tracking sodium

sa11yjane

Lots of people talk about lowering sodium levels on here, I thought that sodium encouraged water retention but it didn't seem that important to log. Today, however, I have decided to track this too and was really shocked to discover how high skimmed milk is in sodium. Despite this discovery my sodium levels today are really really low and way under my allowance so I'm not sure if it's worth tracking it. Do others track sodium and, if so, why?

Angela7zFit

HI there

I track the sodium. It is good to be mindful of the levels of sodium in some foods. Sometimes if you are feeling bloated you can see what items you have been eating with high sodium and either remove them or reduce the intake of them.

cubbies77

I track it. If I end up going over on sodium, I drink more water to make up for it.

kcrxgirl

Sodium is important to monitor if you have heart or kidney problems (or a family history of these problems). For a healthy person, 4,000mg of sodium a day is an acceptable amount. I eat plenty of salty foods and don't get close to 4,000mg.

tiffanic83

I track mine, especially since the old goal of 2500 is OUT and now the new recommendation for health is 1500 a day. I changed my goal on here. Are you still under? Sodium attributes to bloating and high blood pressure and thats why I track mine. I too was very surprised at first like yourself. I am on the prowl for lower sodium cottage cheese (over 400 per 1/2 cup, really?!?!?).

MyM0wM0w

I had a stroke caused by hypertension at the age of 38 (3/26/12) and that's why I track my sodium. I have kidney damage that causes me to be very sensitive to sodium and my BP goes sky high. Im at a 1600mg per day limit (with occasional bumps in that road).

Yes, anything that they remove the fat from they usually add sugar and sodium to make it taste better. So, if you see the label "Fat Free" or "Low calorie" or "Low Fat" you can almost be positive it's higher sodium and higher sugar.

I watch both carbs and sodium so I'll take the fat and just account for it in my day. It's easier to fit that in than the other two macros.

kamiAK

I track mine, and i really struggle to keep it under the 2500 a day. turns out that i like stuff thats salty that i had no idea about

sa11yjane

thank you for your helpful replies. today's intake (without considering it as i changed my diary settings at the end of the day) was 562. i have changed my limit to 1500 though after your comments so thank you xxx

twinketta

I think the whole tracking sodium is not just to help with retention of fluid but it can increase blood pressure and cause problems with kidneys etc.

From what I have read, it seems that keeping your sodium in a healthy range is not a bad thing.

IMO sugar is also a good thing to monitor and keep in the MFP range.

Sodium is not too hard to keep under if you don`t eat processed foods etc. try to make your own stuff as much as possible

meredith1123

Same thing with breads and low fat cheese. One serving of my 75% fat free cheddar cheese has 300 mg of sodium. THATS FOR ONE OUNCE.
hey and have you checked the sodium in Cottage cheese? OMGGGGGGGGG. its like 400mg of sodium in one serving of low fat cottage cheese!!!!
My biggest cheats are on pizza, and the next day i feel like a BLOW FISH If i dont drink at least 16 to 20 oz of water after i eat the pizza.
SO in saying all of this - yes i track my sodium. I hate that bloated feeling from it. on a NORMAL basis i try to stick to 2500 and under. I prefer 1500 and under but sometimes its just not easy keeping it that low!

AckieJ

I track mine, and i really struggle to keep it under the 2500 a day. turns out that i like stuff thats salty that i had no idea about

Same here. I don't use salt when I cook... to season that is. But stuff already made I had no idea it was that salty. Hmm.

sanndandi

I track mine and my husband just started tracking it. he has high blood pressure and family history of heart disease. My intake isnt nearly as high as my hubby's but if I have anything canned or very processed that day I tend to go over the RDA. My husband is struggling with it but is making better choices every day. He goes over the 2500 mg all the time but it's way less than the 4-6k mg he was at before and we never would have known that if we didnt track it here on MFP.

jcoco

I track mine, especially since the old goal of 2500 is OUT and now the new recommendation for health is 1500 a day. I changed my goal on here. Are you still under? Sodium attributes to bloating and high blood pressure and thats why I track mine. I too was very surprised at first like yourself. I am on the prowl for lower sodium cottage cheese (over 400 per 1/2 cup, really?!?!?).

Agreed!! Cottage cheese use to be my go to for protein but not since I started tracking sodium. We have a history of high blood pressure in the family and I am the only one not on medication for it. I also will be looking for lower sodium cottage cheese but have yet to find any.

LaNetsah

I started tracking my sodium recently too... but for the complete other reason that most people here have mentioned.
My mum was in hospital recently for having very, very low Sodium. I found out I am very low on it too... I hardly make it to 500 out of my 2,500 daily allowance. So I actually should be adding salt to my diet... I think we sometimes forget the importance of this mineral when we're so focused on keeping it low.

Moxie42

I was SHOCKED when I saw how much sodium I was eating through foods that I thought were healthy (and some of them were healthy other than that). So I started tracking it and now I make sure I drink a LOT more water if my sodium was extra high that day or the day before. It seems to have helped with the scale and how I physically feel. I don't obsess over sodium but I like to be aware of how much I'm eating. As others have said, there are other benefits to low-sodium as well.

