Salt -- is it really a problem?

tacey21

Okie.

I had read "French Women Dont Get Fat" (LOVE that book) and they had a two-day cleanse consisting of leek soup. See link below.

http://frenchwomendontgetfat.com/content/leek-soup-kick-weekend

Anyways. I strained my broth and sipped it and was not impressed. I ate a leek, which i've never had before, and was blown away! Leeks=AMAZING.

So instead of doing this cleanse, I just made leek soup. But i salted it to make it taste like real soup. But i feel like i put a LOT of salt in it. How much salt is too much salt?

And other than causing me to retain water, [warning, this is about the stupidest question ever to be posted] is it going to adversely effect my weight loss goals? (I.E. make me fat?)

Thanks!

Stephanie08

Salt doesn't make you fat, it makes you retain water. A healthy amount of sodium is about 2500 Mg ( a teaspoon) of salt per day. If you don't have issues with your blood pressure, or water retention, you should be ok by adding salt to foods. But I find that switching from salt products to items like Mrs Dash seasonings are better and don't have the same water retaining effects as salt.

vraehn

For water retention, I only use sea salt. I buy chips with sea salt. However, when I eat regular mined salt I have a lot of water retention. My naturopath told me this.

Recently I read somewhere that salt does increase fat as it makes you crave more--can't remember where.

Try the sea salt.

good luck:flowerforyou: :happy: :flowerforyou:

LittleSpy

Too much sodium plays a role in hypertension (high blood pressure) and as you are aware, water retention.

Also, sea salt is EXACTLY the same (chemically speaking of course) as table salt so it won't help you with sodium levels. :flowerforyou:
The only way to lower the sodium in salt is to use a compound that is not sodium chloride (table salt and sea salt).
Potassium chloride is a salt often used in soups and frozen dinners to lower the sodium levels. It's also sold in canisters as salt substitute (I bought a cheap tiny canister of Morton's potassium chloride "salt substitute" to try). It has a (strange) different taste. I can stand small amounts of it in place of salt (sodium chloride) if I've had other high sodium foods that day & need to not add any more sodium. My boyfriend hates it. I don't think it contains any sodium at all (but some people have health conditions which make it important to keep track of potassium levels so be careful).

Mindful_Trent

While our bodies need some sodium to work properly, too much sodium is very bad for your health.

Here's some info on sodium I got from the Mayo Clinic's website:

"Our kidneys regulate the amount of sodium kept in your body. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium. When levels are high, they excrete the excess amount in urine.

If your kidneys can't eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to accumulate in your blood. Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases. Increased blood volume, in turn, makes your heart work harder to move more blood through your blood vessels, increasing pressure in your arteries. Certain diseases such as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease can lead to an inability to regulate sodium."

In short... try to keep your sodium at or below 2500 mg/day, or your heart is going to be working harder and you will be retaining more water weight, which is frustrating. I had trouble with this at first, but it's VERY do-able, as long as you read labels and try to pick low-sodium alternatives when grocery shopping. My biggest problems were cheese, bread and lunchmeat, but I've found some of all three that I like that are low enough in sodium to keep me under my daily limit.

I rarely add salt to foods I cook - I've bought spices to use that are sodium-free. If you do add salt, use it sparingly - 1 tsp contains your entire recommended daily amount!

Good luck!

tacey21

Okay. To clarify... I'm not EATING salt by the spoonful! lol.

I was just making soup and salting to taste... it ended up being like two palmfuls. (Like how you squinch up your hand to make a bowl? So. about two tablespoons.) It just seemed like a lot more because I was shaking salt from a shaker and then just gave up and went straight for the pour-jar so i could get a more accurate idea. Instead of "twenty shakes of salt"... you know.

And it was a big pot. So. I think i might have exaggerated the salt-age going on in my soup.

LittleSpy

Okay. To clarify... I'm not EATING salt by the spoonful! lol.

I was just making soup and salting to taste... it ended up being like two palmfuls. (Like how you squinch up your hand to make a bowl? So. about two tablespoons.) It just seemed like a lot more because I was shaking salt from a shaker and then just gave up and went straight for the pour-jar so i could get a more accurate idea. Instead of "twenty shakes of salt"... you know.

And it was a big pot. So. I think i might have exaggerated the salt-age going on in my soup.

Well, a 1/4 TEASPOON of salt has 590mg of sodium. A tablespoon is 3 teaspoons. So if you put 2 tablespoons of salt in it, that's 14,160mg of sodium. No lie. So if you got 10 servings out of that pot, that's 1,416mg of sodium per serving which is pretty much an entire day's worth of sodium. Even if you got 20 servings out of that one pot, that's still a lot of sodium for one meal.

tacey21

Hmm. Well.
As long as its not going to make me fat.
Or kill me. :indifferent:
Today.