Not enough sodium. WHAT??!!!
diadojikohei
Posts: 732 Member
I have high blood pressure and I've been getting a lot of heart palpitations recently, so I went to the doctor with my food diary to see what's going on. She listened to my heart, looked at my diary and said I am not having enough sodium to keep my heart functioning properly, hence the irregular heart beat.
She said i need 1600mg of sodium in my diet a day. Some days I only have 100mg.
I am in the strange position of having to increase my salt intake after dropping it!
Has anyone else had this happen to them?
I'll open my diary if anyone wants to look how to reduce their intake!
(Please note I wasn't well yesterday so that's why cals are so low for that day!)
She said i need 1600mg of sodium in my diet a day. Some days I only have 100mg.
I am in the strange position of having to increase my salt intake after dropping it!
Has anyone else had this happen to them?
I'll open my diary if anyone wants to look how to reduce their intake!
(Please note I wasn't well yesterday so that's why cals are so low for that day!)
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Replies
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I had the exact same problem and was told the same thing once! I think that it's true. I increased my sodium (i sit around 1500-2000 a day now) and I have not had the symptoms anymore. Sodium and potassium (and the combination of the two, at the correct ratio) is actually crucial to proper bodily functions0
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A friend of mine has that problem - she kept fainting. She now eats huge amounts and is fine. I ran into a doctor who studies this phenomenon.
My husband has the opposite problem - his blood pressure is very sensitive to sodium. He also has a very low sodium diet. I make all my own bread do get rid of the salt (bread has a LOT of sodium). I substitute whipped egg whites for baking soda and powder. We're very careful on tomatoes (naturally high sodium).
Swiss cheese has the very lowest salt (low sodium swiss especially), no salt butter, no salt chips. Interestingly, at Trader Joe's, they have some awesome turkey sausages. One type has lower (not low) sodium but high calories. The others have lower calories and high sodium. Salt or fat or both is a great way to enhance flavor.0 -
cannot imagine how you could keep sodium at 100 a day0
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cannot imagine how you could keep sodium at 100 a day
By eating food which is low in sodium! lol! 100mg is extreme, it is usually 500mg ish. I also drink a lot of water, so much I never bother to log it. I'm always thirsty, tests for diabetes are always negative!
See I am a snowflake! lol!0 -
hey just wondered but how can you have Mackerel Fillets In Brine and have no sodium.. I thought brine was salt water.. Don't see how it could all be rinse off.. Just wondering.. but it amazing how you get your sodium so low..0
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Yeah, the exuberance of eliminating salt from the diet is one of those weird and wacky dietary missteps that seems to never die.0
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A lack of sodium can cause a whole list of medical issues that are just as bad as too much sodium. Our bodies need it to function properly. I try to keep mine well under the 2500 mfp allows me but on my low days I'm still over 1000.
I can't imagine keeping it to 100 per day unless the only thing you are eating is fruits and veggies. It seems EVERYTHING has sodium in it. Managing my sodium is harder for me than managing my calories.0 -
I was told the required amount daily is about 500 mg. It's pretty hard not to get that.
I've been 3 months between 500-1500mg with no problems, heart or BP wise. I was originally 180/115. Now <120/80.0 -
Keep in mind that sodium is an electrolyte (along with potassium and magnesium) which your body needs. My wife has a heart condition and she has to eat a lot of salt. Salt isn't all that bad for you, people on this board over exaggerates the bad effects of it. If anything, you just retain a bit of water weight with it. But too little is bad for you too.0
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You absolutely need sodium and potassium to keep the heart functioning. They are the electrolytes. Since the heart is an electrical system, it needs electrolytes.
Personal anecdote. My mother has a heart condition and is under a lot of treatement for it. About a year ago, her cardiologist prescribed her a diarhetic to eleminate some water retention. On New Years Eve of last year, she fainted and was taken to the hospital (because my dad thought it was a cardiac episode). The ER doctors found that she was almost completely depleted of sodium. She was in the hospital for 3 days on an IV sodium drip while they tried to get her levels back up. It really was >thisclose< to being a heart attack.
Obviously, don't go overboard. But you do need some sodium intake in order to be healthy.0 -
You absolutely need sodium and potassium to keep the heart functioning. They are the electrolytes. Since the heart is an electrical system, it needs electrolytes.
Personal anecdote. My mother has a heart condition and is under a lot of treatement for it. About a year ago, her cardiologist prescribed her a diarhetic to eleminate some water retention. On New Years Eve of last year, she fainted and was taken to the hospital (because my dad thought it was a cardiac episode). The ER doctors found that she was almost completely depleted of sodium. She was in the hospital for 3 days on an IV sodium drip while they tried to get her levels back up. It really was >thisclose< to being a heart attack.
Obviously, don't go overboard. But you do need some sodium intake in order to be healthy.
I'd like to see some confirmation.0 -
You absolutely need sodium and potassium to keep the heart functioning. They are the electrolytes. Since the heart is an electrical system, it needs electrolytes.
Personal anecdote. My mother has a heart condition and is under a lot of treatement for it. About a year ago, her cardiologist prescribed her a diarhetic to eleminate some water retention. On New Years Eve of last year, she fainted and was taken to the hospital (because my dad thought it was a cardiac episode). The ER doctors found that she was almost completely depleted of sodium. She was in the hospital for 3 days on an IV sodium drip while they tried to get her levels back up. It really was >thisclose< to being a heart attack.
