going over sodium, it didn't seem to matter how much water I drank (consistently between 16-20 cups a day). I still retained water.

About 2 weeks ago, I started cooking for myself, reducing the amount of processed foods & sodium. I'm now usually about 1000 mg or so a day or less. The excess bloating went away quickly & I dropped about 4 lbs. I still drank the same amount of water a day.

I think each person's body is different. Best advice I can give is to increase your water consumption by a couple of cups or so and see if that makes a difference for you. If not, work on reducing the sodium intake.

Hope this helps!!

Mindful_Trent

I highly recommend you work to reduce your sodium intake, rather than just increase your water consumption to make up for it. You're making your body work harder to filter the extra water and sodium that you are consuming, when it's actually pretty easy to cut down on sodium. I struggled with this at first myself, but most days now I consume only 1500-2000 mg of sodium (sometimes less!) without really trying. A few general "rules" that help me:

1) Cut out as much processed food as possible - if you eat mostly fresh fruits/veggies/nuts/meats/etc. you'll be fine on sodium, and this will give you enough wiggle room to have a snack or a meal every day that's a little higher in sodium.

2) When you do eat processed foods, READ THE LABELS - there are almost always lower sodium alternatives. There are no sodium added canned beans, low sodium canned tuna, lower sodium lunchmeats, etc. It just requires a little extra time when you're first learning - after awhile you'll know which ones to buy and which ones to avoid.

3) Don't add salt at the table or when cooking - most recipes don't really need it...I don't miss it at all. I realize the "expert" chefs say salt adds flavor, but many foods are quite flavorful on their own, and you can also use other spices - lemon, garlic, pepper, cinnamon, cumin... the list is endless!

4) Realize that some foods are naturally higher in sodium - dairy and egg whites are big culprits here (at least for me!). You'll want to limit these foods to reasonable portions each day.

emmerrs

Thanks for all the advice! I know drinking extra water won't be effective long term and I have been trying to be more conscientious about my sodium intake, but I just hate seeing those negatives in red in my food diary! lol

I am getting really serious about lowering my sodium though, my goal is to consistently be under 1000mg per day, but that is going to mean a pretty big overhaul of my cooking/grocery shopping choices.

All of your points are going to be really helpful though, so thanks again for responding!

CGerman

I haven't had much luck offsetting high sodium with extra water. It will help flush it out, but I haven't found it's a wash. I've really cut down sodium by not using processed/packaged foods. I'm usually at about 1000 mg/day.
It's hard to do at first, but once you get in the swing of it it's a pretty easy way to make a big change. My weight loss has improved dramatically since cutting back on my salt intake. As a bonus, you get the sodium down and the calories tend to go right with it.