Does Sodium Matter?

dawnm92 · August 2011

I realize that too much sodium will cause water retention which means I could be carrying around 3-5 pounds of extra fluid if I have too much sodium in my diet. But since I have A LOT more than 3-5 pounds to lose, I'm wondering if sodium intake really affects my weight loss (or lack of)?

For the record, my intake gets high when I eat canned beans (in the summer because it is too hot to cook from scratch) and things like that. Also, I drink about 10+ glasses of water a day.

I know several people on MFP seem to have some expertise (education, etc) in nutrition science, so I thought I might ask. Also, if anyone else has personal experience with sodium having any impact on their diet, that would be good info too.

Thanks. :-)

Amo_Angelus · August 2011

Sodium isn't just bad for you because of water retention, it's bad for your health if you have too much >_< There's a reason you have RDAs

yoghurtand · August 2011

I don't have any expert advice for you, sorry, but I do know that when I went on camp for a week a while ago, I had very salty heavy food every day (food in the armed forces is not that healthy...) and when I came back, I had put on 9lbs. Obviously, most of that was retained water and food weight, but it was veeery discouraging to see on the scale. I think the more water you drink, the more sodium you need/are allowed to take in, but I only have a layman's understanding of all of this!

divadoll41 · August 2011

Yes!!!!! Soduim does matter!

poustotah · August 2011

Absolutely sodium matters! If you take in too much, you're going to retain water which will prevent weight loss.

rodneyderrick · August 2011

Yeah. You really want to keep that under control. You need sodium, but too much will kill you.

treehugginpam · August 2011

It definitely makes a difference for me! I've noticed that if my sodium goes too much over 2,300 mg I can forget about seeing a loss on the scale, regardless of how much water I've had, how my food has been, or how much I exercised.

dawnm92 · August 2011

Thanks for your input everyone. I guess I should have been clearer in my question though.

I realize that sodium intake matters for overall health.

But what I'm wondering is if anyone knows if it has a direct and negative impact on weight loss, fat burning, etc.?

Fochizzy · August 2011

I asked my friend who is a doctor when I started, here is the response from Dr. Jeff:

You nerves and muscles run on sodium. Specifically, to fire, a nerve has to let in a bunch of sodium that is outside of it, and let out a bunch of potassium. (it then returns to its normal position after firing by pumping out the sodium and pumping in the potassium). sodium is also very highly regulated in regards to water. If you run low on sodium, it messes with your water balance (hence why it is tied to water weight) "where sodium goes, water follows". In general, if you have too much sodium, your kidneys will pump it out, along with water. If you have too little sodium, your body will conserve it, along with water. So, net result: try keep sodium under 2300 mg/day.

kgesq · August 2011

Dissenting opinion. I've read more than one article that says you don't need to restrict sodium unless you actually have high blood pressure. If the choice is between high sodium lower calorie foods that are going to help you lose weight and not losing weight, then sodium be darned! (In response to those who say you shouldn't eat Lean Cuisines etc...because of the sodium). Yes, water retention is likely, but it's also excretable using any number of natural means. Water retention, while annoying, is not life threatening. Again, if you have blood pressure issues, the advice is very different.

runningathena · August 2011

I have hypertension, so I am very careful about how much sodium I consume. Excess sodium causes water retention, which then causes your blood pressure to increase because your blood has to pump faster/harder through the vessels, which weakens them over time. Here's a great resource from the National Institutes of Health about sodium and keeping your BP low:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/sodium/sodium.htm

Potassium works with sodium to regulate the body’s water balance, so eating potassium-rich foods is also important!

vikesfanmb · August 2011

I've personally heard (I believe this is from the American Heart Assocation guidelines?) that you should keep your sodium to 1500 mgs or less per day. For myself, that is darn near impossible. I almost always hit 2,000 and sometimes even break over 2,500 - but I'm trying to REALLY watch it because it makes a huge difference for me.

Generally speaking, if I have had a few days of high sodium content meals and snacks . . I can expect my weight will stay the same . . but if I am really on top of my game and keep my sodium in check, I can lose much more easily.

Just my two cents . . I am by no means a medical professional.

dawnm92 · August 2011

I guess I should have mentioned that - I do NOT have any problems with my blood pressure or any other health issues that would warrant a low sodium diet.

Until a few days ago, I wasn't having my food diary track sodium so I had no clue. But when I added that nutrient to the diary, I noticed my intake was higher than the recommendation. I also noticed that it would be pretty difficult to get it low enough, at least with some of my current foods. I'm eating a homemade black bean soup - made with canned beans. 1 serving, according to MFP, has like 1700 mg of sodium. It also packs 20g of protein and 20g of fiber.

I also noticed that one FRESH, not frozen, chicken breast, according to MFP, has close to 500 mg of sodium. 1 half-cup serving of cottage cheese has 480 mg of sodium.

