Increasing salt intake

SallyH77
SallyH77 Posts: 42 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

Ive recently been diagnosed with Neurally Mediated Hypotension (NMH) and have been advised by the diagnosing cardiologist that I need to increase salt (and fluids) in my diet, when I asked how much, I was told this was unlimited, the more the better.

This condition is basically very low blood pressure from faulty brain signals which causes me to faint if I stand still for too long, for example I recently found out at the gym that static holds for longer than 40 seconds cause me to faint. The increased salt and fluid is to increase my blood volume and blood pressure.

Im good with increasing fluids but Im stuck (mostly mentally I think) about increasing salt, I know I need to but years of 'salt is bad' has been ingrained in me. As an aside I am battling some anxiety with what I know I need to do for my health and fear of fluid retention/weight gain, any tips on how to get over this would be appreciated!

So, my question to the knowledgable people here is, I dont like the taste of salty foods and dont add salt to any meal, are there foods that are naturally higher in salt that dont taste like the ocean and are healthy?

The listing I received from the hospital contained a lot of processed foods that are ridiculous, such as chicken nuggets, fish n chips, charcoal chicken, chiko rolls, ham, salami etc

FYI
I do have salt tablets that I can take if I need to, but would prefer to add it through normal diet if I can.

Exercise wise, I do strength training 3-4 times a week with a PT with HIIT after each session and dance twice a week, weight loss for me has been steady at around 2kg a month.

I have a follow up session with my regular cardiologist in 6 weeks where I will also be hitting him up with the same question.
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Replies

  • Megan_smartiepants1970
    Megan_smartiepants1970 Posts: 43,223 Member
    edited February 2020
    https://www.self.com/gallery/16-healthy-salty-snacks-slideshow

    I use to be keto where you are suppose to up your salt ...so I would make what is called keto gatorade...where you add MIO to water and add salt to it ... Also I find cottage cheese to be on the salty side

    Wishing you the very best
  • Luke_rabbit
    Luke_rabbit Posts: 1,031 Member
    edited February 2020
    My mom had this. She increased salt slowly, but really struggled with it after years of trying to eat less salt.

    Soup, stews, chilis, pastas are all good options for adding in salt. Generally we are pretty conditioned to those being saltier, so it is easier to get used to higher salt in them. My mom also liked sprinkling salt on raw veggies (cucumber, celery, tomato, etc) which is something I think she was raised on but had given up. Lots of breads are high in sodium but don't taste like it.

    Good luck.

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Try to think of it this way: salt is considered something to limit to avoid increasing blood pressure. You want to increase blood pressure.

    I love pickles and pickled stuff, and also enjoy salted radishes and adding a little salt to other raw veg. Cottage cheese and soy sauce and kimchi are all options too. Olives also. Smoked salmon.

    Try to increase salt in cooking unless there's an issue with who you are sharing with. I tend to not add salt from a shaker to most foods as it tastes too salty, but don't have that issue with salt in cooking.
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,415 Member
    I have a similar problem with low bp and poor sodium retention. I like a lot of very salty broth (when I go camping my friends make me eat "medicinal ramen noodles" once a night to keep me upright), soy sauce, pickles, and lean ham. And while I make a lot of my own salad dressing from yogurt and fresh veggies, I've learned to add a lot of salt to it, or to put a lot of cheese and ham or bacon on the salad to compensate for the lack of salt in the rest of the salad.

    You can also look at some of the electrolyte waters like Smart Water, etc, which have small quantities of added sodium and potassium in every bottle, but no sugar.

    Eating a lot more salt shouldn't cause an extended period of water retention. You might see a bit of a jump and hold when you just start out, or if you change suddenly, but everything will normalize pretty quick, minus the annoying blackouts and orthostatic hypotension.

