How much sodium is enough?

cacraft
cacraft Posts: 76
edited October 2 in Food and Nutrition
First, a disclaimer: I equate both refined sugar and salt as poisons. Well, that's what I tell myself. They're bad! bad! bad! I'm try to get my body healthy, so why would I poison it? So I've attempted to eliminate as much (unnatural) sugar and sodium from my diet as I can. I'm not a nutritionist - that's just my personal philosophy.

According to the powers that be, 2300mg of sodium a day should be our maximum.
However, our body's can function very well at 500mg per day, thank you very much.

Have you heard of any positive health reasons to keep the extra sodium in your diet? Me either.
So I've made it a personal challenge of mine to keep it as low as I can each day.

Are you watching your sodium intake as well? How are you doing with that?

Replies

  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    I keep mine very low, but it can be dangerous for people working in extreme temperatures or participating in very intense prolonged physical activity to keep their electrolyte levels too low.
  • Mguilmot
    Mguilmot Posts: 232 Member
    I think you mean mg ;-)
    2300g of sodium would be a little too much :-)
  • cacraft
    cacraft Posts: 76
    I think you mean mg ;-)
    2300g of sodium would be a little too much :-)

    Thanks for catching that! I corrected it.
  • RNewton4269
    RNewton4269 Posts: 663 Member
    Try to keep it as low as I can..just like I try to keep my sugar level low too. However with that said...natural sugars I don't worry too much about.
  • Frannswaz
    Frannswaz Posts: 172 Member
    I AGREE!.I rarely consume more than 500mg of sodium per day. Anything over that seems like way too much for me. Obviously if I have a pizza or something it will be much higher but I tend not to cook with salt and add it to my meal when its done ---just a pinch or two. Sugar is the same I'll use a 1/4 teaspoon in my oats, no added sugar to anythng but I do get sugar from the cereal bars I have sometimes and fruit.That way when I get the urge for a cinamon pretzel or something its not too bad. I find that anything too sweet or salty is like -YUCK!! and I get a gagging reflex. Weird huh:smile:
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
    I'm at 700-1200mg max a day, it's easy. 1x a week I'm up to 2500 b/c of a restaurant meal but I make sure to have 10-12 glasses of water to counter act that on those high days.

    There is such a thing as too little sodium; http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/sodium.html
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
    If you're like me, and not prone to hypertension nor have high blood pressure, and have been told by your doctor that you just need more sodium than the rest of us, you don't have to watch your intake. Salt is not the enemy, necessarily. It does not cause high blood pressure. It aggravates existing high blood pressure or even a tendency toward that, but it does not cause it flat out.
  • Frannswaz
    Frannswaz Posts: 172 Member
    GOOD POINT jjdevore: That's very true. If you do sweat a lot exercising or working in the heat you need more sodium and other 'salts' ---your body needs the electrolytes from sodium and potassium. You'll cramp up otherwise and you can pass out. There's lots of sodium and potassium in fruit and vegetables anyway so adding table salt may not be necessary if you eat a balanced diet. Easier said than done I know ---but we aim for a standard and try to meet it :smile:
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    If you're like me, and not prone to hypertension nor have high blood pressure, and have been told by your doctor that you just need more sodium than the rest of us, you don't have to watch your intake. Salt is not the enemy, necessarily. It does not cause high blood pressure. It aggravates existing high blood pressure or even a tendency toward that, but it does not cause it flat out.

    Absolutely true! There are only a few days here and there where I crave salt, and other than that, I don't really like things that taste salty.
  • Gennawest
    Gennawest Posts: 171
    Ya, sodium is pretty SATAN in diguese. I try to eat as less as possible usually maxing out at around 1000. I watch my unnatural sugar, and sodium like I watch my calories and fat. To me, it is equally important. I am doing this to be healthy- not just to lose weight. The items I use to eat in the beginning of this change I would never consider eating now. I try NEVER to eat processed foods. If that means not eating, so be it. I would rather wait until I get home, or get somewhere where I can eat something natural than to poison myself with microwave dinners, or other junk like that. Granted I may have a slice of bread, and every morning I have cereal, but what I am trying to get at is the soups, lunch meats, lean pockets, and what nots have been ex'ed from my list of goodies I eat. Alot of "diet" food is masked as being healthy just because the calories and fat are lower, but upon close examination of the nutritional facts one can easily see high sodium, sugar, etc.

    Instead of adding salt to my foods, I use Mrs. Dash. There are plenty of varieties available to spice up, and flavor foods. Speaking of spice, one must also be careful about salt in items like salsa, gucamole, ketchup, soy sauce, etc. Condiments, although appear harmless, can contain MASS amounts of sodium

    Ya, I guess you can say I am a sodium freak. lol. I never realized how serious I am about NOT eating sodium until now.
  • alyssamiller77
    alyssamiller77 Posts: 891 Member
    The amount of sodium you need is completely dependent on your body and your level of activity. I hate blanket statements like no one should have more than 2300mg of Sodium or our bodies will be fine on 500mg. That's not always true. I've had days where my Sodium intake was over 2300mg but because of my exercise level (i.e. the amount of sweating I was doing), my levels were still low which resulted in cramping. This is why I also get annoyed with people who talk about sports drinks like they're the devil. I can drink a full 32oz bottle and still need more.

    You ultimately have to understand your own body. If you look at my diary you'll see that almost every day I'm over on Sodium (based on the MFP goal of 2300mg) and yet my blood pressure at my last physical was 110/65. The reason? I get proper exercise and I sweat a ton which means lots of electrolytes lost in the process. But everybody's bodies are different, so you have to learn what is right for you.
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
    There are only a few days here and there where I crave salt, and other than that, I don't really like things that taste salty.
    I have always craved salt. As a kid, I'd have to just eat it plain to get my "fix." Sugar is not my weakness. I crave all things salty. My father was and is the same way.
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
    I have LOW blood pressure (95/59 on average) and I manually increased my sodium level to 3000mg for an upper limit. Too little salt and I start getting woozy or seeing spots when standing up.
  • cacraft
    cacraft Posts: 76
    The amount of sodium you need is completely dependent on your body and your level of activity. I hate blanket statements like no one should have more than 2300mg of Sodium or our bodies will be fine on 500mg. That's not always true. I've had days where my Sodium intake was over 2300mg but because of my exercise level (i.e. the amount of sweating I was doing), my levels were still low which resulted in cramping. This is why I also get annoyed with people who talk about sports drinks like they're the devil. I can drink a full 32oz bottle and still need more.

    You ultimately have to understand your own body. If you look at my diary you'll see that almost every day I'm over on Sodium (based on the MFP goal of 2300mg) and yet my blood pressure at my last physical was 110/65. The reason? I get proper exercise and I sweat a ton which means lots of electrolytes lost in the process. But everybody's bodies are different, so you have to learn what is right for you.

    Thanks for that. I appreciate your point of view! I'm a fairly sedetary (sp) person with a family history of heart disease and diabetes, so the lower sodium works for me. You're right - everybody is different.
  • davidwebb625
    davidwebb625 Posts: 5 Member
    In nearly every database food I have looked up over several months, g (grams) of sodium have been entered, and in many cases wrongly confirmed by several people, rather than milligrams mg so that the number should be 1000 times larger. eg 1.4g in the nutritional information on the packet should be entered as 1400mg.

    Since there is such a lot of interest in sodium on this forum I am afraid many people are greatly misleading themselves on the (very) low side when using the database fo rthis component.


    best regards - David Webb
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