Sodium - how much?
 

Can anyone tell me how much sodium is too much? It's amazing to me how much of the stuff is in "regular" food, not to mention pork rinds, bacon, sausage etc.

It seems no matter what I try, it's loaded with sodium. What's a good number?

TIA,
Magic :wave:

Tell me about it. I've backed away from adding salt while cooking, and I haven't salted my food at the table in years, yet if you look at my FitDay log for today, I somehow ingested a whopping 9000mg of sodium today! (OK, the bacon didn't help... :rolleyes: ) Still, that's almost five times what I should be eating! Yikes.

Yeppers there is way to much salt.

I buy the low sodium bacon and then instead of salting my eggs I fry the eggs in the bacon grease....

I think just looking for lower sodium products and little tricks like that can help you keep it down.

As for a magic number I wish I knew......

I've realized that the sodium is a problem for me, too. I haven't lost any weight in close to 2 weeks and I think it's the water retention from the sodium. The only processed meat I eat is bacon (no ham, sausage, pepperoni, etc). Cheese has a lot too?? I've been using only nusalt the last few days and increased water intake, but no change in scale yet!

Not sure how much sodium we're supposed to have, but I'm sure we're getting too much!!

N.

Lite
 

You could switch to "Mortons Lite" salt. It has only 50% of the sodium of pure salt. It seems that we need very little sodium. I've made an effort to diminish my salt intake and it does help in sustaining consistent weight loss. You automatically cut your salt in half by using the "Morton's Lite".

1busymomma's technique of cooking eggs in the bacon grease is right on. I do that too and then do not salt the eggs. Use a lot of fresh ground pepper instead. It is most satisfying. You can buy excellent fresh whole peppercorns as an excellent price at www.penzeys.com. I'm not affiliated with them; I just love their products. Excellent spices.

Try using more herbs. They are somewhat salty and can replace a great deal of added salt in dishes.

And focus on using fewer shakes of salt, even "Mortons Lite" salt. If you do, you can cut your salt intake considerably.

Good Luck!

I use NuSalt, which has 0 sodium, but the problem (for me) isn't salt added to food, but the salt already there (cheese, bacon, processed meats). I used to have pork rinds, but don't any more. I'm going to make this my next challenge--lower sodium as much as possible (have already lowered cheese intake to practically 0) like cutting out the bacon and any processed meats for awhile and up the water intake and see how that goes...

Nicole

The general RDA for sodium is 2400 mg, which is the amount in 1 teaspoon (5g) table salt (sodium chloride). Requirement will go up when you're sweating or otherwise losing a lot of fluids. Always avoid dehydration.

The thing with processed food isn't just the salt .. which there's too much for sure! But other additives and preservatives also yield sodium ... sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, sodium erythorbate, sodium phosphate ... sodium bicarbonate (a.k.a. baking soda) .. the list goes on and on. :read:

Definitely eating less processed food is a good idea ... or look for salt-reduced versions. Actually, I've found that salt-reduced bacon tends to also have less or even no sugar in it. Only caveat is that it has a much shorter shelf life ..

Although cutting back on sodium is always a good idea, it's also really important to ensure that potassium levels are adequate. Potassium works with sodium to balance fluid levels inside and outside the cells. Using a salt-substitute that contains potassium salt is a good idea. I mix NoSalt 50:50 with sea salt .. it works just fine in cooking, doesn't go cloudy or anything like that. Also, choose foods that are naturally high in potassium ...

• 1 can (7 oz/ 200g) sockeye salmon - 1,391mg
• 1 medium california avocado - 1,097mg
• 1/2 pkg (5 oz/ 140g) spinach - 824mg
• 1 medium stalk broccoli - 526mg
• 1/3 cup natural sunflower seed kernels - 331mg
• 1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes - 290mg
• 1 Tbsp unsw. cocoa powder - 254mg
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter - 214mg
• 1/8 tsp potassium-salt substitute - 325 to 500mg
  
  (all values from our carb counter tool)

hth,

Doreen

Like many of you, I don't use table salt on anything. I've become so aware of water retention because I have not been losing weight and I stick to Atkins. Sometimes I go over my 10-12% cals, but that's it.

Personally, I've given up what I thought of high sodium foods, but as I began to pay attention to ingredients, I noticed no matter what I ate it had sodium. I eat very few processed foods, but even an oz of cheese is loaded with sodium. Apparently there is no way to get rid of it.

Doreen, is it possible to get too much potassium? When I gave up bananas (my previous potassium source) I started taking potassium supplements. I eat some of the foods you listed as potassium sources. I'd love to eat peanut butter, but I don't think I'm strong enough not to eat too much.

Magic

hi Magic,

Healthy kidneys have a built-in mechanism to excrete any excess potassium in the urine ... so as long as your kidneys are healthy and normal function, and you're not taking certain medications for blood pressure or heart problems, then no, you're not likely to have a problem with too much potassium. If you're unsure, then ask your dr. or pharmacist for guidance.

Doreen

Good info about the Potassium, My Mom is one who the doctor says is off the charts, she can not eat any high Pot foods.
Kathy

Thanks for all the info everyone.

I'm going to work on getting my sodium down a bit and I'm ok on the potassium.

Magic :wave:

Hi all
 

I also don't add salt to my food when I cook them. I have to admit I gave up trying to pickout my salty things. I just drink an extra liter of water after a salty meal and that seems to help me from holding water. I think this works only if you are drinking your water like you are suppose to. This helps me.