From what I've been seeing, the salt thing (ok, Sodium, but there are some chlorides in there too) is an area of a lot of discussion/debate and mis-used data (go figure).

I ran into this article not too long ago (contains links to study support) that may provide some insight http://authoritynutrition.com/how-much-sodium-per-day/

If you're asking for general thoughts, to me it seems that our initial "low salt = good" approach was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction for the general population, BUT there are places where a low-sodium lifestyle may be beneficial. Caveat here is that there are several situations were suppression of salt may increase mortality and/or raise other complications. Not one single answer, but an interesting topic nonetheless.

Where is anyone/everyone else on the salt thing? Personally, I've substituted potassium chloride into a few home-cooked items and live with the salt in the rest of my foods. My sodium number are what I'd consider as typical (when normalized to calories) somewhere in the 2200mg/day range without working to actively manage it (beyond what little I stuff that I do with potassium).

Speaking from personal experience, I have to watch my sodium intake for my blood pressure. A few years back I was borderline hypertensive, about to be placed on meds, when the doc asked me to cut back on sodium for a month first. I did, and my blood pressure dropped like a rock to perfectly normal range.

I don't have a specific number I aim for, rather just watch salt addition during cooking. I used to add salt during cooking and again at the dinner table; now I only add at the table. If you add too early the taste can disappear (though the sodium remains), necessitating adding extra salt at the table. I also pay attention to frozen meals which are huge salt-users; I don't necessarily avoid them entirely, but not more than once a week.

nossmf wrote: »

Speaking from personal experience, I have to watch my sodium intake for my blood pressure. A few years back I was borderline hypertensive, about to be placed on meds, when the doc asked me to cut back on sodium for a month first. I did, and my blood pressure dropped like a rock to perfectly normal range.

I don't have a specific number I aim for, rather just watch salt addition during cooking. I used to add salt during cooking and again at the dinner table; now I only add at the table. If you add too early the taste can disappear (though the sodium remains), necessitating adding extra salt at the table. I also pay attention to frozen meals which are huge salt-users; I don't necessarily avoid them entirely, but not more than once a week.

What would you say your sodium intake level was to drop your BP? Mine is also sometimes borderline, although it seems to be reactive. (If I am chilling at home it will be normal, but just about anything seems to make it go up).

I find it very difficult to keep my sodium below 2000. Most days mine is 2200-2400, sometimes higher. I cook at home a good bit, but even that is difficult. For instance my homemade waffles have nearly 400 mg, because of the baking powder and baking soda. And you pretty much have to have that! And tomorrow I am roasting a pork tenderloin, but almost any sauce I use for seasoning is high in sodium.

And of course, the higher your calorie intake, the more sodium! So if I am cutting, it is usually lower.

As a "woman of a certain age" my body reacts strongly to sodium now, with lots of water retention. (It wasn't like this five years ago!!). So between that and the blood pressure, I really need to figure out how to reduce sodium.

My sodium intake ranges from 1300 - 5000+ I just looked at this in my diary settings as it is not a nutrient I pay any attention to.

I'm celiac so I can hardly eat any processed foods and I rarely eat foods like crisps, crackers, pretzels etc. My large numbers come in when I eat Asian foods (which I make a lot) and use soy sauce. I probably use soy sauce every other day.

Anyway - my BP is 100/60 and last year when I was unwell, it was found that I had too little sodium in my blood and my Doctor rang me to tell me to eat salted crisps! This came about because it was really hot and I was drinking heaps of water and flushing it out of my system.

My weight is maintained (not trying to lose) at 56kg, this year I have dropped body fat from 21% to around 18.5% (remember I'm a girl!) and gained lean muscle (determined by DEXA scans). I have increased my lifts also.

So, seeing as too much sodium doesn't seem to be having a negative impact on my health, pretty sure I'll continue to ignore it. I would probably advise you to do similar if you are healthy like you state - sodium is probably not making much difference at all. I don't even track it - I think getting enough calcium is more important (I'm at risk of reduced bone strength with being celiac) so I swap my diary settings to track that instead

I personally at this moment don't know my accurate sodium number but I can tell you my body is extremely sensitive to sodium. I recently came across a website when I wanted to make a low sodium soup. Processed soup is the worst for me.
Take a look at www.drgourmet.com and go under special needs, low sodium recipes. I have found the several recipes I tried last week were very tasty. Good luck