How much salt?

fasting
#22

Yes, it’s very natural. I find salty water super gross so I could only eat salt. Yes, I need to drink afterwards, no problem, it’s still nicer for me that way. My body needs a lot of water when I consume salt, your salty water ratios sound just about right for my own body as well.

It always amazes me how different people are. Milk is quite sweet :smiley: And it’s rich and everything. Never heard such a thing before but again, we humans are amazingly different. And I felt black coffee sweet once (it actually makes a tiny sense as it was mostly water and normal, drinkable water is called sweet water for some reason :wink: I drink very weak and not particularly bitter coffees… my SO still thought I am weird and yep, it was surprising).

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #23

Yes, keeping salt in the right range helps keep potassium and magnesium properly regulated, as well. You may very well not need to supplement. Be careful with potassium, because too much or too little (hyper- or hypokalemia) can be dangerous. Magnesium is easier to get enough of in food, since it is in every green vegetable and in meats.

Now, that’s interesting, because I get diarrhea from too much salt, not too little. If I don’t get enough salt, I get constipated, and my migraines start to come back.

In any case, as you will see from the chart posted earlier in this thread, the sweet spot of sodium intake is 4-6 g/day. That translates to 10-15 g/day of sodium chloride. Note that this includes sodium from all sources, including what is already present in food, so we don’t need to go bonkers getting enough salt. Though it is worth noting that the risk curve for intakes above the sweet spot rises much less steeply than the risk curve for intakes below the sweet spot (a J-shaped curve). The exception is for salt-sensitive hypertensives (fortunately these are very rare), for whom the risk curve rises equally steeply on both sides of the sweet spot.

In any case, if the salt starts to taste horrible, it means you’ve had far too much that day and don’t need any more for a while. As long as the taste is good, it’s safe to have some.

P.S.—Welcome to the forums!

(Chuck) #24

When I was eating high carb I had a terrible time with water gain when I had any amount of salt intake. Now on the low carb lifestyle, I don’t really consider it keto because my carb intake is at 50 total carbs average and sometimes as much as 70 carbs. But my salt intake is an about 3000 mg a day and I don’t have any water weight issues. Some say I intake too much salt, you know the SAD believers, others say I am not getting enough salt, like @PaulL I seem to have a fine line between not enough and too much. Not enough and I get constipated and to much I get diarrhea. But I am doing my best to balance my salt intake and to enjoy my life. I am eating my kosher dill pickles again, and I am going to have corned beef again, something I really enjoy.
And to be honest I don’t miss bread, toast, and donuts or other sugary snacks. I am finding I savor salty foods more than sweets. But I still have to walk that tightrope between too little and too much salt.

(Cris) #25

I just went back to low carb for this reason .
With me I become confused mentally that’s when I know I need sodium .I only eat one meal and a minor meal at night dessert yogurt fruit or my keto bread french toast topped with allulose and butter .
I suspect people that don’t fast need less.
Do you know if @PaulL does intermittent fasting .
I believe you lose alot of salt .

Does this sound weird maybe we are replacing sodium frn the days when we were hunter gatherers and we would drink the blood of our kills .
I know alot of indigenous tribes do this includingvthe native Americans.
I’m currently reading David Brownstein Salt your way to health .
I didn’t want to read James Denicol antonio for personal political reasons😁I won’t go into that here .
.thank you

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #26

I do, but only in the sense of not eating from my last meal until sometime after noon, and not on purpose; it just usually works that way. I get enough salt when I do eat, but there’s nothing to stop anyone from drinking water or coffee with some salt in it.

(Chuck) #27

I don’t know if @PaulL does intermittent fasting or not he always says it isn’t necessary. To me it just comes naturally. I don’t like eating late at night and I don’t like eating when I get up in the mornings. A 16 hour fast is just as normal as me breathing. Now I haven’t been able to get past 21 hours of fasting without being so caught up with some project or work issues. But being retired now that doesn’t happen and if I am driving somewhere I don’t seem to make it more that about 3 hours without a bathroom break. There was a time I could drive for 6 to 8 hours with stops except for filling up the car. And I wouldn’t eat while driving.

(Cris) #28

I’ve been playing with fasting for awhile .
Its hard to wrap your head around how much salt you really need .
I assumed the salt was making me thirsty but it was not enough .
Yes potassium is terrifying especially when I was fasting and having cabs like beans and sweet potato .
I haven’t been adding any since lowering carbs and upping salt .
I did notice a little tightness in my solar plexus and I know that is regulated by potassium but to much and to little have the same symptoms .
I spoke with fasting coach on YouTube .
He uses 1600 / 2000 sodium and 130miligrams of potassium twice daily and 400 magnesium .
In trying those low amounts of potassium now .
I’m still feeling I need more salt tho I get confused mentally without it .
I do drink a lot of fluid coffee and water .
I’m reading Salt your way to health and the author states the more water you drink the more salt you will need .The author recommends non white salts .
It’s super interesting salt brine pockets in the salt have a lot of potassium and magnesium .
Celtic sea salt and pink salt or Redmond’s real salts.
Sodium fills the extracellular ocean of the body and potassium fills the intercellular ocean of the body .