My1985Freckles

WOW only 562?! What do you eat? Mine is always pretty high. Even when I don't eat processed stuff it is usually way over the 2500mg setting.Like today. I had an omelet for breakfast, a protein bar, homemade beef stew (sodium from the bouillon I suppose), and tonight I am having homemade meatloaf. With just those things, I will be over by 800 for the day! :-(

j75j75

I track mine. I was shocked at how much sodium was in my diet at first. But I have since cleaned it up

tinytasha7

Sodium tracking is, I feel, very important. I don't have any issues like high blood pressure or anything, but I am VERY sensitive to sodium. I can literally gain 20 or more pounds overnight due to water retention because of sodium. I had pretty much cut my sodium intake to very low amounts, except that I hadn't accounted for the amount in my diet soda. So far, that's one thing I hadn't been able to cut out. Then I read Bob Harper's new book and he suggested the SodaStream. What a difference! instead of 110 mg for a can of diet gingerale, the SodaStream flavors only add 8 per litre!. I've been using that since just after Christmas, and now notice I'm very much more sensitive to sodium, and if I don't watch, I will react to it. My levels even then, are FAR below the recommended amounts (often less than 500 mg per day). The good thing is, my weight loss has kicked in again, and I haven't really had much for water retention issues.

tvanhooser

Yes, I started experimenting with tracking sodium back in July when I plateaued for almost a month. I was skeptical at first...seemed like a bunch of reality TV hype but I was surprised to find that it actually does make a big difference in my weight loss efforts. I checked the Mayo Clinic site and found that 2500/mg per day is the upper recommended limit and that for people with high blood pressure (me), they recommend 1500. I went back in my journal and looked at sodium levels for the previous two months and was shocked to find that it was about 3 to 4 times that....and I didn't think I was really a salt-aholic. So I started reading labels and getting reduced or low sodium versions of whatever I could, and switched to unsalted butter and stopped adding salt to recipes (except for baked goods) using salt-free seasonings instead. Most things I don't even notice the difference taste wise and just by those small changes and portion control I can keep to the 1500 pretty easily most days, but if I go over, I notice the difference almost immediately. It drops off easily in a few days as long as I go back to the low sodium levels but I don't need the constant yo yoing up and down 2-3 pounds from sodium when I am looking for downward scale movement.....So I switched my tracking from cholesterol to sodium since I also noticed that my cholesterol is actually almost never over 300 and often under 200 (Mayo Clinic info on recommended levels) even when I am not really trying to watch it, unless I have an egg for breakfast. So for me, not worth tracking since it seems to take care of itself. As to whether sodium is worth your time in tracking, I use the recipe tool alot since I cook from scratch mostly so I have more control over what goes into my food and because my husband is diabetic. Plus, any store bought pre-packaged stuff, I either check the nutrition info in the database against the package in my hand to make sure that whoever entered it, entered it correctly and with all the data or I enter it myself so I know it is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I've found that with some items, people haven't entered all the info on the package or misentered numbers so I have to make corrections before putting it my diary. Which is to say, I don't know how meticulous you are about entering exactly what you eat and what is in it.....if you're sure that the nutrition info on the stuff you enter is accurate and that you are entering everything and your sodium levels are still low (as in under 2500), then maybe it isn't worth it for you. But everything processed and packaged seems to have more sodium than you think it would, even things you don't think of as particularly salty -- like cottage cheese, which I love, was an eye opener. You don't have to cut out everything you love though, just enjoy it in smaller portions and work it into your allowance for the day. I can't say about skim milk -- that stuff is verboten around here, no better than chalk water IMHO!! ) 1% is the lowest I will go and I don't have as much as I used to although I love milk because I don't want to drink up all my calories and sodium. So my recommendation is to look carefully at whether your sodium count is accurate and determine from that whether you want to continue tracking it or not.

sa11yjane

Thank you so much for all the trouble that you took to reply to my question. I really appreciate your comments which have given me much to think about. All the best with your own weight loss journeys x

Firefox7275

Lots of people talk about lowering sodium levels on here, I thought that sodium encouraged water retention but it didn't seem that important to log. Today, however, I have decided to track this too and was really shocked to discover how high skimmed milk is in sodium. Despite this discovery my sodium levels today are really really low and way under my allowance so I'm not sure if it's worth tracking it. Do others track sodium and, if so, why?

Some sodium is essential so don't worry about that found naturally in wholefoods. Be careful with tracking on MFP, many entries don't have the sodium included.

Mighty_Rabite

I am making stronger efforts to watch my sodium levels since cardiovascular disease runs rampant in my family lines.

I recently switched my tracking to include sodium and was amazed at how much I'd been taking in - sometimes over 5000mg per day! I dropped down to 2500 or less for a few days this week and bam, four pounds lost like nothing. I'd attribute at least 2.5 of that to water retention.