At What Point Do I Start Salting My Food Again?

[The Fluffy Assassin]

Decades before I gave up gluten, I gave up salting my food. I did so because a) my mom had high blood pressure and I was eating prepared foods all the time, all of which had vast amounts of sodium in them already. Since going the whole foods route, it occurs to me that I'm probably now short on sodium. I'm still using Aldi chicken thighs with broth added, but will probably switch to plain thighs when this package is done to get away from possible msg. Anybody know any guidelines for how much to salt your food? What are thoughts?

[tarnalberry]

IMHO, it depends entirely on your body. If you have high blood pressure in the family, and are salt sensitive, then I wouldn't bother adding salt back in. If you are not salt sensitive, then... it's up to you. While "RDA" is under 2000mg/day, that number doesn't really mean anything - there wasn't a whole lot of science put in to determining how much sodium a human body needs. I would strongly encourage you to find out what your body prefers (assuming it's not gallons of salt every day ), and what you do well with.

(Yeah, yeah, the 'obvious' and extraordinarily unhelpful answer... but... there it is. )

[The Fluffy Assassin]

  tarnalberry said:

IMHO, it depends entirely on your body. If you have high blood pressure in the family, and are salt sensitive, then I wouldn't bother adding salt back in. If you are not salt sensitive, then... it's up to you. While "RDA" is under 2000mg/day, that number doesn't really mean anything - there wasn't a whole lot of science put in to determining how much sodium a human body needs. I would strongly encourage you to find out what your body prefers (assuming it's not gallons of salt every day ), and what you do well with.

(Yeah, yeah, the 'obvious' and extraordinarily unhelpful answer... but... there it is. )

Granted, it's a ways down the list, but low-sodium high-water diet is on the list of causes for, uh, that word that means too little salt: Open Original Shared Link I'm not taking in hardly any and I'm only drinking water. I don't have the dire symptoms they describe, but I've been feeling very funny for a long time. I think I'll add a bit of salt to my meals (not much; over the years I've gotten not to like it very much) to be on the safe side. Thanks for the reply regardless.

[Gfresh404]

I believe our bodies only need 500 milligrams of sodium a day in order to maintain their proper electrolyte balances.

Instead of using table salt, try unrefined, sun dried sea salt (available at your local Trader Joe's). It contains loads of minerals that our bodies need including magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Sea salt also actually contains significantly less sodium per teaspoon than regular salt. IMO, it also tastes more natural and a lot better.

Table salt is a far cry from what our ancestors used to call salt.

Sea salt has also been used by some for a wide variety of home remedies --> Open Original Shared Link

[The Fluffy Assassin]

  Gfresh404 said:

I believe our bodies only need 500 milligrams of sodium a day in order to maintain their proper electrolyte balances.

Instead of using table salt, try unrefined, sun dried sea salt (available at your local Trader Joe's). It contains loads of minerals that our bodies need including magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Sea salt also actually contains significantly less sodium per teaspoon than regular salt. IMO, it also tastes more natural and a lot better.

Table salt is a far cry from what our ancestors used to call salt.

Sea salt has also been used by some for a wide variety of home remedies --> Open Original Shared Link

I use Kitchen Basics broth, which features sea salt. My local Trader Joe's is in Charlotte, 90 miles from here, but even here in the sandhills, we have sea salt (probably IN the sandhills, come to think of it.) I also quit my gluten-free tamari, which I'd previously put in everything, in the continuing battle against Asperger's. Think maybe it was just a little too much, too soon.

Thanks for the sea salt suggestion; I'll pick some up the next time I'm at the health food store (or at Publix; sometimes they surprise me).

[GFinDC]

Hi Fluffy,

I was off all salt for 5 or 6 years something like that. I was feeling not so hot and still had high blood pressure, so I figured I'd try the salt again. I ate an apple with salt on it and began feeling better pretty quick. I think it was due to the iodine in the salt. I checked my vitamins and the ones I was taking didn't have idodine in them. So now I use a little Morton lite salt. It has iodine and also is partly made with potassium. So it helps maintain the salt - potassiuim balance.

