Sodium

kngarber

So....if I have kind of overloaded on sodium this week...I know BAD, but anyway....will drinking extra water help kind of get that out of my system??

abellante_0205

yes, sodium makes ur body retain water... more water helps ur body let go of that water!!!

elliecolorado

Yep, drink lots of water, may take a few days but the water weight will go back down.

jolteon00

Water and potassium! Potassium acts against sodium in water retention, so load up on potatoes and bananas this week

lovejoydavid

So....if I have kind of overloaded on sodium this week...I know BAD, but anyway....will drinking extra water help kind of get that out of my system??

Water and salt follow each other, but the kidneys are pretty good at concentrating or diluting urine to hold on to what they want. Large water intake in a high sodium diet will result in some bloating and fairly dilute urine. You really need to wait for your kideys to get rid of the excess sodium, and then be good. Keep in mind, though, that healthy kidneys in a non hypertensive patient can get rid of all that salt with no ill effects at all.

UpEarly

A tough workout where you sweat profusely also purges your body of sodium. I actually never watch my sodium intake because I sweat buckets when I workout and typically exercise daily. I have suffered hyponatremia a couple times in the past, and that was really scary.

lovejoydavid

Water and potassium! Potassium acts against sodium in water retention, so load up on potatoes and bananas this week

Potassium, for some reason, does blunt the hypertensive effects of sodium! It takes about 4700 mgs a day, though, and that is pretty tough to get (I do it, but it is ALOT of potassium).

BrandNewMia

The sodium will make you retain water, so if you drink extra water it will flush the retained water out of your system. Aim for half your body weight in ounces of water (like a 200lb person should try to drink at least 100ozs/day). I try to drink at least 14 glasses every day, but I'm usually around 16-18 glasses, or more.

I checked out your diary, eating out is terrible on the sodium, isn't it!?!? I love how restaurants advertise a "healthy" menu and then a single menu item has more than a day's worth of the recommended sodium! I struggle with sodium ALL the time. Tips that help me - I eat out very seldom, I try not to eat processed foods/meals very often (try to eat as much fresh, non-frozen or canned food as you can), and sometimes I'll even try to plan for a extremely low sodium meal so the rest of the day won't be so bad. READ LABELS - check all the products you normally buy and see if there is a low sodium alternative. Cheese - man I love cheese - but it has SO much salt! Sargento has a small line of reduced sodium cheeses. You would be really surprised at how different the sodium levels in bread are between brands.

lovejoydavid

A tough workout where you sweat profusely also purges your body of sodium. I actually never watch my sodium intake because I sweat buckets when I workout and typically exercise daily. I have suffered hyponatremia a couple times in the past, and that was really scary.

I have only treated that condition in the elderly who were taking diuretics, or on the marathon course with people who had drank too much free water without sodium supplementation. Frankly, it is terrifying, even for the medical staff.

lovejoydavid

The sodium will make you retain water, so if you drink extra water it will flush the retained water out of your system. Aim for half your body weight in ounces of water (like a 200lb person should try to drink at least 100ozs/day). I try to drink at least 14 glasses every day, but I'm usually around 16-18 glasses, or more.

I checked out your diary, eating out is terrible on the sodium, isn't it!?!? I love how restaurants advertise a "healthy" menu and then a single menu item has more than a day's worth of the recommended sodium! I struggle with sodium ALL the time. Tips that help me - I eat out very seldom, I try not to eat processed foods/meals very often (try to eat as much fresh, non-frozen or canned food as you can), and sometimes I'll even try to plan for a extremely low sodium meal so the rest of the day won't be so bad. READ LABELS - check all the products you normally buy and see if there is a low sodium alternative. Cheese - man I love cheese - but it has SO much salt! Sargento has a small line of reduced sodium cheeses. You would be really surprised at how different the sodium levels in bread are between brands.

Unless I am mistaken, the sodium will increase osmolality, and the body will naturally hold onto water (through ADH secretion, as governed by the hypothalamus) by increasing renal water reabsortion. More water, beyond what is required for normal function, will either do nothing, or simply exacerbate the already bloated vascular load. Eventually the stretch receptors in the atria will reverse the process, but do we really want to push it that far? The kidneys will sort it out, and without huge volumes of water.

