Less salt as time goes on?

#1

Has anyone realised they needed less salt supplementation the longer they were on keto? I was holding on to a bit of water about 10 days ago (although I suspect my aldosterone has been high recently making me retain more salt than usual).

I continued adding salt to my food the past 10 days but haven’t really taken additional Himalayan salt. My water retention is gone now and I don’t have any low salt symptoms (the typical one being dizziness for me). I am keeping to just salting my food for now and checking how I feel to see if to add it back in.

Anyone experienced this?

(David Cooke) #2

I prefer to be taking a little too much salt than less, I exercise and need my electrolytes to keep going.

#3

I think that’s an important point. I have been very sedentary recently, perhaps it’s why I need less.

I don’t even mind taking extra Himalayan salt but once it started causing water retention, I had to wonder if it was my body’s way of telling me it could do with less salt at the moment.

#4

No but I never supplement sodium when I don’t feel the need myself, it sounds a very good idea in my own case. I am usually quite fine with the amount in my food. My very first time on keto and my longest fast were the only cases I am uncertain but they weren’t bad even without it. If I ever did a very long fast, I would supplement sodium, of course (after I felt the need).
I know people are very different regarding sodium need and it sounds logical that water retention have something to do with it. It’s not significant in my case so no experience about it.
You know what signs to listen for, that’s good, I think it’s up to you to decide what to do in a situation when you feel you are fine with a lower amount. I find it totally unnecessary but I measured how much I eat with my food and it wasn’t super low, just way below the keto recommendation but I don’t want to follow them when my body always felt okay at the current intake, on keto as well.
I am all for listening to your own, unique body and meet its needs if you can figure out what it is. Lack of sodium is probably not hard to recognize when one has a little knowledge and experience, it’s dizziness for me as well.

#5

Just realized I posted this in Newbies section. My bad, although compared to keto veterans, I guess my 10 months is still newbie status :joy:

Edit: Now moved to Keto Chat

(Allie) #6

Yep. When I first started adding salt I needed loads but then after a while it suddenly started making me feel really sick and retain fluids. Now I don’t need extra at all, just add it to my food.

(Bob M) #7

It might be similar with everything. When I first started, I took tons of magnesium. Now, I rarely take it.

I still like my salt, though. And if I get my very infrequent lower leg cramps, I can’t tell if it’s salt, Mg, or something totally different. If I took Mg and had no more cramps, then I’d be happier. But that doesn’t happen. And I have them so few times per year that I can’t gauge a cause or a solution.

(Bob M) #8

That’s probably not true:

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #9

I suplement when I am doing extended fasting but less than I used to. I do add salt to food and have been trying to cut back a little on that salt.

(Bob M) #10

Why would you want to cut back on salt?

I actually put salt into my morning coffee. That’s how much salt I take in. Though I go through phases. If I have something with salt in it, I might not add any. If I eat red meat with no salt, usually I do like adding salt. Supposedly some carnivores stop adding salt after a while. Since I’m only “carnivore-ish”, maybe I need salt?

(Bunny) #11

Me too although I don’t drink much coffee but love it in a Bulletproof coffee also.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

As far as I know, the healthy range is still 10-15 grams daily. I find that I don’t particularly need to measure, since headaches and constipation seem to accompany low intake, whereas if I exceed the range, the result is the opposite of constipation . . . :grin:

(So it’s pretty much self-regulating in that sense.)

(Bob M) #13

I started doing that after reading “The Salt Fix”.

Now, I’m not totally sure about the author of that book (he’s gotten into what I think are questionable positions in arguments on Twitter), but I still add salt to my coffee. Oddly, I usually have one mug of coffee (with salt), but drink one or two cups of tea (no salt). Not sure why I don’t add salt to tea…

@PaulL I’ve always thought salt was self-regulating, especially if eating “real” food. It wouldn’t logically make sense for it not to be…

(David Cooke) #15

I haven’t read the book, which appears to be about hydration. If I don’t get my salts, like many athletes, I don’t do well on Keto.

(Bob M) #16

The book, with plenty of evidence, shows that salt concentration increases in blood during exercise, especially if you don’t drink anything. In fact, in the 60s, the people winning marathons never drank anything or drank very little.

The problem is that if you do drink something, even “electrolyte” waters/drinks, you dilute your salt concentration. In fact, if you drink too much, you can die.

I wish he would update this for keto people, though. I agree there is some relationship between salt and issues for keto people. Unfortunately, I don’t know what that relationship is. For instance, I’ll get leg cramps sometimes. Is this low Mg, K, NaCl, some combination of these, or something else entirely? It’s not clear to me, as there are studies where cramps were instantly cured by drinking pickle juice. If they are cured that quickly, it cannot be the serum level of these electrolytes, because the serum level cannot change that quickly.