Tracking sodium

I find most of my sodium comes from processed foods....I am making an effort to avoid them as much as possible...not easy when you work. If I go over on sodium then I up my water intake to help flush it out of my system.

When I had a trainer he insisted that I try to stay under on my sodium and eat well over my protein allowance.

The last 2 days for me, I had grossly high sodium intake (before adding sodium to my tracking list) and really felt the weight of it. Weighed myself this morning and found I had gained 2lbs (more than likely due to all that sodium and water retention). Looking back on my diary over the last week and a half though, I had been on the right track and had stayed well below the RDA. Just try to keep your sodium count to below the RDA and you should be fine.

I sometimes go over the proteins or carbs, but more often than not, I'm below the limit for all of the ones I'm tracking (cals, proteins, carbs, fats and sodium). Processed foods contain a lot of sodium, so as long as you control what goes into the foods you eat, you'll be fine.

When I had a trainer he insisted that I try to stay under on my sodium and eat well over my protein allowance.

I find this nearly impossible (I do so/so on the sodium...win some lose some) but on the protein. I'm pescetarian and I almost never eat over on my protein and some days I find it hard to meet. If I ate two things of chicken in addition to what I'd eat now I'd be good but no meat here.

I find sodium much easier to control when you make your own food at home. It's more time consuming, but most of the time you end up getting more food for your money, and you can experiment and find ways to make things better. A lot of things you buy in the store have a lot of sodium in them, when you could make the same thing at home with much, much less sodium content. Also, look for low sodium foods when you shop. There are a lot of things you can buy these days with lower sodium content than the original (condiments, canned veggies, etc.). Eating fresh fruits and veggies is also a great way to cut down on sodium, because a lot of time the cans and jars have a high sodium content. Those little 80mg here and 40mg there sure do add up fast, don't they? lol

Sodium is a tough one. I never get under 2000 mg/day but as others have said, drink lots of water to flush it out. Too much sodium in your diet can lead to heart problems, especially high blood pressure. I wouldn't worry if you are within 10% of goal. Avoid things like fast food, sandwich meats, breads, soups, and chips, and salad dressings - this is where I rack up all of my sodium. Basically anything you eat while dining out is going to be loaded with the stuff.

At home, I've even bought Low Sodium Rip-L potato chips just to help chip away at my daily totals. They are surprisingly tasty! One of my favorite meals is a turkey and swiss sandwhich on wheat bread with potato chips, but it probably has nearly half of my sodium for the day. Oh well, that just means dinner is cereal and fruit!