My blood pressure didn't seem to change much, still was a little above normal. Since I recently got some thryoid hormone supplements my blood pressure has gone down some. It actually seems pretty normal at times.

I don't use a lot of salt but a little is ok I think. If you do use the sea salt yuo might want to check your vitamins for iodine. I don't think sea salt has any iodine in it unless they add it.

[The Fluffy Assassin]

  GFinDC said:

Hi Fluffy,

I was off all salt for 5 or 6 years something like that. I was feeling not so hot and still had high blood pressure, so I figured I'd try the salt again. I ate an apple with salt on it and began feeling better pretty quick. I think it was due to the iodine in the salt. I checked my vitamins and the ones I was taking didn't have idodine in them. So now I use a little Morton lite salt. It has iodine and also is partly made with potassium. So it helps maintain the salt - potassiuim balance.

My blood pressure didn't seem to change much, still was a little above normal. Since I recently got some thryoid hormone supplements my blood pressure has gone down some. It actually seems pretty normal at times.

I don't use a lot of salt but a little is ok I think. If you do use the sea salt yuo might want to check your vitamins for iodine. I don't think sea salt has any iodine in it unless they add it.

Thanks. My multi-vitamin (Aldi's fake Centrum) has 100% of the RDA for iodine, so it appears that I'm covered there. I've been salting everything for a day and feel a lot better. Most likely, it was the sodium.

If you've still got high blood pressure and want to keep your iodine up, you could try eating more cod, milk or potatoes, according to this: Open Original Shared Link Or take Centrum, or store brand equivalent.

[GFinDC]

Thanks for the link Fluffy. I could do more taters I guess, or cod. I was like you, after being off salt, you really notice the taste of it. Most of the time I Was off salt was pre-gluten-free, so I got plenty of it in regular processed foods anyway.

Good to hear you are feeling better. I don't think it would hurt to consider the iodine still, just because the minimum RDA is meant for the average person, and may not be correct for every individual person in all situations. But after you have done the salt a while you might be able to tell. I guess that would be a good test really, to try the sea salt (iodine free) and see if it affects you. If it does then you are probably low on salt. If it doesn't then you could try iodized salt to see what that does. Just a thot..

[Korwyn]

  The Fluffy Assassin said:

Granted, it's a ways down the list, but low-sodium high-water diet is on the list of causes for, uh, that word that means too little salt: Open Original Shared Link I'm not taking in hardly any and I'm only drinking water. I don't have the dire symptoms they describe, but I've been feeling very funny for a long time. I think I'll add a bit of salt to my meals (not much; over the years I've gotten not to like it very much) to be on the safe side. Thanks for the reply regardless.

It's funny you would mention this since I went through exactly the same thing. I actually added salt back into my diet after 3 months of eating a paleolithic diet (fresh fruits, veggies, meat, eggs) because I was starting to experience some issues like lightheadedness (low blood-pressure) and extreme headaches, especially after drinking water. My normal water intake is .75 to 1 gallon per day (~ 4 litres). After I started salting my lunch (which is usually meat of some kind) both of these went away. I just had a complete blood panel two weeks ago and all my levels are back in normal range.

[The Fluffy Assassin]

  Korwyn said:

It's funny you would mention this since I went through exactly the same thing. I actually added salt back into my diet after 3 months of eating a paleolithic diet (fresh fruits, veggies, meat, eggs) because I was starting to experience some issues like lightheadedness (low blood-pressure) and extreme headaches, especially after drinking water. My normal water intake is .75 to 1 gallon per day (~ 4 litres). After I started salting my lunch (which is usually meat of some kind) both of these went away. I just had a complete blood panel two weeks ago and all my levels are back in normal range.

Glad I'm not the only one. It's remarkable the things that ought to be obvious, but aren't, and yet nobody tells you either. Glad we're both figuring it out (eventually, in my case).

[tarnalberry]

It's interesting, because it's something we definitely think about in terms of significant exercise (electrolyte replacement is vital, and can make a big difference), but I know that I, at least, get enough foods that have salt. If you've been avoiding it, though, I can see how it's a totally different habit and can get you quite low on the sodium intake.

glad you're feeling better!