So much SODIUM!!!

bethgames

I have found that my cottage cheese and my Laughing Cow's are my worst offenders. But I make room for them. :drinker:

Flafster

Really? I'm surprised at this. Out of curiousity, I change the settings and went back over my diary. The only time I've come even close is when I've been out for dinner and gone nuts on the antipasti. Oh and bacon sandwich days, lol

Where else is all your sodium coming from? Is it mainly ready meals / packaged foods?

zombilishious

I track it. I've found it's impossible for me to get below 1500, and most days I'm over 2500. With 3 little kids, I'd do nothing but cook all day and night if I prepared myself different foods than they eat every day, so I can't eliminate processed foods entirely. That being said, it doesn't seem to cause any problems other than occasional water retention - usually on mexican food days!.

kariebo

i too noticed the amount of sodium in my foods lately. I had been working so hard and only looking at carbs and calories... then I thought... sodium.. wonder how much salt is in stuff. HOLY CRAP. For what I was eating it was ridiculous. I could stay under calories and fat and carbs and skyrocket on the sodium. So I started tracking my sodium first and I found that box foods, cans, fast food... pretty much anything convenient is chocked full of it - well duh, it sits on the shelf for like forever. So i switched to salads and cook more of my food at home and have fresher foods. Not only did i feel 'cleaner' but I lost a few pounds right away. Now I have started to taste salt in food a lot more when I go out. I dont limit myself when I go out to dinner because I know that they are salting things ... but I also try to make smarter choices so that its not outrageous. Reading some of these other posts I think I may start tracking my potassium too.... Im not a huge health nut so I dont know what everything does (I specifically have Iron on my list because I know my levels are lower than most but not low enough to be a problem), but

Cambrendle

Really? I'm surprised at this. Out of curiousity, I change the settings and went back over my diary. The only time I've come even close is when I've been out for dinner and gone nuts on the antipasti. Oh and bacon sandwich days, lol

Where else is all your sodium coming from? Is it mainly ready meals / packaged foods?

for me it was in the lunch meat and the chicken - frozen or fresh. The manufacturers are adding a "solution" - typically 3% of the weight of the chicken is a salt solution injection - to "plump it" and it increases the weight of the product, which is sold by the weight. The different manufacturers use different levels up to close to 30%, but the average is 3%.

Here's just one article on it - there's a ton of articles out there now that people are becoming more aware of their foods - http://www.cracked.com/article_19896_the-6-creepiest-lies-food-industry-feeding-you.html

ahamm002

Fortunately you don't need to limit your sodium intake unless you have uncontrolled hypertension. Like saturated fat, it got a bad rep that it doesn't really deserve. Salt is the last thing that anyone who needs to lose weight should be worrying about.

Hearts_2015

There's sodium in everything! I recently started limiting mine to ~1500mg/daily. I never realized there was sodium in things like: milk and eggs. Very eye-opening.

Smart Girl!:drinker: I believe 1500 mg daily is easily attainable if ti's tracked and if you do eat a processed meal (frozen something or other) you read the pkg. FIRST before sticking it in our cart and plan accordingly.

Some veggies are delicious, incredibly healthy for us but have natural sodium, they add to the count as well, a person can go over 1500mg daily if eating bread and not comparing labels and types of bread first. Yogurt, healthy YES, but still some sodium in it.

To the person not understanding how another can go over, curious if you have yours set at 2500 or 1500?

Once I dropped down to 1500mg or less (typically I don't reach 1/2 that in a day and that's fine with me) daily, I've found if I go over 1500mg if I ate something I normally wouldn't my body is greatly effected by it. I feel sluggish, water weight, it really surprised me but I believe our bodies adjust and now if I eat something with added salt, it's far too salty for my liking.

Glad so many are becoming aware of how much sodium is in the foods out there.:drinker:

Hearts_2015

Fortunately you don't need to limit your sodium intake unless you have uncontrolled hypertension. Like saturated fat, it got a bad rep that it doesn't really deserve. Salt is the last thing that anyone who needs to lose weight should be worrying about.

I think it may effect women differently than men, perhaps because we tend to retain water a time or two a month.

If you do heavy duty workouts you absolutely want to keep sodium in your system but I believe those above you were taking about excess sodium in processed foods. It seems to effect each of our bodies very differently, some are very sensitive to it and retain water and their weight loss slows down.

This is simply my thoughts on sodium:flowerforyou:

Flafster

Thanks Cambrendle, I don't really eat packaged meats. We tend to buy fresh / frozen and freeze what we don't have in that mean. Also tend to buy higher welfare meats so perhaps they are less bulked out? Perhaps I am naive and MFP just doesn't have the data.

My sodium was at the default level of 2,500 but even still my sodium for today will be 173. My normal days are around 4-600. Only when I eat out does it get above 1000

blonde71

I noticed since tracking my sodium, I'm eating much more fruits and vegetables and hardly any processed food. Sodium is just...everywhere.

blonde71

There's sodium in everything! I recently started limiting mine to ~1500mg/daily. I never realized there was sodium in things like: milk and eggs. Very eye-opening.

Smart Girl!:drinker: I believe 1500 mg daily is easily attainable if ti's tracked and if you do eat a processed meal (frozen something or other) you read the pkg. FIRST before sticking it in our cart and plan accordingly.

Some veggies are delicious, incredibly healthy for us but have natural sodium, they add to the count as well, a person can go over 1500mg daily if eating bread and not comparing labels and types of bread first. Yogurt, healthy YES, but still some sodium in it.

