The FDA recommends limiting sodium intake to 2400mg per day. A nutritionist I saw recently said that 3000mg per day draws a big red flag in her mind. I happen to keep track of my daily intake of foods and pay attention to all types of stuff. Sodium is on my list and my numbers are astronomical. I'm roughly averaging over 5k mg per day.

I don't even know where the salt shaker is in my house but I find that keeping the sodium intake down is nearly impossible. I make a point of choosing a wide variety of healthy foods but sodium seems to be a neccessary evil. Here's a short list of tagged healthy food items that pack a huge sodium punch.

Beans (canned)
Shrimp
Cottage cheese
Low-fat/non-fat cheese (processed)
Lean deli-meats
Tomato sauce/Salsa/salad dressing
Frozen Veggies

I realize that many of these things are processed or canned. I don't have time to bake my own beans. I'm already spending enough time in the kitchen preparing fresh salads and steaming veggies and preparing other fresh items. Why do they have to add salt just to freeze something (shrimp & Veggies). Apperently, as fat content drops, sodium goes up exponentially (cheese & meat). Anything that could be even remotely compared to a condiment might as well be all salt. (Tomato sauce, mustard, pickle, dressings, etc.)

I carefully choose my foods based on fat/carb/prot content. I go out of my way for high fiber fresh fruits and veggies, complex carbs, and a variety of protein sources. It just seems like if one thing doesn't get ya...something else will!!!

Sooooo....Anyone out there paying attention to their sodium intake that would like to share some secrets? How do you keep the numbers down? Is there any truth to the rumor that athletes can be less concerned because we just sweat out any excess? My concern stems from the fact that my family has a history of hypertension and I, occasionally, show signs of following in their footsteps.

The FDA recommends limiting sodium intake to 2400mg per day. A nutritionist I saw recently said that 3000mg per day draws a big red flag in her mind. I happen to keep track of my daily intake of foods and pay attention to all types of stuff. Sodium is on my list and my numbers are astronomical. I'm roughly averaging over 5k mg per day.

I don't even know where the salt shaker is in my house but I find that keeping the sodium intake down is nearly impossible. I make a point of choosing a wide variety of healthy foods but sodium seems to be a neccessary evil. Here's a short list of tagged healthy food items that pack a huge sodium punch.

Beans (canned)
Shrimp
Cottage cheese
Low-fat/non-fat cheese (processed)
Lean deli-meats
Tomato sauce/Salsa/salad dressing
Frozen Veggies

I realize that many of these things are processed or canned. I don't have time to bake my own beans. I'm already spending enough time in the kitchen preparing fresh salads and steaming veggies and preparing other fresh items. Why do they have to add salt just to freeze something (shrimp & Veggies). Apperently, as fat content drops, sodium goes up exponentially (cheese & meat). Anything that could be even remotely compared to a condiment might as well be all salt. (Tomato sauce, mustard, pickle, dressings, etc.)

I carefully choose my foods based on fat/carb/prot content. I go out of my way for high fiber fresh fruits and veggies, complex carbs, and a variety of protein sources. It just seems like if one thing doesn't get ya...something else will!!!

Sooooo....Anyone out there paying attention to their sodium intake that would like to share some secrets? How do you keep the numbers down? Is there any truth to the rumor that athletes can be less concerned because we just sweat out any excess? My concern stems from the fact that my family has a history of hypertension and I, occasionally, show signs of following in their footsteps.

I read an interesting article regarding the FDA and sodium intake, it turns out that the FDA number is completely arbitrary, they basically pulled the number from what an average person ingests in a day because they couldn't find a true "high" number.
The fact that you have a family history with hypertension warrants paying attention to sodium intake, otherwise the average heathy adult should not worry about it. One caveat, if you are excercising a lot in the heat, electrolyte loss can be so high that if not replenished can lead to hyponatraemia (sp) which I've seen first hand and isn't pretty.

Sodium intake guides are based on the fact that some individuals are what are called "salt sensitive." This term is used in reference to hypertensives ( those with high blood pressure.)
For about 25% of the population of hypertensives, reducing salt intake is an important part of treatment. Real reduction in salt intake is a very difficult and intensive task. The guidelines recognize that the level recommended is not "unhealthy" for normal people, and are based on the presumption that heavy loads of sodium, over a span of time, may actually cause hypertension . There is no supporting proof to that presumption. In a healthy individual, the body maintains a sodium balance. Excess sodium is excreted in the urine. When and if sodium levels are low, the kidneys retain sodium. As long as the kidneys are healthy, sodium intake, within large ranges, does not change the levels of sodium in the body or cause hypertension.
As the previous poster stated, if you do not have hypertension, attempting to limit the sodium in a normal diet may accomplish nothing. And, if you are very active ( sweat a lot) could be detrimental. Trying to balance your protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake is complicated enough without adding the extra burden of limiting sodium intake ( for no established reason.) I will be the first to add, however, if you do have hypertension, it is important to determine if you are one of the "salt sensitive" and follow medical advice.

The FDA recommends limiting sodium intake to 2400mg per day.

Is looking to a moronic Government agency for nutritional advise. If you listen to them and the FDA as well, you should just kill yourself now and be done with it :rolleyes: . The sodium thing is an urban legend. .UNLESS YOU HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. If not; salt up and have fun, worst thing that can happen is a little bloat from water retension.

