Does anyone track their salt intake?

MMarvelous

Yes I track my sodium intake. Any frozen meals or canned foods are HIGH in sodium!!!!!!! Some canned food items you can rinse under water to remove some of the salt. Others you are stuck w/ all the salt. I would recommend taking one day a week and cooking 3-4 meals. I do this and it makes my week go better. I will make meatloaf, a soup w/ chicken breast, baked fish and baked chicken. Saves me time and I only have to clean my kitchen once a week LOL

delilah47

I track my sodium. I have lowered my daily limit twice in an effort to get to <2000mg. I used to put salt on, literally, everything! Now when I look at labels and see how much sodium processed foods have, I cook nearly all of my meals. Sometimes, I do have an entree for lunch or dinner, but not nearly as much as I used to. I think big business is trying to kill us off. When our governement can tell people when and where they can smoke or drink and put "sin tax" on things THEY feel are not good for us, maybe they should direct some attention on the processed foods we eat. Of course, the more salt a company puts in their products, the better they taste to us, so it's our fault as well. It's really bad when they put so much salt in something they have to add a bunch of sugar to tame it down making it double jeopardy. :huh:

TrailRunner61

I track mine because I have high blood pressure. When I first saw the Dr. she said to not have more than 1500 per day and now that is recommended for everyone. It used to be 2500, I think.
The worst offenders in the grocery store are canned food. Soup is crazy high in sodium. So are most pizzas, pizza sauce, soy sauce, salsas, frozen packaged foods and snacks. I pretty much have to avoid all of the center aisles in the grocery store unless I buy low sodium canned vegetables. I prefer fresh or frozen if I can use them instead.
Restaurant food is insane. Even the so-called healthy, under 550 calories meals at Applebees have nearly 3,000!!!! I try to make sure that I check menus before I leave, or use my iphone to pick something healthier. MFP's database has a lot of restaurant foods.
Also, make sure that if you do go over on sodium, drink a lot of extra water that day and the following. It helps to flush it out quicker.
Check labels! Good luck to you and remember if you screw up and have too much one day, you will do better next time.

DterMined2012

I track my sodium and it is ridiculous!! I just can't help it...I eat a lot of processed foods and they are loaded in sodium!! I try not to exceed an additional 1000 mgs per day but that is difficult too. I do drink lots of water to flush it out...old adage is where water goes salt follows...I just do the best I can. Good luck to you!

Tbowman30

Hello!! I first started my life change eating mostly weight watchers foods but counting calories.... one day i finally looked at the sodium on a can of progresso soup...it was out of this world!!!!! whole can only 140 calories but 1720mg of sodium......i instantly stopped eating it!! sodium does hold alot of water weight on you. since ive been watching my sodium and counting calories ive noticed a big difference!!!!!!

NoAdditives

Yep. Sugar too.

vjrose

I track mine, doc has me on 1500 so MFP has been a godsend.

Tonnina

I'm tracking my sodium. I have it set to 2000 because I was hypertensive once and I never want to be again!

DterMined2012

I've had issues in the past with swollen feet & ankles. Since I joined MFP & changed my eating habits this hasn't been an issue, still I am borderline for high blood pressure so after speaking with my doctor I manually changed mine to 2200. I agree losing weight when you are over 40 is challenging. The best advice I can offer anyone is to plan.

Today I will go shopping and tomorrow evening is food prep. I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian so for me this means I boil half a dozen eggs, cut up fruit and veg for grab and go eating. make a pot of beans and a pot of whatever grain I will use. During the week I just mix and match to make quick easy meals in under 15 mins. No microwave or heavily processed food for me. My meat eating friends do a similar thing but also cook up a batch of ground chuck and/or bake or roast chicken/turkey. When you make it yourself, you control the additives and sodium.

lot of work but I am gonna try to do this as well...thanks for the post

snookumss

Since I started focusing on sodium levels, my weight has stopped bouncing around like it used to

Kissybiz

I started tracking my sodium and was SHOCKED. I now no longer eat (except on RARE occasions) canned soups or processed foods or fast food, even Subway is loaded with sodium. I've never had high blood pressure issues, but my ankles tend to swell, but that doesn't happen as much anymore.

I was down 2 lbs earlier this week and went out for martini's the other night (I like them dirty with olives). I woke up and had gained 2 lbs back and my ankles were a tad swollen. It took 3 days to lose the water weight. Some people are not salt-sensitive, but I think it makes a huge difference.