(Chuck) #29

I have for years , at least 20 years been limiting my salt to less the 2000 mg a day, with some days below 1000, but that was on the SAD diet, since doing low carb I have been ramping up my salt and find so far my body can handle between 3000 and 4500mg a day without severe side effects. But I do fine that I crave salty foods. I love kosher dill pickles, and pig skins with the pink salt. Around here I get the evil eye every time I add table salt to my food, this is a retirement community and so many are still brainwashed to believe in SAD. But if I am asked I tell them I am following a low carb lifestyle. People and even doctors around here seem to accept low carb instead of keto without too much concern.

(Cris) #30

Just make sure it unprocessed salt I’m reading Salt your way to health .
Processed salt has the other minerals removed and bleached out .
The author recommends 1/4 tsp per liter .
I’m extremely active in ballet and weights so I’m suspecting we use it for energy cause an burning thru sodium like crazy plus I drink a lot if water .
I made water last night .
It’s one gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of pink salt and I don’t taste salt at all :eyes:

(Chuck) #31

I don’t put salt in my water or tea and I don’t drink coffee. In fact even in the cold f winter I will not drink anything hot or even warm. I ice my water and tea.

(Cris) #32

Sometimes I wonder if I drink to much water .

(Chuck) #33

I drink a lot of water and unsweetened tea. I have a glass or bottle close by all day long.

#34

I am a natural intermittent faster, sometimes my eating window is pretty small for a while But I rarely go below 5 hour for longer term.
I never need to supplement sodium, I get enough even in one meal a day (once I had such a week).
It must be my individual thing as I am fine even if I fast for days, I don’t need sodium for that a little time (at least under normal circumstances, surely being active in summer would be different) but I suspect that my zero sodium 5 day fast was funny in the last days due to lack of sodium. While I heard about people not needing it even for longer term… IDK where is the limit, we do need sodium so we can’t just be without it for really many days… (Or way less if we lose a lot of water due to sweating.)

But I am more active now, drink a lot and I wonder if I need more salt… It’s good I automatically drink and eat salt properly (as much as I feel like, it worked this far) so I don’t need to make decisions about these things. I am just wondering so I often track my sodium intake, maybe I figure out something. I know that if I eat too little salt (highly unlikely as I mostly eat salty food), I start to desire salt more and if I eat too much (over 10g salt a day? I am not sure as when I had that, I ate salty food with an unknown amount of salt), I get salt aversion and stop salting my food (as I get more than enough without adding extra), it works well. It’s just desire for salt in my food, salt always taste the same to me: salty. Not good, not bad, salty. But if I have salt aversion, I feel it not desirable so there’s that I suppose…

By the way, I love being more active. It has multiple reasons but one of them is I don’t find my water boring at all :wink: I am thirstier than ever but I drink frequently enough that I don’t get the parched feeling I did before when I drank many glasses of water and still stayed thristy, that was horrible. I just drink a lot now. No idea how much as I can’t measure it (it would require some crazy level of focus and I would still forget about many glasses). But it must be more than usual…?

Oh my. I thought only kids get that stupid thing… (Actually I didn’t think anything, I was just shocked it regarding poor kids and never met is elsewhere. We want tasty food so everyone salt their food to their liking, isn’t it the normal thing to do?) When our kitchen lunches got reformed, they used some of the trendy dietary guide things (they are just wrong), one of them was NO salt shaker (and surely lowish sodium dishes anyway).

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #35

All we really need is to drink to thirst. Dr. Tim Noakes, the marathon runner and sports biologist, pushed the need for water in the first edition of The Lore of Running, but he saw that the sports drink companies were pushing over-hydration and had to start warning people to back off. Unfortunately, quite a few marathoners ended up in hospital with electrolyte imbalances, and a few have died. He has made a big point of this in the new edition of his book.

(Chuck) #36

While I have water or tea always available I don’t really know how much I drink as I only drink when I feel the need to.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #37

Excellent.

(Cris) #38

I know you’re not a doctor.But couldn’t diarrhea also be the fat being taken apart and turned to fuel since it’s sorta locked away as fuel .
I’ve only recently cut back carbs after gaining fat .
I might also ad for anyone experiencing tmj or bruxism while fasting or low carb …mine was remedied by getting 10;000 iu vitamin d a day. It’s the reason I quit low carb the jaw tightness that magnesium wouldn’t remedy.

(Ohio ) #41

I was. I wasn’t making the connection with the fact that my urine looked like drinking water. Crystal clear. Almost all the time.