Sodium intake :\

Options
spacevulture
spacevulture Posts: 34 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I used to have horribly high blood pressure, but now I'm at a textbook 110/70 which I'm really proud of. I eat very few processed foods aside from Silk soymilk and vegan meat-- mostly fruits and veggies, anyway. HOWEVER, I'm in love with broth. Veggie broths, artificial chicken broth, etc. Now, a cube of this stuff pretty much has 100% of my daily recommended sodium intake. I drink around 4L of water/tea a day. Will my blood pressure be affected much? Should I be worrying about my sodium intake if this isn't in addition to any unhealthy foods?

Replies

  • spacevulture
    spacevulture Posts: 34 Member
    Options
    bump
  • AmberFaith90
    AmberFaith90 Posts: 904 Member
    Options
    I don't know the answer to that, but I recommend using organic low-sodium broths. That's what I use. It has about 200mg compared to the 750-1000mg in regular broth.
  • AJR2000
    AJR2000 Posts: 25 Member
    Options
    Have you thought about making your own broths? I am in the process of trying to lower my salt intake and often use this recipe which is low in sodium and still very tasty! Hope this helps you some.

    1 Whole Chicken
    1 Ea Onion
    2 Ea Carrot
    1 c Celery
    1/2 c Water

    Slice veggies and place in bottom of crockpot. Put chicken on top, breast side up. You can also use leg quarters, necks and backs or what ever is cheap. Pour water over. Cook on low 8-9 hours. Remove chicken from pot and let cool until easy to handle. Remove chicken from bones and cut up as needed. Remove veggies from broth and throw away. Cool broth in refrigerator and remove fat from top. Broth may be mixed with equal amount of water and used in any recipe calling for chicken broth. Both chicken and broth may be frozen until needed.
  • spacevulture
    spacevulture Posts: 34 Member
    Options
    I'll definitely look into the low sodium broths. Gotta find it in bulk, haha

    And thanks so much for the recipe! Sadly, I'm in a dorm without a kitchen so I can't make my own veggie broths :(
  • formersec
    formersec Posts: 233 Member
    Options
    A friend of mine found low sodium broth packets available on Amazon.com.

    About drinking water: it helps to flush excess sodium, but don't expect to eat, say, 3000 mg. of sodium in a day and then expect to get rid of all of it by drinking huge amounts of water. Water can do only so much. You should still strive to keep your sodium intake within your limit.
  • AeolianHarp
    AeolianHarp Posts: 463 Member
    Options
    So much misinformation regarding sodium. First, people insist that exogenous sodium effects serum sodium when this was shown it doesn't back in 1990. And sodium does very little to bloat an individual unless you go from low sodium to high. Second, to my knowledge, only 20% of the population is sensitive enough to sodium that it will raise their blood pressure.

    As a side note, I consume quite a bit of sodium (sometimes over 6g and have done so for almost 2 years) yet my blood pressure is 108/60.

    What I would do is slowly increase your sodium intake and then see if your blood pressure is effected. If it isn't then guess what? You're not sensitive to sodium and you've been avoiding it for no reason.

    There's far too much fear mongering going on in the dietary world, so people are afraid to eat things like red meat and salt. Test yourself and see if you're actually sensitive to sodium.

Categories