Why do we have to supplement with salt etc.?

#1

I’m about 2 weeks into keto. I’ve mainly decided for it because of the energy and mental clarity. I experienced it on day 3-5, where I did above 400 kcal on the exercise bike in 30 minutes for the first time in a long time, just because I had the energy for it. Plus my asthma is gone. Completely gone. Since I’ve been slowly entering a slump, which I hope salt supplementation will begin to reverse for me.

But it’s bothering me a bit, intuitively, that we’re eating a diet, where our bodies can’t really hold on to enough salt if we don’t supplement it. It seems like a pretty severe disruption. I wanted to hear what my fellows think!

(Jay AM) #2

The reason we have to eat extra electrolytes is many fold. From nutritionally depleted soil, foods bred for looks and sweetness, not eating from tail to foot of animals, listening to low sodium recommendations. I’m sure there are a handful more reasons.

Salt in particular used to be a major staple in many households and as a trade good. It was revered. People had fancy salt dishes (salt cellars) made just to show off their salt. Now, we’ve been taught to hate it. Add to the fact that carbs do help hold onto electrolytes and society has increased carb consumption and we don’t have to supplement. But, modern society has the reverse problem now because we can get too much since our carbs are so high.

So, it’s not that having to supplement on keto is abnormal. It’s that people who eat high carbohydrates have an abnormal storage and don’t and shouldn’t take in more.

(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #3

I like a summation I read from the book The Salt Fix; we’re far better equipped (biologically) to handle an over salt condition than an under salt condition.

(Adam Kirby) #4

Ancestral populations ate a lot more salt than Western diet eaters do. They would seek out salt and prize it like gold. It’s not so much that we have to supplement, as we have to embrace the paradigm of eating nice salty meals.

Also, if you’re engaging in athletic activities you will absolutely need more salt, no getting around it.

(Ron) #5

This might explain some of your questions. It explains why supplements are advised on keto in the first response. It is by a boctor who is on keto.
http://www.afibbers.org/forum/read.php?9,154402

#6

There is a phase where people move from a carbohydrate rich diet to a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet. It is known as ketoadaptation. Keto adaptation may take 2 weeks, or it might take 2 months, or any individual response time inbetween. Adapting to new nutrient sources.

In that adaptation physiological changes occur to biochemical and hormonal pathways. Those changes are ones that health seekers seek to maintain for the long term health benefits.

Moving through the adaptation phase the body’s physiology responds to change. Change response hormones activate the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS), which impacts on fluid and electrolyte (body salts) balance. Insulin drops, which results in reduced sodium retention and increased urination that drags some other minerals (as electrolytes/ body salts) along with it. Muscle and liver glycogen is reduced, releasing more retained water. Receptors in the kidneys may sense the loss of sodium and send signals to excrete more magnesium instead. Potassium is mixed in there as well. As well as other micronutrient minerals such as selenium, manganese, and zinc. This is all happening in the ketoadaptation phase.

Electrolyte awareness and discovering normal salt eating extends into the longer term overall benefits of ketogenic eating for the population who need the diet to correct the detrimental effects of standard diet recommendations that did not suit them. That is a long way of saying the ketogenic diet is not a panacea.

#7

The other factor to consider is that the way of eating that was followed before starting keto may have had a person in a micronutrient depleted state that had vague, or subclinical symptoms e.g. tiredness, anxiety, agitation, cravings.

The initial effects of electrolyte adjustments by the body in the ketoadaptation phase may make a subclinical mineral or micronutrient depleted state depleted enough to create recognisable symptoms. It can be called ‘keto flu’; feeling generally blergh. Or another common obvious symptom is the onset of muscle cramps. For those reasons it is good to keep salt intake up through ketoadaptation to provide required minerals and to help in their uptake in to the body.

A keen, geeky self experimenter may even get blood and urine tests run to check if their body has any depleted minerals before they start. That can be done with the help of a ketogenic aware doctor, or a reputable functional health practitioner, or both.

Longer term the ketogenic eater becomes finely tuned to their body nutrient needs. Sometimes through mistakes and mishaps, other times by learning from and adapting other people’s experiences. That is when, with knowledge, the eating becomes customisable to the individual. Salt, as an ingredient in that customised eating, depends upon what that individual needs.

#8

Thanks for the resource link Ron. :slight_smile:

(Jack Brien) #9

While I recognize that insulin is a salt retaing hormone, where do you get that carb eaters should not be eating more of it? I thought that DiNicolantonios book while supporting low carb/keto was relevant to all?