I need help! Sodium EVERYWHERE

artdragon1013

Ok, I've logged EVERYTHING for today and weighed my food. I'm under for my calories but my sodium intake is HORRENDOUS! Is that going to affect my weight loss efforts? I know sodium can/will cause you to retain water and the best ways to get rid of water weight is drink more water, burn calories through exercise. But I didn't realize sodium was in literally everything! It's crazy. It's even in sweets. I was surprised when I first signed up and saw the target MFP set for my sodium but now I see why it's so high. I'll be going grocery shopping tomorrow and I was wondering what kind of foods have a little bit higher calories (since I don't eat much) but lower sodium? I drink at least 48 oz of water a day, usually more. I didn't exercise today, but it was raining and I don't have any stairs to walk up and down (I live in a doublewide trailer.)

Feel free to take a look at my diary.

cwolfman13

More whole foods...anything processed is going to have a lot of sodium. More whole foods and cooking from scratch, whole ingredients.

That said, unless you have a medical condition that requires you to minimize you intake and so long as you're not eating tons and tons of it, it's not that big of a deal. I have hypertension so I have to watch it somewhat, but with my activity and whatnot, I can have upwards of the RDA without it affecting my blood pressure.

More important than your actual intake of sodium is you ratio of sodium : potassium.

nicsflyingcircus

Couple things jump out at me. Canned veggies are full of sodium, either rinse them, or switch to frozen. Ditto for processed meat. Try to choose options with lower sodium, though check the labels to see if they've added other junk in the place of salt. Also, increasing your water would also help.

However, unless you have specific health problems and your physician has reccomended cutting back your sodium, it's not a huge deal. I don't track mine.

justalittlecrazy

The easy biggies to watch are: just about anything canned, particularly soups; ANY processed meats, including meat balls, lunch eat, etc; any frozen meals. I am supposed to be lowering my sodium intake and those are the worst items.
But, to jump on what everyone else is saying, unless you have a medical need to watch sodium, if you watch those items alone you should be fine.

artdragon1013

Whew! lol. I just saw that it was so high. I had my thyroid checked recently and it's fine. I prefer canned green beans because I'm not too fond of the texture of frozen but the rest of my veggies, I don't mind frozen but prefer fresh. I love to cook, so that wouldn't be a problem. I'll try frozen green beans when I go to the store. I know they're flash frozen and that's supposed to keep more nutrients in them, right? I just wish I could grow a garden, but I don't have a green thumb what-so-ever

Kalikel

You retain water while your body deals with the overload. Other than that, it doesn't affect weight loss.

Some people blow it off because they're worrying about weight loss and nothing else. High levels of sodium will take their toll on the body eventually, so trying to get that under control is a good idea if you're working toward Boeing a healthy person.

Just about everything canned, boxed or frozen will contain a ton of sodium. Even low-sodium soups have so much.

It's a difficult thing to control.

Liftng4Lis

The only reason I personally stress on sodium is because I retain water and my scale just sits there. Usually anything processed is going to be high, so then you need to drink a ton more water!

Camo_xxx

My sodium reduction journey began a good 2 years ago when my doc strongly suggested I cut my sodium to 1500mg or less a day.

I slowly started to cut out the worst offenders and little by little almost all packaged and processed foods.

Now my daily sodium is typically 600-1000mg.

So to answer your question, if you work on getting your sodium intake inline with RDA it can leed you to less packaged foods and more whole foods which tend to be harder to over eat on which of course affects fat loss. So yes, sodium can indeed at least indirectly affect your weight loss efforts.

As a huge bonus. my lower weight and sodium intake I have been able to stop taking blood pressure meds.

Kalikel

My sodium reduction journey began a good 2 years ago when my doc strongly suggested I cut my sodium to 1500mg or less a day.

I slowly started to cut out the worst offenders and little by little almost all packaged and processed foods.

Now my daily sodium is typically 600-1000mg.

So to answer your question, if you work on getting your sodium intake inline with RDA it can leed you to less packaged foods and more whole foods which tend to be harder to over eat on which of course affects fat loss. So yes, sodium can indeed at least indirectly affect your weight loss efforts.

As a huge bonus. my lower weight and sodium intake I have been able to stop taking blood pressure meds.

I never looked at it that way - sodium affecting weight loss indirectly. Nice!

Good for you, 600-1000!!!! Very inspirational.

Camo_xxx

Being fat sucks but not as much as being dead.

From here: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyDietGoals/The-Effects-of-Excess-Sodium-on-Your-Health-and-Appearance_UCM_454387_Article.jsp

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE is the leading risk factor for death in WOMEN in the United States, contributing to nearly 200,000 female deaths each year. (That's more than five times the 42,000 annual deaths from breast cancer.)
77.9 million American ADULTS have high blood pressure.

Kalikel

Being fat sucks but not as much as being dead.

very true, lol.

Branstin

This is one of the beauties of logging and weighing foods because you get to see the big picture. I understand the reason some people track sodium, I don't because I drink tons of water and eat foods high in potassium and magnesium on a regular basis. Even though I eat out and buy processed/package foods, I keep them to my sodium limit most days.

MaxineYS

I was just going to ask do I NEED sodium as I generally only look at the calories but notice I have hardly any sodium - I'm allocated something like 2000 units & don't know if/how I need to add it to my diet?

snowflake930

There is a lot of sodium and sugar in processed foods.
Try to choose fresh as much as possible, but realize there is sodium in fresh foods too. Frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts have added sodium, that was an eye opener for me.
Fresh is best. Frozen is good for veggies and fruits (without added sauces).
Avoid processed foods if you want to cut down on added sodium and sugar.

For exercise in inclement weather, try a DVD. I realize you probably do not have much space, but there are DVD's that feature walking and you do not need much space.

artdragon1013

Thankfully our trailer is 1200 sq ft. And we have a fairly nice sized living room. I'm usually surprised to see all these 2-3 bedroom townhouses have MUCH smaller rooms than my trailer. But I have to be careful about what exercises I do. I just saw my neurologist yesterday and he found out from my MRI on Tuesday, that I also have a small disc tear where it's herniated so I can't do any exercises that twist or lift more than 25lbs. Bummer