Explain to me sodium in your own words??

lmarshel

Thanks Ben for some good info. I've always thought that the body can only retain so much water, so the sodium factor would not affect your weight THAT much.

We had a patient on a lasix drip that took off 60 lbs of water weight. I realize this is the case with a bad heart. But, yes, your body can hold a lot of fluid when it not working properly

Of course, people who have health concerns that would be compilcated by high sodium intake are the exception. And those who have those health concerns should (hopefully) be aware of them and be closely following their doctor's advice and restricting sodium if they need to do so. But for the average healthy person, eating 3000mg of sodium a day is not going to cause them to retain 60 pounds of water weight.

I see it time and again on these message boards...someone mentions that their scale jumped up 2 pounds overnight and everyone immediately starts talking about sodium intake. The culprit is more likely slow digestion. Personally, water weight was a big factor for me in the first few weeks of changing my calorie intake but is not any more.

nisijam5

Of course, people who have health concerns that would be compilcated by high sodium intake are the exception. And those who have those health concerns should (hopefully) be aware of them and be closely following their doctor's advice and restricting sodium if they need to do so. But for the average healthy person, eating 3000mg of sodium a day is not going to cause them to retain 60 pounds of water weight.

Um, I disagree with eating 3000mg of sodium a day...it's the main contributor to high blood pressure...the current RDA is 1500mg/day and no more than 2400mg...1500 mg supports body functions

BrewerGeorge

... But for the average healthy person, eating 3000mg of sodium a day is not going to cause them to retain 60 pounds of water weight.
...

I've said it a couple of times before, but it bears repeating.

An 18th century European ate an average of 70 GRAMS of sodium per day along with his gar, anchovies, salt cod, corned beef, pickles, etc. Seventy. That's 70,000 mg of sodium, Folks. The human body can handle a lot of stuff.

lmarshel

Of course, people who have health concerns that would be compilcated by high sodium intake are the exception. And those who have those health concerns should (hopefully) be aware of them and be closely following their doctor's advice and restricting sodium if they need to do so. But for the average healthy person, eating 3000mg of sodium a day is not going to cause them to retain 60 pounds of water weight.

Um, I disagree with eating 3000mg of sodium a day...it's the main contributor to high blood pressure...the current RDA is 1500mg/day and no more than 2400mg...1500 mg supports body functions

My comment was in relation to weight gain/loss. But since you mention it... I have high blood pressure and have discussed this with my doctor on numerous occassions. Some people are sensitive to sodium and should restrict it as part of their program to control their blood pressure. But others are not and their sodium intake will not affect their blood pressure one way or another. My doctor suggested that I restrict sodium and test and see if my blood pressure went down. I did so over a period of one month and saw no change whatsoever.

I'm not saying everyone should routinely eat 3000mg of sodium a day. But if you do once in a while, it will probably not negatively affect your weight. But everyone's body is different (as I said earlier) and you have to determine what works for you.

BrewerGeorge

My comment was in relation to weight gain/loss. But since you mention it... I have high blood pressure and have discussed this with my doctor on numerous occassions. Some people are sensitive to sodium and should restrict it as part of their program to control their blood pressure. But others are not and their sodium intake will not affect their blood pressure one way or another. My doctor suggested that I restrict sodium and test and see if my blood pressure went down. I did so over a period of one month and saw no change whatsoever.

I'm not saying everyone should routinely eat 3000mg of sodium a day. But if you do once in a while, it will probably not negatively affect your weight. But everyone's body is different (as I said earlier) and you have to determine what works for you.

Right. Roughly 1/3 of people are sodium sensitive. (I believe the proportion is somewhat higher among blacks, but I'm not sure.) If you are among that 33%, you need to watch sodium very closely. If you are not, it is no more dangerous than overdosing on calcium - and many of you do that on purpose with supplements!

Espressocycle

Sodium is an essential mineral, consumption of whiich is comparable among nearly all people worldwide. Reducing sodium can be helpful for hypertensive patients, but that correlation is not applicable to the broader population.

gel91

Thanks Ben for some good info. I've always thought that the body can only retain so much water, so the sodium factor would not affect your weight THAT much. Of course, the larger the body the more tissue available to hold that water...and every body is different. But there are so many other things going on in your body to affect weight, the focus on sodium as related to weight is a little over-hyped in my opinion.

Glad I could help.

Also, as the original poster is a male, I didnt point this out, but for all the women here, remember, you hold a much higher water weight, and naturally more body fat. This is, as pretty much everything is when you learn anatomy, to help with child birth. This is (in part) why men are more easily able to lose weight, especially water weight, because womens body's naturally tell them they must retain a certain amount of weight. Of course factors like daily exercise, diet, height/build, and the biggest factor, testosterone, also greatly affect why males can more easily lose weight/eat more daily calories.

I'm not a male! I'm female!

cownancy

Of course, people who have health concerns that would be compilcated by high sodium intake are the exception. And those who have those health concerns should (hopefully) be aware of them and be closely following their doctor's advice and restricting sodium if they need to do so. But for the average healthy person, eating 3000mg of sodium a day is not going to cause them to retain 60 pounds of water weight.

Um, I disagree with eating 3000mg of sodium a day...it's the main contributor to high blood pressure...the current RDA is 1500mg/day and no more than 2400mg...1500 mg supports body functions

Interesting....I was with two of my nutritionists tonight and they said that the RDA is currently 2000, but will soon be changed to 1500. When did they actually make the change?

nisijam5

Interesting....I was with two of my nutritionists tonight and they said that the RDA is currently 2000, but will soon be changed to 1500. When did they actually make the change?

The change was made about 6 months ago...