Yep...I have been on a psychotically low sodium diet for several years in treatment for an inner ear disease. I easily stay below 2000 most days, unless I am splurging, which I do from time to time. While I am not a nutritionist, nor an MD, I can say what I believe to be working for me. One aspect of this disease is that you can definitely tell within an hour or so when you have taken in too much sodium. Your head throbs and the room can even start to spin. Conversely, you can tell just as well when you are within your target range.

So, last question first...I can definitely feel the improvement that comes when I drink lots of water and sweat out a bunch of salt from a ride. There may be no scientific basis for my claim, but I know that when I take in a lot of sodium during the day, or find myself feeling the effects of too much in my system, if I sweat it right back out, I quickly go back to feeling normal. Light exercise doesn't do it, but sweat exercise always improves my condition. So today for me was a recovery ride. I drank water. On a typical training day, I will drink Accelerade or Endurance and sweat it right back out.

As for tips, number one on the list is that you have to drink a ton of water. That really helps flush out the sodium. I probably drink about a gallon a day. Otherwise, it's really simple. You just have to stay away from sodium. That typically means cooking your own food, or identifying the pre-packaged grocery items that are specifically low or no sodium varieties. Fortunately, I have always been a good cook, meaning I know how to put together and prepare a decent meal quickly and without a lot of hassle. And while the cooking side comes easily to me, it is a skill that is also easily learned. As far as pre-cooked stuff, there are definitely plenty of solutions out there. Healthy Choice has a bunch of low sodium dinners that work well, as one example. Amy's organic line has a bunch of stuff that works well too especially if you aren't into meat. Maybe I am one of the fortunate ones, but I found that the natural tastes of different foods appeals to me more than just something that tastes like a cake of frikkin salt. So eating a ton of fresh fruits and veggies is just fine with me.

There are some canned items that I just stay away from, or only go low sodium. Soup is an example. A typical can of chicken noodle soup packs about the daily sodium requirement for a normal person. So, I either make my own, which I do from time to time, or I just go with the low sodium version. Canned veggies come in no sodium versions. If not, just open the can, pour out the liquid and rinse everything down with tap water. You would be surprised how much sodium you can avoid just doing that. I have to admit too that I have to treat condiments like luxury items. I do avoid them quite a bit. Shrimp is a splurg. I cooked up a bunch last night. But crawdads are a great alternative that I eat a lot too. Salmon and tuna are high sodium, so those are splurg items for me for the most part, unless I go a day where I am just in the mood to eat little or go fresh fruit and veggies only. But there are a lot of alternatives, especially fresh water fish that I can easily eat too.

So far today is pretty typical example. I have had a bowl of MaltoMeal, a banana, a grapefruite, a bunch of baby carrots, and a rice/chicken/corn/broccoli dish that I brought in for my post lunch ride meal. I had plenty of energy going out and definitely got plenty in me after my ride. Even though I feel stuffed, I figure that I am only sitting at about 600 mg of sodium intake at the moment. That gives me plenty of room (almost three times the sodium intake so far) for a nice dinner, even if I end up eating out. And eating out is easy enough too, as long as I stay away from the stuff that ends up getting loaded up with salt. A steak and a baked potato, or a grilled chicken breast and veggies, are definitely doable examples.

So yeah, it is definitely doable, you just have to really watch what you are eating and know what the sodium content is going in. Even with all of that, I eat chili and burgers and pizza and just about anything else that I want. I am just smart about it. If all else fails, I can ride the salt off.

Hope this helps. :)

The FDA recommends limiting sodium intake to 2400mg per day. A nutritionist I saw recently said that 3000mg per day draws a big red flag in her mind. I happen to keep track of my daily intake of foods and pay attention to all types of stuff. Sodium is on my list and my numbers are astronomical. I'm roughly averaging over 5k mg per day.

Saw an article in VeloNews a couple issues ago that said that athletes, especially endurance athletes, need more sodium than the average bear. It seems that you sweat it out. Hmmm. Who'd uv guessed? I figured those salt stains were coming out of the air.

If anything, you may not be getting enough salt.

I almost never eat packaged/canned products. I eat mostly fresh vegetables and meats. I found that I now have to salt my food or I start cramping. The best way to eliminate salt in the diet is to eliminate the packaged products, eat natural!

Suggest you do some sodium restriction and see if that helps your blood pressure. You may not be sodium sensitive. For me, I supplement each long ride with around 1000 mg, otherwise I get cramps. The guideline numbers are pretty meaningless for someone who is doing some serious sweating. I come back from a distance ride caked in white, which is probably the whole 2,400 mg sweat out in one ride. You have to balance your intake with your output. The "average" person (let alone sedentary bureaucrat) can't begin to contemplate how much you can sweat out on a hot day during several hours on the bike.

I am an ex-professional Chef, and currently make all of my food from scratch. Soups, sauces, stocks, everything.

For example, make a soup from scratch. With 2 litres in the pot and nothing salted, I usually have to add 10g (a scant tablespoon) 10,000 mg of salt to make it taste like anything at all.

I use salt. You have to! Make things from scratch, you realize how much salt is missing. Looking at what I cook and how much salt goes into my food everyday, I would say that 5,000mg (5g is a teaspoon) would be my normal high. No chips, processed meats. Very old cheese and ketchup are my salt vices!

I also use sea salt, as the flavour seems to be higher with less pure sodium content.