Sodium

chels1605
chels1605 Posts: 206 Member
Does Sodium make you retain water?

I think my sodium levels have changed a bit recently (gone up!!) and ive put on 7lbs in 2days so shall i cut sodium back a bit??

Replies

  • sa7toot
    sa7toot Posts: 10
    Hi Chels,

    Yes, sodium makes you retain water in your body. Although you still need sodium, but try to reduce it as much as you can. specially in drinking water where some sodium levels are too high.
  • chels1605
    chels1605 Posts: 206 Member
    is bottled water better?
  • cinsuccess
    cinsuccess Posts: 333 Member
    I've had issues with sodium and was told by my doctor to try to keep my sodium to about 1500 mg per day since I retain water easily.

    As for water, I bought a ZeroWater filter which filters out all additives in water. It's cheaper over time than buying bottled water. :smile:
  • sa7toot
    sa7toot Posts: 10
    I am not sure how sodium will be filtered from the zeroWater or how th food would taste after that.. you still need sodium.. try some low sodium bottled water.. u can see that in nutrition facts on the water bottle.
  • mamamc03
    mamamc03 Posts: 1,067 Member
    You get enough sodium in EVERYTHING you eat. Bananas have sodium. Grilled chicken has sodium. Milk has sodium. Very few foods are sodium free. Just watch your processed foods.

    SODIUM IS EVIL!!
  • gendoll
    gendoll Posts: 67 Member
    I drink Aquafina bottled water and on the label it says that is "purified through a rigorous seven-step process.... which removes substances like sodium that most other bottled waters leave in" I have to watch my sodium intake since I retain so much water so I generally look for products that are reduced sodium or very low. It's hard though because almost every thing has sodium in it.
  • lickmybaconcakes
    lickmybaconcakes Posts: 1,063 Member
    it is extremely water soluble and it's going to form at least a 4 typically and a max of 6 for Na[H2O]n+ , so yes
  • AeolianHarp
    AeolianHarp Posts: 463 Member
    but try to reduce it as much as you can

    So, you want her to produce more aldosterone? This is what happens when you reduce sodium too much and the result is more water retention since that is the function of aldosterone.

    If one were to maintain above-regular intake of sodium then the body would normalize and water retention would dissipate. Yes, sodium does retain water but it's context dependent.

    So water retention usually is caused by two things. Reducing sodium too low (this has long been abandoned by professional bodybuilders as the science has revealed that aldosterone is released thus resulting in more water retention) and consuming more sodium than you are used to. Yes, a very high sodium diet will likely retain water (potentially) but I have maintained one for a very, very long time (triple the RDA) and I do not have these issues.

    As a side note, a test back in 1990 done by Harvard revealed that reducing sodium resulted in less urinary sodium but almost the exact same serum sodium levels.

    Additionally, reducing sodium low or too low messes with a host of other things such as gherlin. In short, you mess with gherlin then you're effing yourself. So the advice to "reduce it as much as you can" is not very good advice (to put it politely).
  • gendoll
    gendoll Posts: 67 Member
    I was actually reading about this yesterday. Here's the link to the story that I was reading. Hope this helps.

    http://www.everydayhealth.com/jillianmichaels/five-ways-to-beat-the-bloat.aspx?xid=nl_LosingItWithJillianMichaels_20120424#/slide-1
  • sjeagle30
    sjeagle30 Posts: 292 Member
    Found this online under mayo clinic
    Regular tap water contains a very very low amount of sodium. An 8-ounce (237-milliliter) glass of softened water generally contains less than 12.5 milligrams of sodium, which is well within the Food and Drug Administration's definition of "very low sodium." The majority of sodium in the average diet comes from table salt and processed foods. Thus, the best way to decrease the sodium in your diet is by cutting back on table salt and processed foods.

    If you are concerned sodium intake I woudnt focus on worrying how much is in the water you drink as that helps more than hurts. Also I wouldnt worry about which type of bottled water you buy. I had a friend that worked at a botteling plant and all they did when it was time to change the type of water was change the labels. Yeah, its all the same. We are just tricked into falling for a label and paying more for it~