Sodium..

iamkarent
iamkarent Posts: 144 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How important is it really?

I mean I know long term high sodium consumption can lead to health issues...but does it really interfere with weight loss to have high days here and there?

I do realize it will possibly cause water retention so a temp jump on the scale...but that passes...and isnt real weigh gain...

But overall..it doesnt really hinder weight loss ...right?

I am not one to add salt to my food..but man I am noticing how much is hiding in things you wouldnt expect..

And when I make something, like ham, tend to have it multiple times, over the following days...causing spikes in sodium....

What are your thoughts? Just extra water those days?

Replies

  • TinGirl314
    TinGirl314 Posts: 430 Member
    A lot of people are going to say that if you worry about salt and don't have a health condition you're wasting your time (From the few other posts I've seen recently about this topic.)

    Personally if I eat too much salt I retain everything causing the scale to go up, and I get a massive headache.
    Potassium is supposed to help for people who over salt.

    I think salt is like everything though...fine in moderation.
    Though the sodium in foods is a lot of why I try so hard not to eat out ever. Some meals have like 3 days worth of sodium in them.
  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,535 Member
    I had issues with sodium. Felt like I had sausage fingers & fat cheeks from retained water. Gross. I eat as fresh as possible, stay away from processed meats and even frozen meats (such as Costco Chicken) that have added liquid preserved with sodium. Never felt better giving up all that salt.
    Now when I eat added sodium, its in Wasabi (yum) or cottage cheese (yum). All other sodium in my diet is a natural part of the food itself (such as egg whites which I love).
    Noticeable difference over Holiday foods my scale spiked up quite a bit for 2-3 days from all that sodium. I never left the bathroom.
    Now I just stay away from it as much as possible.

    To me, its just not worth it.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    If you don't have health issues with it (HBP, hypertension, etc.), I don't see a problem with sodium.
  • Inthamaking
    Inthamaking Posts: 9 Member
    My thought is, prolonged over consumption of sodium can lead to high blood pressure in the long run. I know I didn't realize how much salt is in food. If you actually look at the nutrition menus for restaurants or the labels on processed food, you start to see that salt is in everything, in high amounts. Seeing how we are only supposed to consume 1500-2300 mg a day, it is significant when a frozen dinner has 950 mg of salt.

    Now with that being said, we do need salt because it helps maintain and carry out certain body functions. So, you do need it but you do need to monitor how much you consume. I think the best approach is to eat fresh whenever possible so if you do have one day when your sodium consumption is high, it won't make a huge difference.

    Drinking water is important because sodium follows water. So, you drink that water and it helps flush out the salt.
  • sm1zzle
    sm1zzle Posts: 920 Member
    How important is it really?

    I mean I know long term high sodium consumption can lead to health issues...but does it really interfere with weight loss to have high days here and there?

    I do realize it will possibly cause water retention so a temp jump on the scale...but that passes...and isnt real weigh gain...

    But overall..it doesnt really hinder weight loss ...right?

    I am not one to add salt to my food..but man I am noticing how much is hiding in things you wouldnt expect..

    And when I make something, like ham, tend to have it multiple times, over the following days...causing spikes in sodium....

    What are your thoughts? Just extra water those days?

    Stay away from it.
    Simple example.
    When I eat at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant I gain like 2 pounds. It's all from water because as we know Asian food is famous for sodium laden sauces. ... but damn is Spicy Lemongrass Beef and Vietnamese Beef Jerkey with spicy Hoisin sauce good.





    Good job now you've made me hawngry.
  • SarahRea32
    SarahRea32 Posts: 167 Member
    I set my MFP to track sodium (and fibre) as well as the usual suspects. I find if I go over the 2500mg my weight will spike by 2-3 kilos the next day and if salt that day is fine the scales will drop straight back, so it's obviously water retention. How harmful it is if you have high sodium over the long term probably depends on whether you are prone to hypertension etc. I get low blood pressure so if my salt goes too low I get really dizzy, so I need to be careful to have enough.

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