What are the best sources of Sodium?

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  • tangent836
    tangent836 Posts: 14 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    tangent836 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    tangent836 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    tangent836 wrote: »
    melmoldy wrote: »
    tangent836 wrote: »
    I understand that an adult man has to consume at least 500 mg of Sodium a day and more if he exercises. Ever since I started dieting, I've realized that I am often not eating enough salt. What are the healthiest sources of salt? How do I make sure I eat enough of it? Is it a bad idea to simply add table salt to the food I'm eating?

    THIS is hilarious!!! Dude, you really need to educate yourself on nutrition. Sodium = salt! WTF. SPRINKLE SOME EFFIN SALT ON YOUR FOOD. There are some of the stupidest people on this website. LMAO. Man...

    For starters, Salt = Sodium + Chloride In fact, salt is MOSTLY chloride. Sodium is a nutrient that is found in many foods, salt being only one among them. My question was whether salt was a good source of sodium, or whether it's better to get it from other foods such as vegetables.

    If you're actually low on sodium, you're not going to beef it up much with vegetables. I would look more to minimally processed foods like canned goods, cottage cheese, vegetable juice, etc.

    I'm trying to avoid processed foods like the plague. Wouldn't it be better to just take a sodium table like @RunnerGrl1982 suggested? Also, wouldn't it be more convenient to take when I'm working out? That way I don't have to drink gatoraid (yuck).

    Is there a particular reason? As your situation illustrates, including some processed foods in the diet is often a way to easily meet your nutritional needs.

    Table salt and sodium tablets are also processed.



    Roberta H. Anding is a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine and a registered dietitian. She says that the less processed something is, the better it is for health.

    Roberta H. Anding is not right about this.

    You don't have take my word for it, just think about it. Would it be better for you to avoid processed foods and genuinely not get enough sodium? No. In that situation, you'd be better off adding *something* to your diet to ensure you get what you need.

    There are many foods with nutritional benefits that are not harmed or are even enhanced by processing. There is no good rationale for arbitrarily avoiding a food simply because it has undergone processing. Food processing allows us easily meet our nutritional needs year-round and at an affordable cost.

    I understand that there would have to be compromises made. That's why I'm trying to figure out what the optimal solution is. I am considering sodium pills. It's pretty easy to just take a pill. I can save my calories for food that will keep me full. And I wouldn't have to drink the disgusting gatoraid while working out.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    edited February 2019
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    Why not just sprinkle a bit of salt or soy sauce on your food instead? (Note: I've never had Gatorade in my life.)
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
    edited February 2019
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    tangent836 wrote: »
    melmoldy wrote: »
    tangent836 wrote: »
    I understand that an adult man has to consume at least 500 mg of Sodium a day and more if he exercises. Ever since I started dieting, I've realized that I am often not eating enough salt. What are the healthiest sources of salt? How do I make sure I eat enough of it? Is it a bad idea to simply add table salt to the food I'm eating?

    THIS is hilarious!!! Dude, you really need to educate yourself on nutrition. Sodium = salt! WTF. SPRINKLE SOME EFFIN SALT ON YOUR FOOD. There are some of the stupidest people on this website. LMAO. Man...

    For starters, Salt = Sodium + Chloride In fact, salt is MOSTLY chloride. Sodium is a nutrient that is found in many foods, salt being only one among them. My question was whether salt was a good source of sodium, or whether it's better to get it from other foods such as vegetables.

    Sodium is an extremely reactive metallic element and is never found in its elemental form naturally. Sodium chloride is one of its most commonly occurring compounds. Sodium chloride is an ionic compound which in fact has equal molar concentrations of sodium and chlorine. It is "mostly chloride" because sodium has a molecular weight of 23 g/mol while chlorine has a MW of 35.5 g/mol.

    A typical carrot has 41 mg of sodium, while a teaspoon of table salt has 2300 mg of sodium. You're going to have to eat a lot of vegetables to get as much sodium as a pinch of salt provides. Tablets like Nuun still have sodium and potassium and other elements in a salt form - you're not getting elemental sodium.

    I'm not going to wade into the "processing" debate, God help me, but sea salt is only lightly processed, and is certainly much less processed than electrolyte tablets.

