cut down on sodium! !!

Yes, but most should be in the 3-6 gram range...and needn't worry about the RDA.

ceoverturf wrote: »

The point I think some are missing (and granted, it hasn't specifically been put down in black & white) is that I don't believe anyone is under the impression that you should completely ignore sodium/salt intake and just eat teaspoons full of pure salt...any more than one would say you should completely ignore any micronutrient.

But that for most people, absent a specific medical condition which requires one to monitor their sodium intake, going a few hundred milligrams over or under the RDA is not any cause for concern. In other words, eat salty/sodium-rich foods in moderation, and there's no need to pearl-clutch.

If anyone disagrees with that I would welcome an intelligent debate as to where that is wrong.

I agree with this.

I do not however think that "If you have no medical condition you don't need to worry about sodium" implies this.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

ceoverturf wrote: »

The point I think some are missing (and granted, it hasn't specifically been put down in black & white) is that I don't believe anyone is under the impression that you should completely ignore sodium/salt intake and just eat teaspoons full of pure salt...any more than one would say you should completely ignore any micronutrient.

But that for most people, absent a specific medical condition which requires one to monitor their sodium intake, going a few hundred milligrams over or under the RDA is not any cause for concern. In other words, eat salty/sodium-rich foods in moderation, and there's no need to pearl-clutch.

If anyone disagrees with that I would welcome an intelligent debate as to where that is wrong.

I agree with this.

I do not however think that "If you have no medical condition you don't need to worry about sodium" implies this.

I guess it depends on how you define/interpret the word "worry".

To me, not 'worrying' about something doesn't mean I ignore it completely. For example, I'm not constantly worrying about whether I'm going to get into a serious automobile accident...but I still wear a seat belt.

In this context, not "worrying" about sodium to me means I don't micro-manage my diet so strictly that I maintain a daily intake range of only 5-10 mg above/below the RDAs.

I have a tendency toward high blood pressure -it's been a factor for most of my life, at both healthy and unhealthy weights (bummer), and so am careful with my salt intake. In addition, I try to get a healthy helping of potassium each day. Finding that my healthy daily helping seems to between 1800 and 1200g of Potassium, I try to keep the daily sodium intake at a lower level than that, without going nutty.

Yes to more home-made meals, and careful reading of labels for me. Yes to finding and enjoying salt substitutes for cooking: I like dry wines, fresh lemon juice and other acids. Yes to being careful when not eating at home. And yes to not worrying too much about the way the day goes, because tension is a cause of high blood pressure, too.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

psulemon wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

Yes. A little info, indeed.

It seems mostly to revolve around high blood pressure. If you don't have high blood pressure and your blood pressure isn't turning into a problem...

Mostly, yes. That is the biggest concern. Do you know the statistics on high BP?

http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_bloodpressure.htm

Exceeding the sodium recommendation is obviously not going to be a problem for everyone. That's true of any RDA. They are general rules. But what sense if there in telling every user that asks about sodium that it's okay to ignore the RDA when it is likely to be harmful more often than not?

If you look back over the thread, like the sugar threads, there's a whole lot of "If you don't have a medical condition..." prefacing the comments. Do you see those? Do you agree that that's not the same thing as will-nilly telling every user to ignore sodium intake?

No, because high sodium is associated with causing disease not just exacerbating it. Just because your BP is high today doesn't mean it won't be later. 1/3 of Americans have high BP. Another 1/3 have pre-hypertension. For some populations the numbers are much higher. Eat all the sodium you want. It's your life, but saying it's fine for everyone who doesn't have a disease right now makes no sense given the available data.

Keep in mind there are a lot of factors that contribute to hypertension... obesity is probably one of the biggest ones, but also not being physically active, smoking and drinking.

Being on MFP, the majority of us are working out and trying to lose weight. I frequently eat 5000mg+ of sodium because I workout hard. But I also aim to get foods high in potassium and magnesium which help stabilize your electrolytes. And my BP is 110/70

You can add my wife to the list of people who need really high sodium (like 10,000mg). She has a medical condition that burns through electrolytes. So her doctors have said, you can never get enough salt.

Your n of 2 doesn't really change statistics though.

The fact is that most Americans will develop hypertension or pre-hypertension in their lifetime. Another fact is that high sodium intake is associated with developing hypertension. Saying that everyone that doesn't currently have a medical condition does not need to be concerned with sodium intake flies in the face of current data.

