sodium, how much is too much?

kittyloo123

so, anyway i'm reading posts yesterday, and alot of people were talking about sodium intake, and how it makes you retain water, bad for you, etc. etc. Anyway,, the question is, what is a acceptable level for a serving, or for a day??
The main reason i got to thinking about this, is i have been going along like a drill sergant , on my diet, watching every morsel that goes in my mouth. And having small, but regular losses. Friday, i had a fairly regular sized portion of eggplant parm someone else made. She claimed that the eggplant was not fried in oil, (the clue should have been how rich it tasted) i had that with a salad. And bang! up 2 lbs.
Now personally when i cook, i never pick up the salt shaker. But you never know about someone else.
anyway, it got me to thinking about the whole sodium thing. I just added it to my diary, so it will track it.
So what percentage of sodium is acceptable to you, when you pick up a package of something?
TIA

Dellonious1

PROTEIN----60-80 grams

Fluid

---

48-64oz--jello, ice, popsicles, and yogert count as fluids

3 regular meals and 2 snacks

5 Grams of total FAT or less

12 grams(or Less) of sugar in dairy products,12 grams sugar ok in Yoget and icecream

300 mg SODIUM (SALT) at most per serving MAX per day 2400mg

2-4 Grams FIBER or more per serving, you CANT get too much fiber 20-35 gms daily

nancymmorris

I don't know about sodium percentage but I try to never go over 2000 mg. My goal is 1500 mg daily. If I go over 2000 mg it shows in my weight loss (or lack of) for the week. I say sodium is evil!!

WomanofWorth

Total sodium for the day should be 1500 grams or under according to the new Heast Assn and USDA guidelines. I don't know why MFP hasn't adjusted for that but when reading labels I try for the so salt added varieties. When that's not possible, I shoot for no more than 100 mg per serving and preferably lower. Best of all is to cook from scratch so you can control the amount of sodium in the dish.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/Chapter3.pdf
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyDietGoals/Dictionary-of-Nutrition_UCM_305855_Article.jsp

kennysrush

It's crazy how much sodium is in EVERYTHING. Trying to limit it is such a battle every day!

johnthefatman

Govmnt health guidelines vary 2500mg max daily in the US 1500 in Canada - the science behind the link with heart disease is not absolute some recent studies challenge the previous findings.

For me 1500 is good but I do have days at 2500. Watch out for cheese, all preprepared food especially soups and stews. Also check what you find in the database here - a lot of the entries are wrong often because not everyone understands the difference between grams and milligrams or can't multiply by 1000. If you don't know already to get from salt to sodium the calculation is salt *4 / 10 so 1 g salt = 400 mg sodium

VixFit2011

Being a heart patient, after surgery I was only allowed 2000 per day. I think the average intake for adults is supposed to be 2000 - 2500. But beware......there's even sodium in milk...get a good list of foods sodium contents.

A scarey thing to me nowadays is these lunchables for kids.....waaaaaaayyyyy too high of sodium...some have over 2000 in one package and that 's a whole days amount for adults.

pelleld

I track the sodium but don't pay too much attention as I am never over unless I go out to eat. Then WATCH OUT....tons of sodium (and fat!) in restaurant foods. I don't eat much prepackaged foods or cook with salt, so its not much of an issue for me. However, from what I read on here, it is a real issue for many people and can really impede weight loss.