how to Reduce sodium level in body?

[BoyFromAus]

g'day

To make a long story short, my daily sodium intake is very high. it's about 6000mg - 7000mg and the RDI is meant to be 2300mg.
I eat a lot of canned tuna and turkey for one. I eat a lot of "healthy" fast food. Stuff that's mainly steamed and low on sugar and sat. fats. None the less it's still high in sodium along with milk etc.

Assuming that it's inevitable to reduce sodium in my diet, can someone tell me some good ways to reduce the sodium concentration in the body?
I was thinking drinking a lot of water (more than a gallon) would 1. dilute 2. excrete excess levels but then one of the side effects of sodium is water retention.

Are there any better ways to reduce the concentration, are there any foods or supplements to reduce it?

thanks

 

[crader]

Potassium helps.

 

[Resolve]

Sweat. A lot. Train hard, sit in the sauna, keep your air conditioner off, whatever. Just stay hydrated through all that.

Additionally - soaking your canned and salted meats in water for a few hours, even just rinsing them thorough before eating, can drastically reduce their sodium levels.

However, the RDI isn't necessarily accurate for everybody. For example, my younger brother is just finishing up his football season. For days where he had practice or a game, I recommended he salt pretty much everything he ate with sea salt. I also had him eat tons of veggies to maintain his sodium/potassium balance. With as much exertion and sweating as the average athlete does over the course of a game, he needed all the electrolytes he could get.

If your activity levels are comparable, I wouldn't say you have to lower your sodium levels too much, merely try to balance it with your other electrolytes, and try to replace table salt (processed sodium chloride) with sea salt (a natural blend of various minerals).

 

[Omen]

g'day

To make a long story short, my daily sodium intake is very high. it's about 6000mg - 7000mg and the RDI is meant to be 2300mg.
I eat a lot of canned tuna and turkey for one. I eat a lot of "healthy" fast food. Stuff that's mainly steamed and low on sugar and sat. fats. None the less it's still high in sodium along with milk etc.

Assuming that it's inevitable to reduce sodium in my diet, can someone tell me some good ways to reduce the sodium concentration in the body?
I was thinking drinking a lot of water (more than a gallon) would 1. dilute 2. excrete excess levels but then one of the side effects of sodium is water retention.

Are there any better ways to reduce the concentration, are there any foods or supplements to reduce it?

thanks

Well, when you keep drinking water, your body excretes more, it takes about 2-3 days for your body to get used to the new increase and then it excretes more sodium, along with other minerals.

I've been eating nothing but canned food this week, I just choose lower sodium versions of the food (mostly tuna+beans) or tuna+vegetables and add potassium chloride(KCl) to it, no more than 1/4 tsp per meal or it tastes nasty, NOW foods KCl is what I use.

However, this is still not a healthy way to eat........I'd look to reduce your sodium intake and still do damage control (KCl and water) ....

But it's a lot more convenient to eat canned/fast food.......just look for lower sodium versions, read the nutrition facts online for whatever joint you get it from and choose accordingly.....

My intake right now is about 3500 but I workout about 3.5 hours everyday and take almost 4000mg of potassium daily, not to mention the water.....

Keep it reasonable and it won't come to haunt you.

 

[BoyFromAus]

cheers guys.

so basically i guess i need to

1. sweat more
2. Rinse the meats
3. up my water
4. up my potassium by using Kcl


when i train, it is intense but my job involves sitting at a computer 8 hours a day.

 

[dsade]

when i train, it is intense but my job involves sitting at a computer 8 hours a day.

I would look into HIIT: High Intensity Interval Typing.

 

[Trauma1]

Fluids and electrolytes are primarily lost through sensible (Urination, GI Tract, Wound drains), or insensible (skin and respiratory tract) fluid loss routes.


Hypernatremia or elevated serum sodium levels can result through a few different pathways. These pathways are as follows:

-Hypovolemic hyponatremia (low intravascular fluid volume that concentrates serum sodium content.)

-Euvolemic hyponatremia (normal intravascular fluid volume with increased sodium content present.)

-Hypervolemic hyponatremia (elevated intravascular fluid volume and sodium content levels.)


Since your issue is related to an increased overall intake of sodium, you just plainly need to reduce your intake through changes in diet. Adding in excess fluids in your case will only make bloating and potential issues worse. Making better choices with low sodium foods will quickly correct this underlying issue. Cardiovascular excercise will also aide in expulsion of sodium at a quicker rate as well. Caffeine intake is also an option (due to its diuretic effects) to increase diuresis of fluids and excess sodium.

This is a great read that you should take a look at. I found this back in nursing school and found it helpful. It may be a bit confusing to some though, but if you have any questions, i'd be happy to answer them for you in laymans terms.

Fluid Physiology -Contents

 

[gekkoboy14]

is there a reason to lower sodium levels? RDA is nonsense for the most part

 

[Graglor]

is there a reason to lower sodium levels? RDA is nonsense for the most part

Some so it to get that skin on muscle (super ripped) look.

 

[Aggravated]

Potassium will flush sodium from the body.

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

So I know I'm bumping a really old thread here. I found it searching. But from what Omen had said in his post, your body adjusts to higher sodium intake?

I don't watch mine per se, it's probably lower than a lot of people, under 3g a day.

Recently, as the last 24-48 hours, I upped it about 200mg or so, which isn't really all that much, but I can literally see it in my face how it bloats me up, and obviously have urinated less.

Sure, I could take the 200mg of sodium away, but I also need the cals that come along with it lol. So just wondering if given a few more days my body will adjust to the extra sodium and not make me look so bloated?

200mg more was also enough to give me a slight high BP headache. Is that normal for such a small amount of sodium?