These are things I eat regularly. I try to make most of my meals from scratch. I also admit to craving salt many days so I often salt my veggies (broccoli, etc) as well. But even if I could stand to cut out my salt use on my plate, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get below the limit just because of the salt content of regular foods.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice?

rodneyderrick · August 2011

I've personally heard (I believe this is from the American Heart Assocation guidelines?) that you should keep your sodium to 1500 mgs or less per day. For myself, that is darn near impossible. I almost always hit 2,000 and sometimes even break over 2,500 - but I'm trying to REALLY watch it because it makes a huge difference for me.

Generally speaking, if I have had a few days of high sodium content meals and snacks . . I can expect my weight will stay the same . . but if I am really on top of my game and keep my sodium in check, I can lose much more easily.

Just my two cents . . I am by no means a medical professional.

People with high blood pressure should have about 1,300 mgs of sodium per day.
People without high blood pressure should have about 2,500 mgs of sodium per day.

What they're trying to tell people is to lose weight, because everybody keeping track of their sodium knows when you're at 2,500 mgs of sodium, you're at your calorie limit of about 1,200 calories. People become offended if you say, stop eating so much; so they devised another method of telling people to lose weight without offending them--eat less sodium.

blondechic213 · August 2011

I guess I should have mentioned that - I do NOT have any problems with my blood pressure or any other health issues that would warrant a low sodium diet.

Until a few days ago, I wasn't having my food diary track sodium so I had no clue. But when I added that nutrient to the diary, I noticed my intake was higher than the recommendation. I also noticed that it would be pretty difficult to get it low enough, at least with some of my current foods. I'm eating a homemade black bean soup - made with canned beans. 1 serving, according to MFP, has like 1700 mg of sodium. It also packs 20g of protein and 20g of fiber.

I also noticed that one FRESH, not frozen, chicken breast, according to MFP, has close to 500 mg of sodium. 1 half-cup serving of cottage cheese has 480 mg of sodium.

These are things I eat regularly. I try to make most of my meals from scratch. I also admit to craving salt many days so I often salt my veggies (broccoli, etc) as well. But even if I could stand to cut out my salt use on my plate, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get below the limit just because of the salt content of regular foods.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice?

I struggle with keeping my sodium intake low as well. Some things I've picked up along the way though are:

if buying canned beans or vegetables, rinse them thoroughly.

buy beans dry in a packaged bag. it takes an hour to have them ready, but a big benefit is that there's only 20mg in a serving and its all natural.

when recipes call for chicken or beef broth, use sodium free bouillon cubes. all you do is add them to boiling water and its the same as the can minus all the sodium.

instead of adding salt to vegetables, use something like Mrs. Dash's sodium free seasonings.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

LAYLAH17 · August 2011

I realize that too much sodium will cause water retention which means I could be carrying around 3-5 pounds of extra fluid if I have too much sodium in my diet. But since I have A LOT more than 3-5 pounds to lose, I'm wondering if sodium intake really affects my weight loss (or lack of)?

For the record, my intake gets high when I eat canned beans (in the summer because it is too hot to cook from scratch) and things like that. Also, I drink about 10+ glasses of water a day.

I know several people on MFP seem to have some expertise (education, etc) in nutrition science, so I thought I might ask. Also, if anyone else has personal experience with sodium having any impact on their diet, that would be good info too.

Thanks. :-)

For me it's the sodium in the soda that gets me. Especially diet!! Took me by suprise

dawnm92 · August 2011

I struggle with keeping my sodium intake low as well. Some things I've picked up along the way though are:

if buying canned beans or vegetables, rinse them thoroughly.

buy beans dry in a packaged bag. it takes an hour to have them ready, but a big benefit is that there's only 20mg in a serving and its all natural.

when recipes call for chicken or beef broth, use sodium free bouillon cubes. all you do is add them to boiling water and its the same as the can minus all the sodium.

instead of adding salt to vegetables, use something like Mrs. Dash's sodium free seasonings.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thank you! That does help. In the cooler months, I do cook a lot of my beans from scratch, but in the summer, I just can't stand the extra heat in my small house so I use canned. And I do rinse my canned beans, but I didn't know that I was cutting the sodium by doing so.

Also, I had never heard of sodium free bouillon cubes. I thought ALL bouillon cubes were pretty much packed with sodium. So, I will have to look for those and see if I can pick some up at one of my local stores. That is another culprit in my soup recipes - they call for broth as well. If I can find the sodium free bouillon cubes, that should make a huge difference!

I will have to try more of the different Mrs. Dash toppings to see if any of them help me cut back or eliminate using salt on my plate.

Thanks so much for the wonderful suggestions.

healthywon · August 2011

What sort of sodium are we talking about? From my understanding Sodium Chloride or common table salt is a poison. If you're wanting quality salt check out himalayan salt. It has 84 minerals as opposed to the 2 minerals sodium and chlorine found in table salt. I learnt this from an article by Phillip Day, an investigative journalist with a campaign for truth in medicine. Pretty sure he has a book on salt. As for the water, what quality of water are you consuming? In my experience purified rain water seems to be the best available in our area. As for tracking how much salt is being consumed I never saw an ingredients list or nutritional information table on the fresh wholefoods brought from the organic farmers market. Anything with one of those means it's been processed in some way right?

Does Sodium Matter?

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