UpEarly

I have only treated that condition in the elderly who were taking diuretics, or on the marathon course with people who had drank too much free water without sodium supplementation. Frankly, it is terrifying, even for the medical staff.

It happened to me in high school. I was a distance runner and a disordered eater. I was drinking loads of water, eating practically nothing besides plain fruits and vegetables and running 8-15 miles a day. Fortunately, both times, it was relatively mild hyponatremia and was treated with an IV sodium solution.

kngarber

Thank you all so much for the information. I just really need to buckle down and get serious about keeping that sodium out of my diet!!!!! Well not out, but much lower.

joehempel

I'm in the same boat!!

I have about 3500mg of sodium a day (on the high side anyway, I tend not to eat out anymore), but drink 10-12 cups of water, and when I workout (which is 6 days a week), I sweat buckets upon buckets lol. So I don't know if the intake is okay or not.

lovejoydavid

I'm in the same boat!!

I have about 3500mg of sodium a day (on the high side anyway, I tend not to eat out anymore), but drink 10-12 cups of water, and when I workout (which is 6 days a week), I sweat buckets upon buckets lol. So I don't know if the intake is okay or not.

I did a sweat tally to determine that I perspire about 31 ounces per hour when running, and considering that, on average, about 1gm of sodium is contained per liter of sweat, for every hour of endurance activity I need additional gram of sodium in my diet. If you exercise around an hour a day, and have an approximate sweat less and average composition sweat, you would still be over the daily recommendations for sodium (2300 or less, 1600 for some people). That being said, I still use gatorade for hydration on all endurance events, as I tend to have a very low sodium intake (except for today), and need additional right at the time of activity. Getting it early or late is just asking your kidneys to clear it before you need it.

joehempel

Okay....so let me see if I got the math right here.....so if I sweat as much as you...which by your profile pic I think I may sweat more...I'm fatter LOL, you sweat 31 ounces an hour....how did you figure that out anyway? So 1gm of sodium = 1,000mg of sodium...so getting 3500 a day, and sweating would mean 2500...which I keep hearing 2500 is okay.

Now that being said...I generally don't eat out anymore, so my sodium intake isn't as high as it is on a day like today....looking at the last few days that I've logged here it's been 2,650, and 2,120 and today already it's 2,700, but I've only got one or two small meals left to eat....so perhaps with the workouts, it will be lower.

I'm very interested to see how you figured that out about the sweat...did you exercise in a bucket?

lovejoydavid

Okay....so let me see if I got the math right here.....so if I sweat as much as you...which by your profile pic I think I may sweat more...I'm fatter LOL, you sweat 31 ounces an hour....how did you figure that out anyway? So 1gm of sodium = 1,000mg of sodium...so getting 3500 a day, and sweating would mean 2500...which I keep hearing 2500 is okay.

Now that being said...I generally don't eat out anymore, so my sodium intake isn't as high as it is on a day like today....looking at the last few days that I've logged here it's been 2,650, and 2,120 and today already it's 2,700, but I've only got one or two small meals left to eat....so perhaps with the workouts, it will be lower.

I'm very interested to see how you figured that out about the sweat...did you exercise in a bucket?

That might have worked! No, I just weighed myself before hand (stark naked, of course), recorded everything I drank on my run, ran for exactly one hour, made sure I kept track of everything I drank, and then weighed myself again after (you have to be completely dry and unclothed again). In my case, I lost a pound over the hour, and drank about 15 ounces of replacement fluid, which equals 31 ounces over the hour. The tough part is to remember to empty your bladder before you weigh, and just hold it until after the second weight (otherwise, you have to measure any fluid going out!) Obviously, as I was only drinking about 15 ounces per hour, I would end up being 4 liters or so down over a marathon distance, which would be tragic. Thankfully, now I know to double my hydration, and even bought another two bottles for my water belt.