high salt in diet

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miasuperstar
miasuperstar Posts: 112
in Food and Nutrition
I'm not too privy on a number of nutritional issues but know that too much salt can be a bad thing. Is this true only if you have high blood pressure. I've always eaten a lot of salt and now that I've started this diet and taken out all the yummy flavorings such as sesame oil, butter and such I really relish the taste of salt. My BP is low, so should I be concerned about this? What about bloating?

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  • miasuperstar
    miasuperstar Posts: 112
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    I'm not too privy on a number of nutritional issues but know that too much salt can be a bad thing. Is this true only if you have high blood pressure. I've always eaten a lot of salt and now that I've started this diet and taken out all the yummy flavorings such as sesame oil, butter and such I really relish the taste of salt. My BP is low, so should I be concerned about this? What about bloating?
  • Monyikka
    Monyikka Posts: 1
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    i'm by no means an expert, but i started working out and logging food 4 months ago and have lost 34 lbs. as of this a.m. (i still have 98 to go, but i'm heading in the right direction).

    i've been working out with and without a trainer and logging food with the bodybugg program until basically today, when my subscription expired and a friend told me about this site. i thought i ate relatively healthy before starting with the trainer and really... for an obese person... i did.

    BUT one of the things that was immediately (unexpectedly) hard for me is that the bodybugg/my.apexfitness program shows how much sodium you eat and i was eating WAY too much. i had no prob getting the right percentages of fat, carbs and protien, but sodium would be over every day!

    i too have low blood pressure, but didn't realize that i was retaining loads and loads of water. now that my bodybugg subscription has expired a friend told me about this site and so far i LOVE it. it has the majority of features of the other site, but it's F-R-E-E which is great. The only drawback I know of thus far for me is that it doesn't track sodium-- but I will tell you that you shouldn't be going over 2400 mg a day. table salt/sea salt added to food wasn't my main culprit. i used to eat a lot of pre-packed "diet" frozen meals and canned veggies which already have tons of added salt. once you start cutting back though you do start to "need" it less. it's like your taste buds begin to relish and be sensitive to the taste of food itself, not salt. something that i LOVE to add for flavor is salsa (depending on the dish of course). the other tip is just drink about 3 times as much water to flush out all of it, and that does help!
  • mimielle
    mimielle Posts: 44 Member
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    You can actually change your nutrient tracker under the food tab. Go to settings and then the drop down menus under nutrition let you pick sodium, etc.
  • lessertess
    lessertess Posts: 855 Member
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    I posted this a while back: Here's what this article said about sodium.....

    The Truth Behind Five Food Myths
    By the Editors of Men's Health



    Myth number five: Salt causes high blood pressure and should be avoided

    The origin: In the 1940s, a Duke University researcher named Walter Kempner, M.D., became famous for using salt restriction to treat people with high blood pressure. Later, studies confirmed that reducing salt could help reduce hypertension.

    What science really shows: Large-scale scientific reviews have determined there's no reason for people with normal blood pressure to restrict their sodium intake. Now, if you already have high blood pressure, you may be "salt sensitive." As a result, reducing the amount of salt you eat could be helpful.

    However, it's been known for the past 20 years that people with high blood pressure who don't want to lower their salt intake can simply consume more potassium-containing foods. Why? Because it's really the balance of the two minerals that matters. In fact, Dutch researchers determined that a low potassium intake has the same impact on your blood pressure as high salt consumption does. And it turns out, the average guy consumes 3,100 milligrams (mg) of potassium a day—1,600 mg. less than recommended.

    The bottom line: Strive for a potassium-rich diet, which you can achieve by eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and legumes. For instance, spinach, broccoli, bananas, white potatoes and most types of beans each contain more than 400 mg. potassium per serving.


    On a side note: the solution for water retention is to drink more water.

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