sodium and stuff

chrisdavey
chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How low do I have to lower sodium to get rid of this water weight?

















































































just joking :tongue:

http://kfor.com/2013/07/09/cdc-admits-long-standing-error-there-is-no-benefit-in-reducing-salt/

Low sodium diets linked to reduced insulin sensitivity and risks of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and death from heart disease. (as well as high sodium)

Remember, people sodium is a REQUIRED micronutrient.

And if you are worried about water weight, (and you don't have some sort of weigh in required for a competition) you are doing it wrong. Spikes in sodium and reductions in potassium can mask fat loss (on the scales) but do not hinder it provided you are in caloric deficit.

Replies

  • MinimalistShoeAddict
    MinimalistShoeAddict Posts: 1,946 Member

    http://kfor.com/2013/07/09/cdc-admits-long-standing-error-there-is-no-benefit-in-reducing-salt/

    Low sodium diets linked to reduced insulin sensitivity and risks of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and death from heart disease. (as well as high sodium)

    Remember, people sodium is a REQUIRED micronutrient.

    And if you are worried about water weight, (and you don't have some sort of weigh in required for a competition) you are doing it wrong. Spikes in sodium and reductions in potassium can mask fat loss (on the scales) but do not hinder it provided you are in caloric deficit.

    Thanks for posting this!

    Here is another article that should be of interest to runners (about the importance of sufficient sodium intake):

    http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/pass-salt?page=single
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    yep, the more you sweat the more you will need to replenish
  • hayles333
    hayles333 Posts: 105 Member
    Thank you for posting this...this was precisely what I needed to hear (so frickin' sick of worrying about my sodium intake that I actually had to delete it from my diary settings because it was stressing me out)!
  • Hollie_downunder
    Hollie_downunder Posts: 192
    Have also deleted Sodium from my settings - i love it too much! MMmm Salt and pepper on a tomato ROCKS
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    There's over 8g of sodium in this pizza :)
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
    I glanced at that link and a couple of subsequent links. My takeaways are as follows:
    • Their focus seems to be on 'very low sodium' diets (e.g. 500-1500mg/day), which I don't do. I just try to stay below 2,500mg/day and when I don't I try to increase potassium above 3,500mg/day
    • Their focus appears to be on either people with no high blood pressure or people who've had cardiovascular events (heart attack, strokes, etc.) What about people with HBP but no CV-events, like myself?
    • Their focus appears to be on people sticking to a specific range the entire time of the study. What about the spikes and valleys of a normal diet?

    Eh, for me this study means almost nothing. Now if something comes and says, "Dude, you're gonna have to stay on BP meds for life because sodium intake (high or low) won't make a difference.", then maybe I'll stop monitoring sodium. Until then, it stays on my MFP log.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    If you have high blood pressure, there is no doubt that lowering your sodium will help. The study is simply saying that too low is also not a good thing.

    And some people still believe that a habitually high sodium intake automatically means you are at a high risk of heart disease.
  • SkepticallyFit
    SkepticallyFit Posts: 71
    Uh. http://www.cdc.gov/salt/

    CDC website still says to reduce sodium intake. Anybody have a CDC link regarding this change?
  • eowynmn
    eowynmn Posts: 165 Member
    The problem is that a normal person (in the US) eating an average diet with a variety of junk food mixed in, who does not watch sodium can eat up and above 8000 mg easily, which is in extreme excess. Trying to hit the MFP standard of 2500 mg is probably a good idea, especially since we all tend to add little things like ketchup here or a shake of salt there that we don't always add and have show up.

    Does a moderate amount of salt affect our weight loss? No. If you have a pizza night, are you going to weigh more the next day? yep, that's water weight though and won't hinder your overall weight loss and fitness goals, except that you might feel icky from eating pizza.


    I tend to eat towards the VLS diet category (about 15-2000), but this is helpful in reminding me that that's not necessary. The only people who need to eat very low sodium are those that are recommended to do so by their doctor or nutritionist, such as people with heart and kidney disease. Sodium is a part of a normal functioning, whole diet. Anyway this helped me remember to eat closer to my target of about 2500. Nobody needs to keep that one lb of water weight off every week when I've got 70 to go.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    If you have high blood pressure, there is no doubt that lowering your sodium will help. The study is simply saying that too low is also not a good thing.

    And some people still believe that a habitually high sodium intake automatically means you are at a high risk of heart disease.

    No, but more people would benefit from a reduction of salt in their daily intake than no,t given the prevalence of either heart disease and hbp. While habitual high sodium does not automatically indicate a high risk, it is a recognized risk factor. Neither does smoking automatically lead to heart disease. Still not an awesome idea.

    High salt diets are a higher risk factor than low salt diets for disease and with a 60% disease state or risk prevalence in the general overweight population, it does suggest that as a general recommendation it isn't a bad idea.

    Edit: does one need to track it and go crazy with it? IMO, no...
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    If you have high blood pressure, there is no doubt that lowering your sodium will help. The study is simply saying that too low is also not a good thing.

    And some people still believe that a habitually high sodium intake automatically means you are at a high risk of heart disease.

    No, but more people would benefit from a reduction of salt in their daily intake than no,t given the prevalence of either heart disease and hbp. While habitual high sodium does not automatically indicate a high risk, it is a recognized risk factor. Neither does smoking automatically lead to heart disease. Still not an awesome idea.

    High salt diets are a higher risk factor than low salt diets for disease and with a 60% disease state or risk prevalence in the general overweight population, it does suggest that as a general recommendation it isn't a bad idea.

    Edit: does one need to track it and go crazy with it? IMO, no...

    agreed.

    I think the point is that some people go from the "typical" Western diet that is very high sodium, make a lifestyle change and jump on here and automatically think they need to drop it close to nil. A reduction for these people is probably beneficial but going too low is not good either.

    And at the end of the day, i personally think the largest factor for diseases like CVD and diabetes is just obesity. Lose the weight (even with a high sodium diet) and the blood lipids will improve.

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