sodium and calories

http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/119618381045822 WhyShldILmtSodium 9_07.pdf

Your body needs a certain balance of sodium, water, and other nutrients to work properly. If it has too much sodium, it has to retain water to correct the imbalance. This increase of water causes your blood volume to increase. This can stress your cardiovascular system and cause blood pressure problems, which contributes to various other conditions/diseases.

So - YES, you need to pay attention to sodium intake. A bad day every now and then won't be a problem, but you should strive to keep your sodium levels as low as possible (at least at or below 2300mg/day, possibly lower if you have certain conditions or meet certain criteria). You need about 500mg/day to function properly, but most people get that without even trying.

Some tips from the link I posted:

What are sources of sodium?
Most of the sodium in our diets comes from
adding it when food is being prepared. Pay
attention to food labels, because they tell how
much sodium is in food products.

Here’s a list of sodium compounds to limit in
your diet:
• Salt (sodium chloride or NaCl)
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Disodium phosphate
• Any compound that has “sodium” or “Na”
in its name

What foods should I limit?
• Salted snacks
• Fish that’s frozen, pre-breaded, pre-fried or
smoked; also fish that’s canned in oil or brine like
tuna, sardines or shellfish
• Ham, bacon, corned beef, luncheon meats, sausages
and hot dogs
• Canned foods and juices containing salt
• Commercially made main dishes like hash, meat
pies and frozen dinners with more than 700 mg
of sodium per serving
• Cheeses and buttermilk
• Seasoned salts, meat tenderizers and MSG
• Ketchup, mayonnaise, sauces and
salad dressings

What else can I do?
• Avoid adding table salt to foods.
• Use salt substitutes (with your doctor’s approval)
or herbs and spices.
• Eat fresh lean meats, skinless poultry, fish, egg
whites and tuna canned in water.
• Choose unsalted nuts and low-sodium peanut
butter. Cook dried peas and beans.
• Use products made without added salt; try
low-sodium bouillon and soups and unsalted,
fat-free broth.
• Rinse canned vegetables, beans and shellfish to
reduce salt.

10-16oz of water? That's about the amount you should be having within the first hour or so of your day. Regardless of your sodium or calorie levels you definitely need to drink more water. General rule says about 64oz a day. But there are a lot of schools of thought that say higher. There is lots of info out there and even some calculators that figure out ounces per day based on your weight, etc. But I would at least start with adding more water in.

Some tips from the link I posted:

What are sources of sodium?
Most of the sodium in our diets comes from
adding it when food is being prepared. Pay
attention to food labels, because they tell how
much sodium is in food products.

Here’s a list of sodium compounds to limit in
your diet:
• Salt (sodium chloride or NaCl)
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Disodium phosphate
• Any compound that has “sodium” or “Na”
in its name

What foods should I limit?
• Salted snacks
• Fish that’s frozen, pre-breaded, pre-fried or
smoked; also fish that’s canned in oil or brine like
tuna, sardines or shellfish
• Ham, bacon, corned beef, luncheon meats, sausages
and hot dogs
• Canned foods and juices containing salt
• Commercially made main dishes like hash, meat
pies and frozen dinners with more than 700 mg
of sodium per serving
• Cheeses and buttermilk
• Seasoned salts, meat tenderizers and MSG
• Ketchup, mayonnaise, sauces and
salad dressings

What else can I do?
• Avoid adding table salt to foods.
• Use salt substitutes (with your doctor’s approval)
or herbs and spices.
• Eat fresh lean meats, skinless poultry, fish, egg
whites and tuna canned in water.
• Choose unsalted nuts and low-sodium peanut
butter. Cook dried peas and beans.
• Use products made without added salt; try
low-sodium bouillon and soups and unsalted,
fat-free broth.
• Rinse canned vegetables, beans and shellfish to
reduce salt.

Good info thanks, this is a huge struggle for me too (a lot if people, I think) and I try to do all those things, just wondering though, if you rinse your canned veggies (like black beans) and rinse them (I always do) do you log them differently? Always bugs me that it still shows the sodium on my diary, even though I know I didn't eat it all!

It is the added salt in canned beans that has caused me to start cooking my own from dry. Once you get the hang of it is really isn't that hard. For most put them, after sorting out any bad or broken bean, rinse them and put them in a pot with a lot of water. Bring to a boil for 1.5 to 2 minutes. Take them off the heat and let them sit 1.5 to 2 hours (more is ok as well.) Drain and rinse, then add lots of fresh water to the pot they are in (enough to cover them 3-4 inches) bring to a boil and simmer covered. Depending on the bean the time to simmer differs. Small beans like navy bean or black bean can be done in a little as 1 hour, bigger bean can take 2 hours or more of simmering. I usually start with 1 hour for small beans 1.5 hours for bigger ones. Then take a bean out, and see how it is. If it seems done, I drain them cool them and put then in a sealed container and pop them in the fridge for later use. They will store that way for about 4 days. I basically cook enough for 4 days, then cook some more then.

To avoid sodium, I find I am cooking more and more stuff myself and not adding salt. Spices have become my best friend.