Salt/Sodium; How much is too much?

DelTonious_Max

Being that I have heart disease in my family history and high blood pressure (now controlled by meds) I've known to try and stay away from high salt's. So I would rarely eat canned soups and most frozen dinners and such.

Now that I've joined MFP and have been monitoring my daily intakes I'm wondering how much is too much. MFP chart suggests 2500 mg of sodium as the goal to not exceed (which that seems high to me). While I do well with calories, fats, carbs, sugars (over only a little cause I eat a few fruits a day), but sodium I'm going over anywhere from 500-1800 mg if not more at times. I didn't realize there was this much salt in pre-prepared foods. Or IS this alot?

note: I never (rarely ever) add salt from a shaker to my meals.

DelTonious_Max

Being that I have heart disease in my family history and high blood pressure (now controlled by meds) I've known to try and stay away from high salt's. So I would rarely eat canned soups and most frozen dinners and such.

Now that I've joined MFP and have been monitoring my daily intakes I'm wondering how much is too much. MFP chart suggests 2500 mg of sodium as the goal to not exceed (which that seems high to me). While I do well with calories, fats, carbs, sugars (over only a little cause I eat a few fruits a day), but sodium I'm going over anywhere from 500-1800 mg if not more at times. I didn't realize there was this much salt in pre-prepared foods. Or IS this alot?

note: I never (rarely ever) add salt from a shaker to my meals.

little_wolfie

My doctor just gave me a ton of info on low salt diets. The only thing i can remember off the top of my head is that most people take in 2500 mg of sodium every day, but you really only need 500 mgs a day. So it recommended to try and stay below 500 mg.

Good luck - I am in the same boat (high blood pressure, meds, etc). Personally I'm seeing if weight loss helps control my BP before I switch to a drastic low sodium diet, though I am trying to stay below 2000mg a day.

BrandNewLaura

Sodium is really hard to not go over, but for people with high blood pressure (myself included) the recommended daily amount is 1600 mg. Every time I get calories from MFP, I go in and manually change my sodium to 1600 mg per day. I always go over that (unless I'm comatose for a day and don't eat anything), but I try not to let myself go over 2500. If I know I'm having a particularly salty day, I drink tons of water to try to flush it out.

I have found an awesome salt alternative that's called No-Salt, and it's in grocery stores near the regular salt. I use it for baking, cooking, and adding flavor to my vegetables at meals. It has no sodium and really only has potassium, which is supposed to be good for your heart and lowering blood pressure. (Be careful not to get too much potassium though. I take a supplement, and I can always tell when I already had enough potassium before the supplement because my heartbeat races and I need to drink a ton of water to flush it out. But I digress...)

crystal_sapphire

hmm i tend to not go over my sodium intake unless i eat lots of frozen/restaurant meals. try to perhaps eat things fresh?

hdtoolgirl

Sodium Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)
The current recommendation is to consume less than 2,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium a day. This is about 1 teaspoon of table salt per day. It includes ALL salt and sodium consumed, including sodium used in cooking and at the table.

Your main culprits are canned veggies, soups, lean cuisine type frozen meals, and anything that needs to a prolonged shelf life. Fresh is always best, frozen is next, or if you prefer canned, get the lower sodium variety. Too much salt can make you retain more water. If you are having a lot of salt, make sure to drink your 8 glasses of water a day to flush.

MsLadybug

I also have high blood pressure (which has fallen since starting healthy eating and exercise along with meds). I was told by my Dr to keep it below 1500mg.

I find my biggest salt culprit is actually bread. Two slices of regular bread is anywhere from 270-400mg of sodium. I found a low sodium bread (in Australia) which is 70mg for two slices. That makes a huge difference. The other thing is to watch out for is condiments like ketchup, pickles and olives which have high sodium content. Anything canned like soups are also really high unless you go for the no salt added or reduced sodium varieties.

DelTonious_Max

little wolfie

[Good luck - I am in the same boat (high blood pressure, meds, etc). Personally I'm seeing if weight loss helps control my BP before I switch to a drastic low sodium diet, though I am trying to stay below 2000mg a day.]
[/quote]

Thanks and success to you as well. Since I've dropped some weight I have noticed my bp coming down on it's own. I talked with my doctor (a few months ago) about it and he said he would work with me on weaning me off the meds. That will be a good day. :happy:

DelTonious_Max

BrandNewLaura ; I have read others mentioning the No Salt salt. May have to give that a look see. That will be good to use for cooking.

healthy_is_best, hdtoolgirl, MsLadybug; I guess you can say I'm in the "next phase" part of this healthy living and need to make some more changes. Though I'm eating less (per day) and exersizing more per week. (since last March), I still suffer the convenience of "easy to fix" foods i.e. cans, frozen dinners cold cuts (man that processed meat has some sodium in it) and fast food (for lunch). I need to change my stinkin' thinkin' and start fixin' fresh.

Thanks for all the input and the numbers. That all makes since.