My doctor suggested that I keep track of my sodium as I am borderline HBP. It's pretty hard to stay at 1500... I can manage about 2000. It takes alot of effort really to watch it. Sometimes it's easier than others.
I amazed to find out that some veggies are not low sodium: celeery, beets, spinach....
I've found alot of ideas from low sodium websites and recipes.
Ususally any meal you might eat at a restaurant has nearly a whole days worth of sodium.
I have found ways to cut back...no salt added canned veggies, tomatoes, ketchup or beans. Ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese. Rice cakes instead of crackers.
Sodium itself doesn't actually have much effect on blood pressure. It's the proportion of sodium to potassium that actually spikes blood pressure in people sensitive to it. So if you're eating a really crappy diet that's crazy high sodium and extremely low potassium (like... oh, McDonald's XD), and your body isn't very efficient at balancing your ion levels, it can be a problem. The vast majority of well-hydrated, healthy people don't have any problems with sodium whatsoever.
I don't control NaCl, but I do try to avoid MSG and a few other 'hidden' salts because I always feel itchy and bloated after consuming them.
Trazey - Did you know that McDonald's milkshakes actually have more sodium than their fries? o_O Not that you're having those either, but I thought it was interesting.
No I didn't know that!! I've never had a McD's shake believe it or not!! But back when I was eating that crap a few times weekly, I was very very healthy about it!!! Double-cheeseburgers, fries and a DIET COKE! a milkshake just would have been ridiculous hahahahah
I pay attention to sodium; it is tracked when other things are tracked in TDP. I do try to keep it down, although I don't have high blood pressure. Junk food (fries, chips, restaurant food in general) nearly always has lots of sodium and I blow up like a balloon. It comes back off, of course, but I dislike the feeling.
No I didn't know that!! I've never had a McD's shake believe it or not!! But back when I was eating that crap a few times weekly, I was very very healthy about it!!! Double-cheeseburgers, fries and a DIET COKE! a milkshake just would have been ridiculous hahahahah
Well, if you're gonna eat crap you might as well be healthy about it!
I track and limit sodium because I have a family history of heart disease and borderline high blood pressure. I think so long as you don't have those risk factors, there's not as much need to limit sodium beyond the common sense of "don't pour 2 tbsps of salt on your meal".
No I didn't know that!! I've never had a McD's shake believe it or not!! But back when I was eating that crap a few times weekly, I was very very healthy about it!!! Double-cheeseburgers, fries and a DIET COKE! a milkshake just would have been ridiculous hahahahah
Too funny - I always thought about that irony when I was ordering myself an extra value meal too!! haha...now I just order the diet coke. I love your signature line too about motivation btw!
As for the sodium question, I don't track it either, it hasn't seemed to affect me at all that I can tell.
I have to watch mine because it causes me to get migraines. If I go carelessly about two days without paying attention to it and eat processed or packaged food then I'll get a horrible migraine. Even if I didn't it makes me bloated! So all together I try my best to stay away from products with high sodium and make sure to drink plenty of water to clear it out.
i pay attention to sodium, and do my best to keep it under the recommended daily intake of 2500mg... most days i can do that just fine. however, if i do go over or get over 2000mg i will retain water heavily. my body is sensitive to sodium bloat, so i try to drink a lot of water if i've got excess sodium in my daily food.
No I didn't know that!! I've never had a McD's shake believe it or not!! But back when I was eating that crap a few times weekly, I was very very healthy about it!!! Double-cheeseburgers, fries and a DIET COKE! a milkshake just would have been ridiculous hahahahah
This made me laugh out loud! I used to do the exact same thing!
I do not track it. I am trying to keep things as simple as possible for me so I do not grow obsessed. I track calories and write down the exercise I have done. I DO try to be mindful of the sodium in a general way. I like teriyaki and pickles and those two things are loaded. I also try to limit canned soup and have practically eliminated packaged food or pre cooked food - although I had done that long ago.
But if it concerns you and you are interested in it, I say have at it. You should track what you want and need. I bet it will be hard to do unless you eat a lot of things with the sodium amounts listed per serving. Let us know how it goes!
I watch sodium in a way that most people don't have to. I have to make sure I'm not getting too little. My body sheds sodium far more easily than most, because of diet, medication, and body chemistry.
Diet - I was raised in a family that didn't use much salt, and didn't favor highly salted foods, so I don't have much of a "salt-tooth" (except for restaurant asian food occasionally).
Medication - I do have high blood pressure, and am on a potassium-sparing blood pressure medication (which means it's a sodium-depleting medication).
There's so much sodium in the Standard American Diet, that sodium depletion isn't normally a concern.
Body chemistry - Even my diet and medications don't fully explain why I shed sodium so easily. My doctors say it just seems to be a personal fluke. As a result, I have to be conscious of not going too low, not that I have to work at it very hard. I just don't have to go out of my way to avoid it, and before surgeries I have to have my sodium levels checked (I've been told to remind the surgeon, because low-sodium is rare enough that it's usually not tested for).
Usually I don't monitor the sodium in my diet at all. I don't seek it out or avoid it. I just pay attention to my blood sodium levels on my quarterly bloodwork. It's usually on the low end of the healthy range. If it comes in too low, my doctor will remind me to add a little salt for a few days.
I've had to take sodium supplements in the past, but since being aware of it, I just adjust my diet a little bit.
Because of my tendency to shed sodium, I also have to limit my fluid intake to about 3 liters daily. If I drank more on a consistent basis, I could be at risk for water intoxication (where enough sodium is washed out of the blood to risk cardiac arrest).
My mom (who has similar sodium issues) was hospitalized with water intoxication while only drinking about a gallon a day.
It puts sodium into perspective. It's just another case of "moderation" where moderation for one person can be very different than moderation for another.
hahahahah