Also, now that I'm actually getting used to cooking without salt and using other things like lemon or using seasonings sparingly at the end of cooking, I can actually taste the "food" now, instead of just the salt, and it's better.

Feathil

When I had a failed attempt at eating healthy at the start of the school year I passed out from low blood pressure (because I was playing music and it puts huge pressure on the oxygen you need). I was advised to have a good sodium intake, so I just went back to my normal routine.

This time around I'm watching my calories and eating healthy but I'm not making effort to avoid salt, I'm just letting that take care of itself.

susanswan

I am very sensitive to salt for weight gain, too! I am a retired hospital nurse. 30 years ago they considered 4000 mg of salt to be "normal" and 2000 mg to be "restricted". Don't know how they work it now, but I've heard in the news lately that a "normal" sodium intake should be no more than 1500 mg to avoid health problems down the road. Sugar also attracts water weight. White flour and refined grains are also one small chemical change above sugar and will help retain water.

Foster Farms chickens are injected with salt. I've also heard on the news that the very same products that we make here when they are packaged for Europe contain less salt and sugar. Go figure. Feeding the American addiction for salt and sugar.

I don't track salt any more as I have kicked the habit! I was never a big salt user, but still liked it. Now I have finally gotten to the point where I don't add ANY salt to my food, unless I am making a stirfry and then the smallest amount possible of soy sauce. It does take a little getting used to, but read the labels and you will see so much sodium even in bread, ww tortillas, and everything! Soup and tomato products are the worst in my opinion as well as almost any restaurant food.

It's a process but you can do it if you want to! Best of luck to you!

themedalist

I track sodium as closely as I track calories. I have set a goal for myself in March to keep my sodium count below 2000mg/day. My understanding is half of Americans should keep their sodium intake to 1500 mg/day or less due to high blood pressure and other health related concerns...I'm working my way toward that goal.

As other posters have said, sodium is in EVERYTHING (almost...not dark chocolate..phew!) so you need to read labels closely. And also not go by how it tastes. A tablespoon of peanut butter and a serving of most types of baby carrots have the same amount of sodium.

BrienJD

Nope...to depressing seeing those high red numbers! To keep those numbers in the green would mean cutting out a lot of the stuff I eat. I have already cut the amount of foods I have been eating, and if I were to keep that in the green, I would have to drastically alter what I am eating and I'm not going to do it. If I start denying myself, depriving myself and/or restricting or completely eliminating food stuffs from my diet (unless it is under the direct ORDERS of competent medical authorites) then that is when this diet/lifestyle change is over and done with. I spent way too many years in the military where being overweight, no matter how skilled you are at your job, is a career ender, doing just that. 20 years of it....NEVER, EVER AGAIN.

That's my take on it.

hopefloatsup

I definitely track sodium! High blood pressure runs in my family and I've had my issues with it as well. I quite drinking soda and watched my sodium before and my BP went to a "normal" range. In the last week, I really MADE myself become more conscious of it. I love soups. I don't eat them, so I'm collecting some recipes for home made. I no longer use canned pasta sauces because of it either. If i want a "chip" type snack, I go for the lower sodium as well and limit them. I can definitely tell a difference in drinking water too - I don't crave it as much (I ALWAYS was drinking water the entire time I was awake). I don't feel so "bloated" either at times. Whenever we eat out, my sodium is through the roof though

Aeriel

I definitely track it and try to keep it under control. I also track potassium, and try to keep that as high as I can, because it helps regulate the sodium. I always notice a large water weight gain any time I go over my normal levels or drink any alcohol, usually around for a few days.

Edited to add: It is much easier to keep it under control now that I am cooking fresh and eating less canned/processed foods. However, I love dairy too and it can be quite high too.

BrownEyedJerseyGirl

I don't add salt to any of my meals so I didn't think that I consumed that much. I decided to add sodium anyway to track it and WOW! I didn't realize how much "hidden" sodium I was taking in so now I keep it as one of the nutrients I track

orangecrayon

I track my sodium...actually, I track everything. Sugar, dietary fiber, etc., (but sodium and sugar are my biggies!). If you really work at it you can find a healthy diet that's delicious and not necessarily high in salt! And you can always have those cheat meals with the higher salt intake so you don't go crazy.

BrianSharpe

I keep an eye on mine but I'm not fanatical about it. I'm one of those lucky people who perspires freely when exercising (I can make anything look like hard work) and have actually considered taking salt tablets during long runs in really hot weather.