Kaplods, That's all very interesting about the water intoxication. When I used to do Atkins I worried about that a little because I was drinking tons and tons of water, but I figured you had to do something beyond that for it to be a problem. Now I'm happy I was eating a lot of salt, too. Maybe that saved me. And I totally agree about the unnatural foods we are assailed with. I do think some people do better with choosing/eating well than others, even when surrounded by unnatural/unhealthy foods. My seven year old is MUCH better at it than I am and he's also better at it than my 2 year old. He will often eat half a package of some yummy treat and say he's had enough. He's my hero!

Wow, never heard of that PSMF before. I am wondering if my diet is actually more restrictive than that. I'm pretty sure I'm getting enough sodium, though.

I had the most amazingly terrible toe cramp a few weeks ago! It lasted for like ten minutes. I actually changed my diet all around and I think I've solved the problem, but omg. I didn't realize it might be salt-related, though.

My recent changes increased my potassium by about 1000 mg per day, but I don't know what I was getting before. Hmmmm... I may look into it.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...he-war-on-salt

Here's a nice condensed article you might find interesting!

Personally, I don't watch my intake of table or sea salt - but I do try to avoid MSG (especially in soy sauce - I buy a Korean brand that's naturally brewed and MSG-free, unfortunately I have no idea what the name of the brand is because it doesn't have a speck of English on the bottle XD), as I find I react to MSG - and foods that contain MSG usually are junky anyway.

Thanks, Expunge! I love their use of the phrase "evangelical anti-salt campaigns." And the article does make me feel a little more confident.

Anything you consume that is "shelf stable" will have a good deal of sodium in it. Salt is a preservative, and found in pretty much everything that is frozen, canned, or otherwise found "on the shelf".

Table salt really isn't that bad. MOST people don't salt their food w/table salt enough for it to make a huge difference in their dietary needs. But in today's world, there's "convenience" that trumps almost everything else. Therefore, most people are not going to go slaughter their own cows or grow their own veggies/fruit & make their own breads.

Cutting sodium-laden foods has helped me a great deal. I try my very best to eat fresh foods first, frozen foods as a 2nd choice, and try to stay away from canned goods. But I still eat bread, and have grown to love the 100-Calorie pack of snack foods. Ai-yi-yi!

But I will NEVER give up my salt shaker on the table, unless I'm near death & the doctors can pry it from my knobby little hands. And I'm still losing weight. So I figure, I'm good to go.

For me, it's the way it makes me feel. When I have had too much sodium I wake up with a dry mouth and swollen feeling toungue. Also, I hold water--like have puffy legs and face. Since I quit salting I have discovered that I like the way foods taste without it for the most part. I still MUST have salt on potatoes though.

Salt is good and bad. Too much of it is a bad thing, which causes dehydration, increases blood pressure, diabetes, high blood pressure can lead to heart disease. Which my father has. When high blood pressure is not under controll, it can lead to stroke, heart attack or kidney disease. Our body needs salt to regulate it, too much water, make our blood increase. Which isn't good.

I limit my sodium daily intake to 1,400. There is 2,325 mg in ONE teaspoon. That is a lot! Average people eat more than that, in one day.

Beach Patrol, What has cutting sodium-laden foods helped you with? I am totally with you on the table salt.

Thighs Be Gone, I am happy it doesn't make me feel that way. But I wonder if it makes you feel bad because you don't need it, kwim? And yes! Potatoes, I think, have some kind of negative salt value.

I guess I'm wondering, though, why you believe it's so bad and how you know it causes high blood pressure, diabetes (I don't think I have actually ever heard of that before) or heart disease. I know that's what people *say*, but where did it come from? Is there actually any hard evidence for it?