  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    You can make sort of an electrolyte lemonade. Water, sweetener of your choice, and salt. Tastes like gatorade more or less. I use this when Husband and I are doing any kind of sweaty work repairing things.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    Duhh I left out the lemon juice there and can't edit it. To taste.
  • SallyH77
    SallyH77 Posts: 42 Member
    Thanks everyone for some great tips and advice, will definitely be trying some of them :smile: Its also good to hear from those of you that need to do the same thing!

    ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »
    Eating a lot more salt shouldn't cause an extended period of water retention. You might see a bit of a jump and hold when you just start out, or if you change suddenly, but everything will normalize pretty quick, minus the annoying blackouts and orthostatic hypotension.

    I've definitely noticed a jump the past few days, hopefully it will equalise soon!


  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Bagels, and electrolyte drinks.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    I have low blood pressure and it causes me to faint if I don’t have enough salt and fluids. If you make smoothies, you can put a pinch of salt in it, I like lemon juice, spinach, ginger, celery, apple, grapes, a bit of salt and a dash of cayenne pepper (I’ve heard that cayenne helps with circulation and one of my issues is my blood is circulating quickly enough to get to my brain sometimes which causes me to faint).

    Anything I can add salt to, I do. A little salt on an apple is really good. Dark chocolate and salt pair nicely. Broths are great. Pretzels. Popcorn. I make 3-4 servings of homemade fried rice every week for lunch and use soy salt. I make sure I use more salt than I think is necessary on my main courses and sides.

    The lowest known blood pressure I’ve had was 70/40 and that felt fine to me. The nurse took my pressure twice and was shocked I wasn’t feeling faint or light headed. Now with getting in more salt and drinking plenty of fluids, my norm is about 110s/60s.
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,415 Member
    jdhcm2006 wrote: »
    The lowest known blood pressure I’ve had was 70/40 and that felt fine to me. The nurse took my pressure twice and was shocked I wasn’t feeling faint or light headed. Now with getting in more salt and drinking plenty of fluids, my norm is about 110s/60s.

    Same. My "normal" is 90/55 though, they've put me on adderall for my ADHD and that's got me up to 100/65 if I remember to take it in a timely manner.
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    I tend to add a pinch of salt to all my drinks (tea, water, coffee...) since I don't get enough in my diet (have to cook low sodium for my dad and can't stomach too salty foods anymore).

    The pinch of salt brings out the flavor of my teas and helps keep my blood pressure above 100/60ish where I feel fine. Since I do that with all my drinks, I easily reach 6-8g of salt/ day as opposed to my 3-4 before...
  • dreaming13000
    dreaming13000 Posts: 68 Member
    With Intermittent fasting , the recommendation is to make and use SOLE using pink himilayan salt. you can google how to make and how to consume.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    A lot of broths are a salt bomb and that's something you can sip on throughout the day if it will help.
  • sheloves89
    sheloves89 Posts: 88 Member
    Start adding soy sauce (NOT the lite kind!) to - well, everything. =) Put a dash on your salads (it does make a very good salad dressing), marinate your veggies in it, plop it on some rice and veggies, make a broth out of it (literally just hot water + soy sauce) and use that as a base for a noodle soup. You don't need much to get a bunch of sodium out of it! =)

    I completely understand your anxiety - she is an irrational beast who holds on to irrational things. She doesn't know what she's talking about, but she is very insistent and sounds like she does know - you will just have to be as insistent, and on behalf of the things you know you need to do. That will be your hardest struggle, but you can do it. =)
  • vivo1972
    vivo1972 Posts: 129 Member
    Salted peanuts ?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,204 Member
    Miso is also an option for broth: Buy the miso, heat water, mix in the miso paste. There are different types with different flavors, basically the darker, the richer. They're all salted, because they're fermented. If you purchase with it in mind (if you care), you can get live-culture ones, i.e., they're "probiotic".
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »
    jdhcm2006 wrote: »
    The lowest known blood pressure I’ve had was 70/40 and that felt fine to me. The nurse took my pressure twice and was shocked I wasn’t feeling faint or light headed. Now with getting in more salt and drinking plenty of fluids, my norm is about 110s/60s.