    I agree. As far as processing goes, sea salt is basically evaporated seawater.

    Sodium on its own is not particularly something you'd want to be ingesting. It's a VERY GOOD THING it combines easily with chloride. https://www.webelements.com/sodium/chemistry.html
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    tangent836 wrote: »
    @cwolfman13 @janejellyroll @estherdragonbat @singingflutelady
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Sodium pills are processed ;)
    I realize that. It seems it's pretty difficult to completely avoid processed foods. I'm not chemist or dietitian, but it seems that the salt in sodium pills will not be as affected by processing, as whatever they put in cans of tomatoes. Just a hunch. Like I said, what is the OPTIMAL solution? I'm not asking for the ideal. :)

    You mean basil? https://smartlabel.labelinsight.com/product/4343283/ingredients Not in every variety.

    https://smartlabel.labelinsight.com/product/4666807/ingredients
  • katarina005
    katarina005 Posts: 259 Member
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    seaweed, things that use salt to preserve. can soups have a lot of sodium
  • katarina005
    katarina005 Posts: 259 Member
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    tangent836 wrote: »
    I understand that an adult man has to consume at least 500 mg of Sodium a day and more if he exercises. Ever since I started dieting, I've realized that I am often not eating enough salt. What are the healthiest sources of salt? How do I make sure I eat enough of it? Is it a bad idea to simply add table salt to the food I'm eating?

    are you a vegetarian? I am and I had this problem for a while. you can eat salted butter, pretzels. Many ways to have enough salt
  • tuddy315
    tuddy315 Posts: 11,371 Member
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    Chicken and beef stock or broth have a lot of sodium.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    tangent836 wrote: »
    @cwolfman13 @janejellyroll @estherdragonbat @singingflutelady @Jruzer
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Sodium pills are processed ;)
    I realize that. It seems it's pretty difficult to completely avoid processed foods. I'm not chemist or dietitian, but it seems that the salt in sodium pills will not be as affected by processing, as whatever they put in cans of tomatoes. Just a hunch. Like I said, what is the OPTIMAL solution? I'm not asking for the ideal. :)

    I don't understand. Why wouldn't it be?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited February 2019
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    estherdragonbat wrote: »
    Why not just sprinkle a bit of salt or soy sauce on your food instead? (Note: I've never had Gatorade in my life.)

    Yeah, or just use salt in cooking. Makes food taste better. 500 mg sodium requires such a tiny amount of salt (and I personally suspect there are some bad entries in use here).
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited February 2019
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    To follow up on that, the last day I fully logged (Wed), I logged no added salt (I'm doing a DASH experiment) and had over 1700 mg of sodium, including:

    shrimp -- over 800 mg
    black olives (only -- over 200 mg, in only about 32 cal (too processed for you?)
    spinach -- 90 mg
    plain greek yogurt (granted, processed) -- 75 mg
    fennel -- 70 mg
    chickpeas -- 50 mg
    various other veg that provided 30-40 mg
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited February 2019
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    kosher salt is totally fine too.

    (It's better for cooking than finer table salt, IMO.)

    Here's a discussion of the relative merits of different salts for different purposes (it's about the shape and size): https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/ask-the-food-lab-do-i-need-to-use-kosher-salt.html

    Speaking of pink salt, though, the answer to OP's problem is likely to eat off one of these pink salt plates! https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/07/gadgets-himalayan-salt-plate-from-serious-salt-rock.html
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,995 Member
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    tangent836 wrote: »
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    tangent836 wrote: »
    Roberta H. Anding is a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine and a registered dietitian. She says that the less processed something is, the better it is for you.

    But that doesn't necessarily make sense. You need more sodium, right? So if a processed item has more sodium, then it's actually better for you currently, right?

    Possibly. I'm looking for the optimal solution. I want to consume the correct amount of sodium daily while avoiding processed food. Can't I have the best of both worlds? :)

    Other than seafood (plants, crustaceans, and mollusks, mainly), I don't think there are any unprocessed foods with high levels of sodium. And I don't recommend going to the beach and eating whatever plants wash up. Unless you live alone in some remote part of the world, commercially harvested and processed sea weed is going to be a lot healthier than what you pick up on the shore (given the state of pollution of most ocean waters in populated areas).

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