I seriously don't know if I could live on 1400 mg of sodium a day. Before I started my current woe, I think I was having at least the equivalent several teaspoons a day of salt. Are you happy with the way your food tastes that way? If you are then I say that's great. But I know that I would be very unhappy and it would be sad to feel that way if the line they've been feeding us all these years is total bunk, yk?

rubidoux - I agree with you. There is more research being done and salt is becoming much less of a villain. We seem to be absolutely determined to lay blame on a single food or nutrient (fat, carbs, salt, meat, fruit, etc.) instead of looking at the SAD as a whole. I personally (and this is JMO) don't believe you can necessarily narrow it down to only one culprit. Granted, certain ways of eating work for different people (absolutely not trying to bash low carb, low fat, etc.) but I think that to put us all in the same mold just causes problems (e.g. you must eat less than X mg of sodium per day or low carb or low fat or or or...)

If you cut salt out of your diet, then your taste buds do adjust. I did a low salt diet for a while and whenever I'd eat out, foods would taste over salted. I ended up having issues with low blood pressure so I did add salt back to my diet. I don't eat a lot of it though.

My father was a salt lick. He couldn't go with out it. He has diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. He didn't get that by accident. After the dr diagnosed it, I did research, and I tried to help him eat healthier. Of course that didn't last very long. Everyone makes their choices, something they have to live with down the road. I wish you the best!

As far as 1,400 mg of sodium, I rarely come close to that. I eat all whole foods, whole grains, lean meat, veggies, fruit, herbs and spices. When you eat processed foods, boxed/canned/jar food, it is usually high in sodium to preserve it.

Just gave my opinion based on what my family has gone through. What we do now, dictates our future. In every aspect, even health.

Not to nit pick, but I think it's really important to distinguish correlation from causation, especially when it comes to our health. Just because something is happening at the same time as another doesn't mean it was caused by it.

The Mayo Clinic says "Pass on the Salt: Most Americans Would Benefit from Lower Sodium Intake"

They go on to say that "a high sodium intake can increase the risk of stroke even without an increase in blood pressure."

http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2009-mchi/5494.html

The American Heart Association says "Too much sodium in the diet may also have other harmful health effects, including increased risk for stroke, heart failure, osteoporosis, stomach cancer and kidney disease."

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Gettin...90_Article.jsp


Consumer Reports Health.Org reports that according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control "Consuming lots of sodium and not much potassium might increase your risk of an early death from any cause by about 50 percent, and nearly double your risk of death from a heart attack, according to a report this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine."

http://news.consumerreports.org/heal...rly-death.html

On a more personnal note, During the last week of July I ate a lot of salt in my foods. Non was added at the table I only ate only what was in the foods. My weight went up by 25 pounds in four (4) days I am now carefully tracking my sodium every day. My current daily sodium goal is 2000 mg. I am considering reducing this to 1500 mg which is more in line with recent recommendations from most major health organizations.

Larry,

Well, Larry, I looked through several of those articles and blech! I sure hope they're not right. Most of all I wish that all of the scientific literature was consistent because right now it feels like a "he said, she said" sorta situation.

One of the articles you linked to claimed that salt caused all sorts of horrific things, including stomach cancer. So, since I had never heard that one before, I looked for the study claiming it, and I found it's abstract the Journal of Human Hypertension: http://www.nature.com/jhh/journal/v2...h2008144a.html They make it sounds like salt is pretty bad.

But how do I balance that against the scientific american article linked above where you find jems like this?:
"In May European researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the less sodium that study subjects excreted in their urine—an excellent measure of prior consumption—the greater their risk was of dying from heart disease." (http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...he-war-on-salt)

I have actually been reading about salt for hours tonight, and I'm no closer to a resolution. I would say, though, that I am shocked to have found this July 2011 study that found that LOW salt diets INCREASE insulin resistance in healthy individuals. Ack! That's scary.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21036373

Thanks for adding the links, Larry.

I haven't "cut them out" ... I have "cut them DOWN" - and it really has helped me with the puffiness & bloaty-ness. But that's not the reason I was cutting it - my main reason for doing so is simply health. I have done the same thing with sugar... not cut it OUT, but down (way down!) and I just feel better. My weight loss has stayed steadily on track, slow, but happening. The salt/sugar thing is really just because "I feel better"