    Same. My "normal" is 90/55 though, they've put me on adderall for my ADHD and that's got me up to 100/65 if I remember to take it in a timely manner.

    Mine is usually around 110/70 and the nurse always tells me that very good. Yours is amazing.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited February 2020
    Do you like Thai food? Many recipes call for soy salt, fish sauce, AND oyster sauce - a veritable salt bomb. Try Pad Se Ew at a restaurant and if you like it (or Thai food in general) get this cookbook: https://smile.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Thai-Cuisine-Cookbooks/dp/4889960945/
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,352 Member
    I was on a medication for a few years where I had to keep my salt intake up. I found that adding a sprinkle of salt to pretty much everything I cooked and ate worked well. Not so much that salt was the overwhelming flavor, just a bit. It added up through the day. Sometimes I still needed a boost to keep from getting sick, but overall I found a consistent little bit at a time more workable than less frequent amounts of saltier foods. I do confess to being a grazer—so “a little at a time” applies to my eating in general.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    When I was in a similar situation, my doctor advised adding a little salt to everything, like COgypsy says. I know what you mean about being sensitive to salty tastes, OP, but I did get used to it over time and really enjoy it now.
  • happysquidmuffin
    happysquidmuffin Posts: 651 Member
    A nice salty 15 calorie broth I invented over the last week because I’ve been sick with a cold:
    2 cups of water, 1/2 tsp roasted garlic Better Than Boullion base, 1/2 tsp seasoned vegetable Better Than Boullion, 1 tsp dried minced onions. Simmer a bit, then sip. The boullion bases add a fair amount of sodium. It’s not too salty though, and I found it tasty and comforting when I had a sore throat.
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,447 Member
    Not sure if you have ever tried salt in your coffee but a pinch sprinkled right on the grounds when brewing makes so so coffee grounds taste like they are much better quality beans .
    Also most starches take a large amount of salt before tasting salty.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    dreaming13000 wrote: »
    With Intermittent fasting , the recommendation is to make and use SOLE using pink himilayan salt. you can google how to make and how to consume.

    Pink Himalayian salt has no magical properties. It contains trace amounts of other minerals (you'd need to eat 1.7kg to get the recommended dose of potassium!), including radioactive ones. It contains a bit less sodium due to the other minerals in it.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    edited February 2020
    I eat WAY too much sodium so maybe I can be of help, lol.

    So easy, add some hot sauce or mustard to everything. I get 15k+ per day because I add mustard, hot sauce, banana peppers and pickles to everything.

    1 pickle has around 800mg right there (depending on the brand)

    Few tsp franks hot sauce gets you another few hundred per small tsp. (Put it on veggies, meat, everything!)

    Same with mustard. Sooooo good to add on top of all meats, sandwiches, veggies and salads. Few hundred per tbsp.

    Hidden sodium in the pudding I eat. I eat 1-3 whole boxes of sugar free jello pudding which has around 700mg per box (170 per serving depending on flavor) per day as well.

    Lots of sweet bars have 200-500g sodium in them. Clif, luna, nugo dark chocolate pretzel, etc and are not particularly salty at all.

    Salads with any salad dressing. Salad dressing has a ton of salt. Get a sweet dressing and it will still have a few hundred per tbsp.

  • SallyH77
    SallyH77 Posts: 42 Member
    I've taken to chicken broth and adding some salt to my food while its cooking. Ive also got a powdered electrolyte drink from the nutrition shop that has sodium in it as well which is helping.

    This added 3kg to my weight over 2-3 days, which took about a week to start to move, :o freaking me out quite a bit! But I stuck with what I know I needed to do for my health and the extra weight has just now started to move, gain is now only about 800grams which im putting down to extra blood volume that I need.

    Thanks again to all who so helpfully responded :)
  • cherys
    cherys Posts: 387 Member
    Bread, crackers, cheese, peanut butter all have quite a high salt content.

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