Obviously, don't go overboard. But you do need some sodium intake in order to be healthy.
I'd like to see some confirmation.0 -
You are not properly logging your sodium intake. I see several items on your diary for today that list 0 sodium that I can guarantee you have sodium in them.
ETA: Milk, anything that says "brine", and mozzarella all contain salt. You are probably consuming much more than you think you are.0 -
Salt is to only be used to make bad food taste good.0
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Um, yeah. You need salt to live.0
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At a very minimum just for survival, you need at least 500 mg a day!
People demonize sodium, but it is an essential thing to have in your diet (just not in excess).
Try adding some cheese to your diet. I'm pretty low on sodium (though still in the healthy range) by eating healthy, whole foods. I have no idea how you manage to eat ANYTHING and be at 100 mg a day.0 -
Salt is to only be used to make bad food taste good.
nope
salt is called the spice of life
it can make great food taste even better0 -
There are cases where people actually need more sodium in their diets. When I was growing up .. I was in church one morning and a lady went into a "frozen seizure" .. she just let out this little short, sharp yelp .. "ooo" .. and then froze up in a pinched way.. I was sitting next to her and it freaked me out. The men came and pulled her out of the sanctuary and called the medics ..
Later it was revealed that she had something (I don't remember what they called her episode) .. but she needed to significantly increase her salt/sodium intake..
I remember her chuckling later on saying ... "And to think .. all this time .. I was making sure I stayed away from any and all salt"
So yes.. it's possible. You need salt .. we all do .. it just depends on how much .. too much is no good .. as is too little ..0 -
Salt is to only be used to make bad food taste good.
No .. and salt was used to preserve food .. waaaaay back in the day .. like in ancient times .. there was no such thing as refrigeration .. especially in the warmer climates of the world .. Africa/Mediterranean .. etc. They would dry cure their foods .. meats, vegetables ..
Also .. Salts were used to mummify .. Had nothing to do with making food taste better .. although they discovered it added a nice flavor to things :flowerforyou:0 -
Sodium is an electrolyte. It has to be properly balanced with other electrolytes. Throwing that balance out of whack causes water retention as well as a myriad of other problems.
It sounds like you were told, at some point, to cut back on your sodium and you took it to an extreme. Nutritional science is all about finding a balance... not extremes. Hope you can get your diet balanced better before you cause yourself some other problems. Best of luck!0 -
Hi ... I hope you don't mind me asking what foods do you eat to keep your sodium low? I am still eating a bit too much. Thanks!0
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Normal-sodium diet outperforms low-sodium diet in congestive heart failure patients
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/176884200 -
Sodium is an electrolyte. It has to be properly balanced with other electrolytes. Throwing that balance out of whack causes water retention as well as a myriad of other problems.
It sounds like you were told, at some point, to cut back on your sodium and you took it to an extreme. Nutritional science is all about finding a balance... not extremes. Hope you can get your diet balanced better before you cause yourself some other problems. Best of luck!
that's a bingo!
plus ... salt tastes good!
just keep your potassium to sodium ratio as close to 1:1 as possible, drink lots of water and work out. then you can just about ignore tracking sodium all together.0 -
There are cases where people actually need more sodium in their diets. When I was growing up .. I was in church one morning and a lady went into a "frozen seizure" .. she just let out this little short, sharp yelp .. "ooo" .. and then froze up in a pinched way.. I was sitting next to her and it freaked me out. The men came and pulled her out of the sanctuary and called the medics ..
You should visit a black church:flowerforyou:0 -
You NEED sodium. You just don't need 4000 mg a day like most typical people eat in America.
I keep mine below 2000, but when I am lower than 1400 for a few days, I feel like dog poop.0 -
A lot of food entries have no entry for sodium even though they contain sodium, or the value is wrong (often by a factor of 1000 because people often enter sodium from food packaging which states 1g as 1mg instead of 1000mg)
In addition many entries have the salt value instead of the sodium value (1g salt = 400mg sodium)0 -
A lot of food entries have no entry for sodium even though they contain sodium, or the value is wrong (often by a factor of 1000 because people often enter sodium from food packaging which states 1g as 1mg instead of 1000mg)
In addition many entries have the salt value instead of the sodium value (1g salt = 400mg sodium)
What? do you have examples?0 -
There are cases where people actually need more sodium in their diets. When I was growing up .. I was in church one morning and a lady went into a "frozen seizure" .. she just let out this little short, sharp yelp .. "ooo" .. and then froze up in a pinched way.. I was sitting next to her and it freaked me out. The men came and pulled her out of the sanctuary and called the medics ..
You should visit a black church:flowerforyou:
haha .. I've been to many! :flowerforyou: But she was having a medical episode .. her yelp didn't surprise me .. it was seeing her frozen .. erect (straight) but in the seat next to me .. eyes closed and her hands/arms sort if in a fetal position, pinched and frozen.. she was completely immobile. The men carried her out and she remained in that position. Church continued and I did not see what the ambulance folks did .. but they apparently administered some kind of muscle relaxer intravenously to get her out of that position .. it was like rigor mortise set in.. really odd ..0
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