To the person not understanding how another can go over, curious if you have yours set at 2500 or 1500?

Once I dropped down to 1500mg or less (typically I don't reach 1/2 that in a day and that's fine with me) daily, I've found if I go over 1500mg if I ate something I normally wouldn't my body is greatly effected by it. I feel sluggish, water weight, it really surprised me but I believe our bodies adjust and now if I eat something with added salt, it's far too salty for my liking.

Glad so many are becoming aware of how much sodium is in the foods out there.:drinker:

Thanks!! LOL. It was hard at first to drop from 2500 to 1500 but after a few weeks, i got the hang out it. I'm sure my heart is thanking me for it as cardiac disease runs in my family. It can be done.

miracle4me

I have found that my cottage cheese and my Laughing Cow's are my worst offenders. But I make room for them. :drinker:

Beth, you just surprised me I did not realize cottage cheese and laughing cow were high in sodium. :ohwell: I must watch my sodium due to severe health issues. I try hard to keep it at 1500 but fail most of the time. MFP set it to 2500 :noway:

xxzimmer

I acutally increased my sodium intake to no more than 3300/day. I typically run 5-6 days a week at 3.5-9 miles each and get a good sweat from it, normally about 4-7lbs of sweat per run. Sodium is needed within the body and you can lose anywhere from 200-1100mg per lb of sweat. I wouldnt be concerned unless it was over 2000mg day at 2lb sweat loss or over 2500mg at 2-3lb sweat loss. Too low of a sodium intake starts to mess with the sodium postassium pump.

Cambrendle

I acutally increased my sodium intake to no more than 3300/day. I typically run 5-6 days a week at 3.5-9 miles each and get a good sweat from it, normally about 4-7lbs of sweat per run. Sodium is needed within the body and you can lose anywhere from 200-1100mg per lb of sweat. I wouldnt be concerned unless it was over 2000mg day at 2lb sweat loss or over 2500mg at 2-3lb sweat loss. Too low of a sodium intake starts to mess with the sodium postassium pump.

how do you know how many lbs of sweat???

Hearts_2015

I have found that my cottage cheese and my Laughing Cow's are my worst offenders. But I make room for them. :drinker:

Beth, you just surprised me I did not realize cottage cheese and laughing cow were high in sodium. :ohwell: I must watch my sodium due to severe health issues. I try hard to keep it at 1500 but fail most of the time. MFP set it to 2500 :noway:

Hi,
Land O Lakes brand makes an awesome tasting low sodium Cottage Cheese with Sea Salt and it's only 200mg of sodium per 1/2c. That's super low for cottage cheese compared to the 500mg-750mg I've used in the past.:sick: So happy I came upon it!

I've also heard a brand called 'Friendship' makes a low sodium one but have yet to find it in a store in my area, or at least not so far.

I've steered clear of the Laughing Cow since I read the pkg, yikes, very very high in sodium so I hear ya there, it shocked me too!

ahamm002

I acutally increased my sodium intake to no more than 3300/day. I typically run 5-6 days a week at 3.5-9 miles each and get a good sweat from it, normally about 4-7lbs of sweat per run. Sodium is needed within the body and you can lose anywhere from 200-1100mg per lb of sweat. I wouldnt be concerned unless it was over 2000mg day at 2lb sweat loss or over 2500mg at 2-3lb sweat loss. Too low of a sodium intake starts to mess with the sodium postassium pump.

how do you know how many lbs of sweat???

You could weight yourself before the run, and then weigh yourself right afterward before drinking anything. Or if you're running too far to not rehydrate, just keep track of how many pints of water you drink.

MotivatedMom2012

I just finished my 3rd day of tracking and I decided to just track my typical meals.... dear god!!! Sodium is sooooooooo high! This was a defnite wake-up for me, I'm revising my meal plan to cut it down!

My sodium is high too, I've been trying to pay attention to the sodium in the things I eat now. Getting better. I'm also over on sugar EVERDAY. I thought I was doing all right for sugar! Shock!

MotivatedMom2012

One tip...watch the type of chicken breast that you buy. I have found that the sodium levels vary greatly. They add a "solution" and it is bacically salt water!

Good to know!!

MotivatedMom2012

Really? I'm surprised at this. Out of curiousity, I change the settings and went back over my diary. The only time I've come even close is when I've been out for dinner and gone nuts on the antipasti. Oh and bacon sandwich days, lol

Where else is all your sodium coming from? Is it mainly ready meals / packaged foods?

for me it was in the lunch meat and the chicken - frozen or fresh. The manufacturers are adding a "solution" - typically 3% of the weight of the chicken is a salt solution injection - to "plump it" and it increases the weight of the product, which is sold by the weight. The different manufacturers use different levels up to close to 30%, but the average is 3%.

Here's just one article on it - there's a ton of articles out there now that people are becoming more aware of their foods - http://www.cracked.com/article_19896_the-6-creepiest-lies-food-industry-feeding-you.html

Here is my day today for example

Cereal - 150g sodium
milk 58g
orange juice 6g
omelette, 2 eggs, green pepper, tomato, green onion 644g sodium
1 tablespoon of 5% cream 15g
slush puppy (first one I've had in years) 30g
Ceasar salad, with homemade dressing 906g
strawberries 3g
tea 5g
milk 18g

for a total of 1838...yuck!