If I exceed my sodium levels (2300mg), can I increase my water intake and somehow "compensate"?

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diogomello12
diogomello12 Posts: 33 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Can I?

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  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    The vast majority of people regularly eat more than 2300 mg of sodium. Unless you have to strictly monitor it for health reasons, I would not worry about it so much. But yes, sometimes drinking more water can help counteract the effects of increased sodium on water retention.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,973 Member
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    I am among the majority who is not affected by dietary sodium, so I swapped out Sodium (and Sugar) for Fiber (and Iron), which are more useful for me to track.

    But yes, you could drink more water.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    Drinking water will help flush out any water retention you might have with excess sodium intake.
  • ajediwicz
    ajediwicz Posts: 1 Member
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    I drink warm water with lemon when I eat too much sodium. This knocks out the bloating that comes with high salt intake.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited July 2019
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    ajediwicz wrote: »
    I drink warm water with lemon when I eat too much sodium. This knocks out the bloating that comes with high salt intake.

    Lemon juice is a very mild diuretic (as is celery and parsley) so this is a very safe way to treat it

    OP: yes, drinking more water can help flush excess water. Jut be careful you don't go too far with it or you might throw other electrolytes (like potassium) out of whack. An extra liter or 2 is great. When you get closer to a gallon or more extra you might cause some issues.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited July 2019
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    More water and more potassium can help if you regularly get more sodium than you should (unless you have blood pressure or other such health issues, over 2300 mg is no biggie, personally I don't get a lot from food most days but I do use salt in cooking and don't ever log it, and there's about 400 mg of sodium in a pinch of salt). Potassium is in a lot of different foods, including especially vegetables, fruit, potatoes, also coffee (you should not supplement unless prescribed by a doctor). Most people have no reason to worry about having occasional high sodium days, however.
  • Sharod_BeastFit
    Sharod_BeastFit Posts: 61 Member
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    I usually intake no more than 1500mg of soldium a day sometimes right at the nose of 2000. (Tracking) But drink 135 fl oz of water a day during my daily excerise routine. Good or bad?
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
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    Recent legislation in the US brings good news in that when your kidneys fail from a persistent low sodium diet, your donor's transplant costs are now reimbursable meaning that you are more likely to get a donor kidney.

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