I consistently go over my sodium limit...

jwdesiree · April 2013

...not by a lot, but it's definitely my problem area (I hit/go under all other levels [cals, carbs, fat]), and I'm not so sure it's going to stop being so. At least any time soon. I mean, I just bought a fridge/freezer/pantry full of food that (financially) I cannot afford to waste. Mind you, they are all "healthy" foods (i.e. whole wheat bread), but I still go over my sodium level!

Anyone else have this problem? Does it significantly affect your weight loss?

cpudoc64 · April 2013

Your diary is not viewable so I don't know what you have it set to but the American Heart Association states to intake less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. I go over mine too but I don't sweat it(no pun intended). It hasn't hurt my weight loss any. Just watch the kinds of foods you eat and you should be fine. I think drinking 8-10 cups of water is a good idea in general and may even help flush out your system of excess sodium but don't quote me on that. Watch your potassium level too as this has shown to counteract salts affect on the body. Get your potassium from your food, not via supplements.

emtjmac · April 2013

I don't pay attention to my sodium limit because I don't have any medical conditions that preclude me from taking in more than the recommended amount of sodium.

CoachReddy · April 2013

how many calories and how much potassium are you getting? as long as your potassium is higher than your sodium, you'll be ok.

CoachReddy · April 2013

yeah who cares if taking in too much sodium can cause any of those medical conditions.......

aleksvwa · April 2013

I had a similar issue.

My decision was to try to steer away from processed food when I could to reduce the salt. I did this by making more homemade/fresh stuff (soups, dinners and such) . Unfortunately, it's tough to get away from salt in our American diet, but I figure a little reduction by doing this is a step in the right direction.

Best of luck with you weight loss/ fitness!:happy:

loricshields47 · April 2013

Mine is always high too. I cut out most processed foods and I add salt to virtually nothing. But there it is~ hidden everywhere. I do drink enough water so i am not terribly worried, but am equally curious as to finding a resolution to this problem. No need to go looking for potential health issues.

jwdesiree · April 2013

Thanks, all. This actually makes me feel a lot better.

I didn't know that potassium counter-acts sodium. And, yes, drinking more water is a definite lifestyle change for me that I am just now starting.

emtjmac · April 2013

Ok, "shakeology."

4alison4 · April 2013

I used to always go quite a bit over on sodium. I found that if I eat food prepared at home (not really from scratch, but just not pre-prepared frozen foods), I'm usually quite a bit under now. Not to mention that eating out less saves a ton of money!

thisismeraw · April 2013

"Healthy" foods can be loaded with sodium. Reduced fat/calorie items normally have a lot of sodium. Canned things, frozen meals, sauces, dressings etc.

Lower your sodium by making everything you can yourself. Don't buy canned fruits, veggies etc if you can. Get frozen. Don't buy frozen meals. Try to use olive oil and vinegar for dressings instead of salad dressings. Make your own marinades, sauces, gravies, spice mixes etc. ALWAYS look at the label BEFORE you buy anything... and look at poriton sizes!

CoachReddy · April 2013

excellent argument. :flowerforyou:

DalekBrittany · April 2013

I track it and try to stay away from foods that I know are high in sodium, but I do go over most days and I don't really care. If you're consistently going over by a couple thousand, then you could probably stand to cut back a bit lol.

It's only the first week (actually on Monday it will be 1 week) in for me, but I lost 6 pounds so far. This is not my first time around and I did the same thing before and lost 35 pounds (and yes, it did work for me, I just quit! lol)

2FatToRun · April 2013

I love this subject because everyone I know in real life is so unaware of just how much they are consuming. Not to mention high sodium intake can make you retain water and cause limbs to swell

Whenever I want to season my food I use BADIA is great and is very low in sodium per serving and so freaking tasty. A little goes a long way as well. Any time I buy isle items I make sure to get low sodium items esp. with things like tuna, breads, peanut butter...,etc. I never add seasoning until food is plated that way I know for sure exactly how much I am taking in and if I boil veggies the saltiness isn't diluted. No fun eating bland food. Another thing I try to do is pair a high in sodium food with a more blah one so they compliment each other. Same goes for sugar as well instead of using sugar in oatmeal use sweet fruit. Just have to sit and figure out all the stuff you really, really like then the stuff you can tolerate than the stuff you just cant do. That will be a foundation for you to put things together and give you a quick view so you arent so discouraged when you go to grab a meal.

emtjmac · April 2013

Sorry Coach, it's just a little hard to take you seriously when it comes to fitness advice. I'm immediately skeptical of anyone who subscribes to a "system" or philosophy of eating like "primal" whose largest proponents are bloggers, authors and "experts" who are trying to sell things to people. I don't think that there's anything wrong with the whole "beachbody" group of exercise programs because anything that gets people moving consistently has to be good but all the hype and glittery packaging just turns me right off.

CoachReddy · April 2013

you're welcome to feel that way. however, it's a pretty limited way of looking at the world to think that just because I'm a fan of P90X means I can't ALSO have a decent breadth of knowledge about health + fitness, particularly nutrition. but that's your choice to make. Just like it's your choice to ignore your sodium intake. If you end up with hypertension, that's on you.

