When do you need extra sodium!!
Truly303
Posts: 37 Member
Soooooo, How do you know when you need to add sodium and need to go over your s intake?? I know after being outside and busting my rear I need to put some back but how much and how do I know??!! LOL
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Replies
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Odds are that you don't, unless your electrolytes are so out of whack that you need medical attention. Season your food to taste, stay hydrated, take cooling breaks.
When I've been stupid in the heat, I've had heat exhaustion, but never hyponatremia.0 -
Unless you're eating very low sodium, I don't think you really need to worry about it. Unless you are an athlete or construction worker working outside all day long and sweating all day, you should be fine.0
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I need extra salt before/during my lifting workouts and after runs outside. It is very hot and humid where I live and I have low blood pressure. Adding salt or having something like Propel(which has salt in it) helps me to not have syncopy episodes in the gym or after.1
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I usually need it when my heartbeat gets really fast and I feel like I'm going to faint (or I do faint).0
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There's a fair amount of salt naturally in food. Unless you are super-hydrating with plain water, you are surely getting enough.1
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My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.0 -
The typical person gets more sodium than they need because so much sodium is added to food.0
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I also have low blood pressure, add drinking a lot of water, add fasting for 18 hours every day..so I take electrolyte mix every day before or after my training.0
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My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.
I used to get horrible facial twitches, and the occasional cramps. I chalked it up to anxiety or..weirdness but have been wondering if it could be the low blood pressure (low sodium/much water) issue)
Also. Do you use actual salt on your veggies? I would struggle with that too. Have you tried mustard/hot sauce/soy sauce? I don't use a lot of salt naturally, but do love salty condiments and find that's a pretty easy way to OD on the sodium. Or I just eat a bunch of pickles with dinner.0 -
I have very low blood pressure and take medication which makes it even lower so my GP has instructed me to eat 6-8gr of salt per day.0
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The average person on a western-style diet gets a lot more sodium than recommended. If you are cookign everything from scratch and never add any salt at all, then there is a slim chance under special circumstances where you might need to add some. Still not very probable though.0
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My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.
I used to get horrible facial twitches, and the occasional cramps. I chalked it up to anxiety or..weirdness but have been wondering if it could be the low blood pressure (low sodium/much water) issue)
Also. Do you use actual salt on your veggies? I would struggle with that too. Have you tried mustard/hot sauce/soy sauce? I don't use a lot of salt naturally, but do love salty condiments and find that's a pretty easy way to OD on the sodium. Or I just eat a bunch of pickles with dinner.
Yes, I use just plain ordinary salt on my veggies. I'm not a big fan of "sauces" on anything. I will do mustard on hot dogs on the rare occasions I have them. And will add soy sauce to some of my slow cooker meals, or occasionally on rice, but that's about it.
After work every day, I have salted cottage cheese and cucumber slices. That I like!
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Trechas foods Chile powder is so good on raw veggies, even on some fruit. It's a nice change from plain salt. It's kind of a sweet/salty/sour/spicy addition.0
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The recommended sodium intake for most people is 3000-5000mg per day. Many go below that. It used to be that 2300mg was the sodium recommendation. I think that was set partially due to ease - 2300mg sodium is one teaspoon of salt.
We now know that too little sodium is associated with poor health, as is too much. 3000-5000 mg seems to be the ideal for the average person.
If you are getting fatigue, stomach or bm issues, headaches, weakness and dizziness (low blood pressure), muscle aches or spasms, you may need more sodium.
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As others have noted, you probably don't need to do anything specific just for sodium replacement unless you are eating a very low sodium diet and losing a lot during prolonged exercise sessions, or working in the heat. Just adding some salt to foods should do the trick.
I prepare almost all my foods from scratch and add no salt to my foods. The only time I take sodium as a supplement is during endurance bike or run training as part of my fueling plan. These are 2.5-4hr sessions during which I consume both water and liquid fuels that contain electrolytes, including sodium.0 -
The recommended sodium intake for most people is 3000-5000mg per day. Many go below that. It used to be that 2300mg was the sodium recommendation. I think that was set partially due to ease - 2300mg sodium is one teaspoon of salt.
We now know that too little sodium is associated with poor health, as is too much. 3000-5000 mg seems to be the ideal for the average person.
If you are getting fatigue, stomach or bm issues, headaches, weakness and dizziness (low blood pressure), muscle aches or spasms, you may need more sodium.
Do you have a good link to the higher recommendations?1 -
The recommended sodium intake for most people is 3000-5000mg per day. Many go below that. It used to be that 2300mg was the sodium recommendation. I think that was set partially due to ease - 2300mg sodium is one teaspoon of salt.
We now know that too little sodium is associated with poor health, as is too much. 3000-5000 mg seems to be the ideal for the average person.
If you are getting fatigue, stomach or bm issues, headaches, weakness and dizziness (low blood pressure), muscle aches or spasms, you may need more sodium.
Where did you get this info? I just looked at several websites that say 2,300 mg is still the amount recommended. The AVERAGE intake of most people is more than that - about 3,400 mg. Are you confusing what the average people actually eat and the recommended amount is?0 -
My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.
