So much salt

#1

Hi!
I’m new here and just 8 days in on going keto. I have been doing some 24-42 hour fasts and have been taking 1/4 tsp salt every 2 hours (alternating lite salt for potassium, regular salt with iodine and pink Himalayan sea salt). It works great for relieving nausea, mild headaches and hunger. I find I need it on fasting days and non fasting days. My question is, will I continue to need so much? I really don’t enjoy taking it, but I know it makes me feel better. Hoping if I keep doing keto long-term that I won’t need to do this all day, every day.

(Consensus is Politics) #2

In that same time frame, are you urinating a lot? All that salt needs to be going somewhere.

After four months of Keto, and increasing my salt intake by nearly a teaspoon a day, my sodium level was 139 within the range of 136-145 mmol/L. So normal and slightly to the low side.

(Adam Smith) #3

A few things: First, it’s my understanding that fasting is pretty darn punishing if you try to do it before you’re fat adapted because your body can’t actually efficiently use your body fat to feed itself yet. Unless you’re quite remarkable you’re probably actually starving parts of your body at this stage rather than feeding them with fat. This deficiency is probably a very large part of your nausea, headaches, etc. I would wait at least a few more weeks to get your body properly adjusted to fat burning.

As far as the salt, my understanding is that it is natural to need more salt when reverting to this more natural metabolic state. My personal experience has been that at the beginning the salt cravings are notably stronger than later as you get adjusted, and the salt solutions (or chicken/beef broth!) should help. That said, even given the elevated salt requirements of keto relative to glucose burning, I wouldn’t expect it to remain so different that you couldn’t just have a bit more salt in your food. Buy salted butter, salt your steak, eat bacon, eat salty cheese, put a little salt into your flaxseed meal porrige… it should be pretty simple.

It varies by person, but remember that you can definitely fast too much. Remember, the old calories-in/calories-out paradigm is dead, and we don’t want your body down-regulating your metabolism because it’s not getting fed.

(Duncan Kerridge) #4

You definitely don’t need to taking so much lite salt, a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon a day max. Ingesting too much potassium can be dangerous.

#6

All. The. Time. Every 2 hours I get up from my desk, go to the bathroom, take my salt and then drink 16 oz of water over the 2 hour time frame. I haven’t had any blood work but I’m not too concerned. I was just hoping that as my body adapted I wouldn’t need to take so much. I salt my food liberally (always have) but still need to supplement to feel good.

#7

Thanks! I probably only take 1/2 teaspoon of lite salt total for the day as I alternate it with regular salt and sea salt. Glad I’m not doing too much.

#8

So glad to hear that the cravings might go down. Thanks for your advice on fasting too. I’m trying to listen to my body and have broken fasts if I’m not feeling well. I’ll definitely keep in mind that it is a bit early to fast for extended periods of time.

(Michael ) #9

Low insulin levels cause your kidneys to dump electrolytes. And a lot of the water for muscle glycogen will leave you, so increased salt might be necessary as long as you are keto. You can really lose a lot of water on keto. I think some of the “STALLS” people encounter are actually just their body is finished dumping water and the realization that fat loss takes time becomes apparent.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

Dr. Phinney, in a couple of his lectures on YouTube, quotes studies done at McGill University that suggest that the minimum daily requirement for sodium is far higher than the current recommendation, especially for people who are in ketosis and who are therefore not retaining salt the way they did as sugar-burners. I believe that the recommendationry salt is around 5 grams of sodium a day, which translates to a fair amount of salt. If you don’t like the taste, take salt tablets.