How much attention should I pay to sodium on a diet? I’m not going to be eating bad foods, but even thingsl ike turkey have a ton of sodium. How much of a role does sodium intake play in weight loss?
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Sodium is important in our body since it helps balance the fluids in our system. Yet the FDA only allows us about 1 teaspoon of table salt in a day and these amount includes all the sodium from the foods we eat. If we take in more sodium than what is recommended, it could make us retain more water in the body which results in weight gain. So the less we take in sodium in our body, the more we can effectively lose weight.
Sodium makes you bloat and retain water, but it doesn’t put on real weight. It goes away, but if you want to avoid bloating from eating salt, just drink lots of water to go along with it. It will flush it out.
Unfortunately it can sabotage your success. I am highly salt sensitive, am doing slim4life and by going off plan over the weekend, I gained 10lbs. in 2 days. I had eaten burgers, chips, hobo dinners, etc. all salt drenched foods. Not excessively either. Within 4 days back on plan I lost the 10lbs. of water weight. There are many low sodium options. Mrs. Dash has at least 10 different salt free seasonings, chipoltle and lemon pepper are my favorite. Read labels. When eating out ask for low sodium options. I’m a firm believer that the more salt you eat, the more it takes to make it taste good. Eating out, I can gain up to 5lbs. by the next AM. Many frozen meats like chicken/turkey are injected with a salt solution, some fresh as well. Be vigilant reading labels and good luck!
Eat healthy foods. Don’t eat processed meals or foods, at least not more than for one meal a week. Don’t add much extra salt to your foods, and when you do add some make it sea salt.
Do these things and otherwise don’t worry about your sodium intake.
Sodium can make you weigh heavier on the scales but is not permanent weight gain.
The weight gain you experience is fluid gain caused by excess sodium in you diet and like most fluid gain, it is only temporary.
The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for sodium is about 2300 mg – slightly more than 1 teaspoon.
The average diet in the western world is commonly made up of fast, packaged or convenient foods. These always consist of high levels of salt and salt contains sodium. If a diet is mainly composed of high sodium foods then naturally the sodium intake also rises thus extra weight is gained quickly as the body holds onto water. It has been estimated that many people in the UK and USA may be carrying up to 5 pounds of extra weight due to the effects of a high sodium intake.
Many people believe any excess weight gained will be composed of fat. In fact, all weight gains comprise of 3 components, fat, water and lean weight. As weight is gained all 3 components vary according to several factors, the most common include diet, activity level, genetics and the time taken to gain the extra weight.
Sodium in the body is mainly found in the fluids that surround the body’s cells, such as the blood and lymph fluid. When sodium intake exceeds the amount the body can handle it builds up within the interstitial areas and the kidneys have to work extra hard to excrete a constant rise in daily sodium intake. A build up may cause the body to hold extra fluids in the blood and around the cells which contributes to increased blood pressure and also excess weight gain from water.
The opposite effect also happens when an individual reduces food intake in order to lose weight quickly. A percentage of the loss will be water because a reduction in high sodium foods means a reduction in daily sodium intake which results in water loss as the kidneys have a chance to finally rid the excess sodium from the body. This also helps partly explain why a dieter may experience the yo-yo effect when dieting, water weight is lost with food reduction but quickly regained when old eating habits are back to normal and daily sodium intake rises once more.
So, to make the big, long answer short, YES! It matters. So long as you do not EXCEED the RDA for sodium about 2,000 mg, you should be fine.
As always, remember that a well-balanced DIET will outperform ANY kind of exercise routine when it comes to weight loss.
For more expert weight loss advice, visit my website below.
Sorry for the "highly scientific" answer
Hope this helps!
Not that important… Sodium regulates how much water your body holds… if you are trying to loose a few punds then it is important cause you might looses them by just cutting sodium… if you are trying to loose more then few sodium based pounds won’t matter….