Have you ever been checked for Addison's disease? My son has this and needs more salt than the average person because he doesn't make the hormones to keep the sodium/potassium balance in his body. Some of your symptoms are Addison's disease symptoms.0 -
@Tacklewasher and @mom22dogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C60eEO0Kyfc
http://circres.ahajournals.org/content/116/6/1046.short
The data is out there, it is just that government recommendations are slow to change.2 -
My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.
I used to get horrible facial twitches, and the occasional cramps. I chalked it up to anxiety or..weirdness but have been wondering if it could be the low blood pressure (low sodium/much water) issue)
Also. Do you use actual salt on your veggies? I would struggle with that too. Have you tried mustard/hot sauce/soy sauce? I don't use a lot of salt naturally, but do love salty condiments and find that's a pretty easy way to OD on the sodium. Or I just eat a bunch of pickles with dinner.
Yes, I use just plain ordinary salt on my veggies. I'm not a big fan of "sauces" on anything. I will do mustard on hot dogs on the rare occasions I have them. And will add soy sauce to some of my slow cooker meals, or occasionally on rice, but that's about it.
After work every day, I have salted cottage cheese and cucumber slices. That I like!
Thanks for the ideas! I have what my cardiologist likes to call a malignant form of syncope (I had epilepsy as a kid but eventually outgrew it, but the syncope triggers full on grand mal seizures as opposed to just fainting for me). I have a hard time getting enough sodium to keep my blood pressure up, even in addition to my medication and have grown to hate the taste of gatorade over the last five years. I'll be trying salting my cottage cheese and vegetables!0 -
My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.
Have you ever been checked for Addison's disease? My son has this and needs more salt than the average person because he doesn't make the hormones to keep the sodium/potassium balance in his body. Some of your symptoms are Addison's disease symptoms.
No I've never been tested for that.
In other news ... I had surgery 12 days ago, and it would appear that I'm suffering from post-surgery hyponatremia. Really painful bloating and swelling ... possibly made worse by the fact that I ran out of salt at work so I haven't been salting my lunch like I normally do ... and by the fact that I cycled on the weekend (possibly too soon after surgery) and sweated up a storm. I've taken an electrolyte tablet and am reducing the amount I'm drinking this evening, and will be visiting my surgeon tomorrow.0 -
I eat a handful of pink salt before bed each night. It's crude, but it does help prevent me experiencing leg cramps in the middle of the night. Other than that, I make every effort to eat salty foods every chance I get. I spent 6 months last year playing stupid sodium tricks to demonstrate that I could get my sodium under 1500 mg per day and modulate water. I developed hyponatremia, which sucks majorly. After that, I started adding more sodium at every opportunity, relieved the symptoms of hyponatremia and kept losing weight by staying in a calorie deficit.0
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My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.
Have you ever been checked for Addison's disease? My son has this and needs more salt than the average person because he doesn't make the hormones to keep the sodium/potassium balance in his body. Some of your symptoms are Addison's disease symptoms.
No I've never been tested for that.
In other news ... I had surgery 12 days ago, and it would appear that I'm suffering from post-surgery hyponatremia. Really painful bloating and swelling ... possibly made worse by the fact that I ran out of salt at work so I haven't been salting my lunch like I normally do ... and by the fact that I cycled on the weekend (possibly too soon after surgery) and sweated up a storm. I've taken an electrolyte tablet and am reducing the amount I'm drinking this evening, and will be visiting my surgeon tomorrow.
That's really awful, sounds very uncomfortable!!! Hope you feel better0 -
My blood pressure is quite low. When I cut way back on salt, it gets even lower to the point where standing up is difficult and my face goes all twitchy.
Along with that, I also start to crave salty food almost desperately.
As it happens, my normal diet is fairly low in salt, so I do things like salt my veggies now. Salted veggies take a little bit of getting used to, but I do feel better for it.
When I exercise, I need even more salt. I have nearly been hospitalised with hyponatremia so it's something I'm very careful about now. I take electrolyte tablets on longer bicycle rides.
Have you ever been checked for Addison's disease? My son has this and needs more salt than the average person because he doesn't make the hormones to keep the sodium/potassium balance in his body. Some of your symptoms are Addison's disease symptoms.
No I've never been tested for that.
In other news ... I had surgery 12 days ago, and it would appear that I'm suffering from post-surgery hyponatremia. Really painful bloating and swelling ... possibly made worse by the fact that I ran out of salt at work so I haven't been salting my lunch like I normally do ... and by the fact that I cycled on the weekend (possibly too soon after surgery) and sweated up a storm. I've taken an electrolyte tablet and am reducing the amount I'm drinking this evening, and will be visiting my surgeon tomorrow.
That's really awful, sounds very uncomfortable!!! Hope you feel better
Thanks!
I stopped in to see my surgeon and he suspects hyponatremia too. I have to stay under 1.5 litres of water a day (normally I drink about 3 litres) and salt everything until my weight drops back to normal (I had gained about 10 lbs in the 10 days after surgery).
Within a short time of taking the electrolyte tablet last night, I started feeling less distressed, and within about 2 hours of not drinking, my right kidney area, which was incredibly painful, started feeling better.
This morning I had lost about 1.5 lbs. Heading back to normal. 1
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