Even the fact that obesity could be a bigger factor doesn't mean too much dietary sodium shouldn't be of concern. Statistics also show that most people who lose weight will regain it. Most people should be concerned about sodium intake.

It's not an n of 2. Please. There have been so many people in this thread alone who've given you evidence of hyponatremia, it's more like n of 20 or 30. My nieces make this post alone n of 6, just in one moment more. That called an exponential leap. Statistically speaking, this thread alone proves that hyponatremia, just in one day, is a bigger problem than hypertension as relates to sodium in the pool we're drawing from. Since polls are drawn randomly, and this thread drew random responders, that's a natural poll response and works perfectly within the boundaries.
With obesity and comorbidities contributing more to hypertension than sodium intake alone, researchers are scrambling to redefine the RDA for sodium even now.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

ceoverturf wrote: »

The point I think some are missing (and granted, it hasn't specifically been put down in black & white) is that I don't believe anyone is under the impression that you should completely ignore sodium/salt intake and just eat teaspoons full of pure salt...any more than one would say you should completely ignore any micronutrient.

But that for most people, absent a specific medical condition which requires one to monitor their sodium intake, going a few hundred milligrams over or under the RDA is not any cause for concern. In other words, eat salty/sodium-rich foods in moderation, and there's no need to pearl-clutch.

If anyone disagrees with that I would welcome an intelligent debate as to where that is wrong.

I agree with this.

I do not however think that "If you have no medical condition you don't need to worry about sodium" implies this.

I do. I think to some extent people are talking past each other.

On the whole I think people ought to drink adequate water, exercise, get enough potassium, and be sensitive to if they have a medical condition. I'm also in favor of eating mostly from whole foods/home cooked meals and if you don't -- if you eat lots of restaurant or packaged food -- then perhaps seeking out lower sodium options, as you are eating in a way that tends to be high sodium.

What I think is overkill for most (and the article I posted supports this) is worrying about keeping sodium to a very low level or trying to track and log cooking salt or deciding that using any salt is the devil and that it must be left out entirely to be healthy and so foods like pickles or olives or smoked salmon are bad for you.

SOME may have conditions where that's the case, but they shouldn't then tell perfectly healthy people that we are killing ourselves because we don't cut out salt or the like.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

ceoverturf wrote: »

The point I think some are missing (and granted, it hasn't specifically been put down in black & white) is that I don't believe anyone is under the impression that you should completely ignore sodium/salt intake and just eat teaspoons full of pure salt...any more than one would say you should completely ignore any micronutrient.

But that for most people, absent a specific medical condition which requires one to monitor their sodium intake, going a few hundred milligrams over or under the RDA is not any cause for concern. In other words, eat salty/sodium-rich foods in moderation, and there's no need to pearl-clutch.

If anyone disagrees with that I would welcome an intelligent debate as to where that is wrong.

I agree with this.

I do not however think that "If you have no medical condition you don't need to worry about sodium" implies this.

What I think is overkill for most (and the article I posted supports this) is worrying about keeping sodium to a very low level or trying to track and log cooking salt or deciding that using any salt is the devil and that it must be left out entirely to be healthy and so foods like pickles or olives or smoked salmon are bad for you.

SOME may have conditions where that's the case, but they shouldn't then tell perfectly healthy people that we are killing ourselves because we don't cut out salt or the like.

Yeah..this is what I'm trying to say...

You always are able to put things much more eloquently than I.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

ceoverturf wrote: »

The point I think some are missing (and granted, it hasn't specifically been put down in black & white) is that I don't believe anyone is under the impression that you should completely ignore sodium/salt intake and just eat teaspoons full of pure salt...any more than one would say you should completely ignore any micronutrient.

But that for most people, absent a specific medical condition which requires one to monitor their sodium intake, going a few hundred milligrams over or under the RDA is not any cause for concern. In other words, eat salty/sodium-rich foods in moderation, and there's no need to pearl-clutch.

If anyone disagrees with that I would welcome an intelligent debate as to where that is wrong.

I agree with this.

I do not however think that "If you have no medical condition you don't need to worry about sodium" implies this.

I do. I think to some extent people are talking past each other.

It's the sodium equivalent of the donut diet strawman argument. "If you don't have a medical reason to care" gets translated to "Eat all the sodium."

So many comments on something so minute.