SanteMulberry · April 2013

You are young and you haven't said that you have any renal disease, so, if the salt appeals to you, eat away. Since you are a woman, you may want to watch the sodium at "that time of the month" as many women find that restricting sodium then helps them to avoid the hormonal bloat that is common. One of the previous posters is correct in saying that potassium is an important check on the problem of too much sodium. Fortunately, potassium is widely available in foods of all sort. A young, healthy individual could eat up to 2,500 mg. of sodium, but should aim for about 3,500 mg. of potassium. Unfortunately, the data base doesn't have the potassium readings for a lot of the foods (I have been adding some with the "corrected for potassium" label on them).

Processed food and restaurant food tends to be very high in sodium, unfortunately. It also commonly has added sugar. I do not eat sugar because I find it makes me hungry and I restrict carbs to an average of 100 grams per day. The other day, I went to a restaurant with friends (the restaurant is part of a national pasta chain) for lunch. After I looked at the menu, I ordered a shrimp/scallop salad (and thought it was likely the safest choice) but I wondered why I was ravenous after I got home. I decided to look up the ingredients online. Who would have thought there was 13 grams of sugar in a shrimp salad!? The other thing that annoyed me is that there was 1,800 mg. of sodium!!! They put in the salt to cover up the sweet taste of the added sugar apparently.

SanteMulberry · April 2013

Hi Coach. The newest research on hypertension points to sugar-consumption as the bad-boy of hypertension because of the damage it does to the kidneys (the reason why Type 2 diabetics get renal disease if their sugar levels are running out of control). By the time that salt causes a rise in blood pressure, there is probably already significant kidney damage. Not that eating too much sodium is a good idea, but it is not as bad as once thought. Mined salt (common table salt is almost always the mined variety) is often contaminated with traces of toxins of one sort or another (like, cadmium, for example--which does a number on the kidneys) and it is for that reason that I avoid using anything but "sea salt" which has been tested for heavy metals, etc. Sea salt has many beneficial trace minerals. The "Cadillac" of sea salts is Himalayan Pink--available at gourmet food stores. There are other varieties there as well--each with its own distinctive flavoring.

CoachReddy · April 2013

love me some himalayan sea salt. thanks for the update - i'll check that out.

Kashmir09 · April 2013

willdob3 · April 2013

Aroundthemulb, great info; thanks for sharing it.

I also use only sea salt & I have tried a few different ones. I do agree that Himalayan Pink is very special!

Kashmir09 · April 2013

Himalayan salt is rock salt ... mined ... but yes its expensive so it better be pure

GamerLady · April 2013

Sea salt is awesome, that is all...

CoachReddy · April 2013

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21747015

Bettyeditor · April 2013

If you are pretty healthy overall and don't have high blood pressure and are not at risk for heart disease, some extra sodium won't hurt your health. May cause you to retain some water weight but that's all. If you are concerned, take a potassium supplement. My nutritionist told me that your body is able to excrete excess sodium if you have enough potassium in your system.

As you finish up the food in your freezer and transition to foods that are fresh rather than processed/boxed/canned/frozen, your sodium levels will naturally go down. :flowerforyou:

SanteMulberry · April 2013

Yes--that is true, but it is supposed to be mined from an area where contamination is not a problem. The common salt mines where most salt is mined are often contaminated with groundwater. Some salts labeled "sea salt" are gathered from evaporated sea water and care is taken to test for contaminates. We use an evaporated Israeli sea salt that we quite like.

CoachReddy · April 2013

http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/22/salty-truth-adults-worldwide-eating-too-much-sodium/

SanteMulberry · April 2013

Yes, high sodium can damage the arterioles and that can also raise blood pressure, but unless the sodium levels are chronically high (which they will be on a diet heavy in processed food) the body tends to shed excess sodium if one is eating a healthy diet. We might eat too much salt one day and then the next we instinctively search for foods that help to shed it (provided the natural appetite controls are not mucked up with eating too much processed and junk foods).

joleenl · April 2013

As a women, sodium may not hurt your weight loss but it can cause dramatic scale fluctuations if you weigh yourself daily. This is what I have experienced anyways. Salt can cause water retention specially with the female cycles. My recommendation don't freak out about it but to reduce it by using less packaged foods. You said you have a pantry full and can not afford to restock it so just eat less of it each day and include fresh whole ingredients. This way you'll still use it up. I eat as much whole ingredients prepared by myself so I can control what's in it. I don't even make half of the sodium goal. I use sea salt at home.

Just a note: if you have a history heart disease or strokes in your family, the sodium content is important to keep an eye on and with these diseases as the number one killer in North America, even if its not, it's a good thing to keep an eye on either way. Just my two cents worth.

gregpstone · April 2013

Hello, I have Meniere's Disease and so have to watch my salt; so I was glad to see salt intake pop up in the daily totals.

In general lowering salt intake is good but one big exception is when sweating due to intense exercise. When engaged in exercise you need more salt. I'm doing a 237 mile bike ride next month and my doctor advised me to discontinue my medicine as well as get more salt during the four day ride on the Katy Trail.

SanteMulberry · April 2013

I would agree that this is sensible. We want to pay attention to long-term health goals and a chronically too high salt intake can interfere with those goals.

I consistently go over my sodium limit...

Replies

Categories