Ate too much sodium

[kungfudude]

Oops. I ate a sub that turned out to be higher in sodium that I thought. Went way over my limit. So question - what is best way to flush out all the sodium I ate and how long will it take?

[Bassetmommer NKF Ambassador]

Hi Kungfudude,

Water will help your body remove the bloat from the salt but it won't reduce the sodium you ate. Its there.

Just so you know, cold cuts... if that is what you had, have a lot of other ingredients that are not good for CKD. Nitrates and preservatives are very hard on the kidney. Even low salt meats can have high phosphorous.

But I get it that sometime we eat something and deal with the results.

[JimVanHorn]

I wrote about this once before about sodium and all meat from a meat packer like Hormel is out and this includes hot dogs, bacon, sausage and ham, Who know's what is in a meatball sub, but sliced turkey or chicken should be OK. Sodium Bicarbonate is used to make french fried food in the batter coating to make the product look bigger, but doesn't taste salty. It is called hidden sodium. Cookies, cakes, and cake donuts all use sodium bicarbonate to make the bubbles or make the dough "rise". For example Christmas cutout cookies are flat with no bubbles because they have no sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in them. They do have table salt though. Yeast raised bread and donuts would have less sodium. Canned foods all have Phosphates so eat fresh vegetables and salads. One day of high sodium is not so bad if you cut back and drink more water the next few days.

[Hidden in reply to JimVanHorn]

Makes sense, Jim. I await the day when food labeling on all products lists Sodium, Potassium and Phosphorous. That way, we won't have to play "food detective" on a daily basis. There are some fresh fruits and vegetables folks with CKD should avoid (like avocado and bananas).

[KidneyCoach NKF Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

I would disagree with the term "avoid" and replace it with the word "limit". This will depend on your level of CKD and if level 5 what type of dialysis and what if any dietary restrictions you have. I can and do eat bananas, tomatoes, avocados etc because I get 3-4X more dialysis than the average in center person. Nothing needs to be eliminated just limited depending upon the person.

[vintagecurl in reply to KidneyCoach]

So do you use in-home dialysis? If I may ask, is that covered by insurance just bc you wanted it that way—or do you have to meet certain criteria to have in-home dialysis? Do you take care of the procedure yourself? Is it very difficult? I’m newly diagnosed with CKD but my GFR is going down fast. Thanks.

[TedHutch]

Is There a Role for Diaphoresis Therapy for Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Patients?

sci-hub.tw/10.1053/j.jrn.20...

This article discusses the benefits and potential dangers of using a sauna or a hot bath to sweat out excess salts. It may help to have a hot bath.

[steve680]

Eat potassium rich foods if you're not on a potassium restriction and drink lots of water. Any "sub" is almost always going to be high in sodium. Try to avoid processed food.

[Carillon]

Water lots of water.

[Beckett24]

kungfudude, the real question is why were you eating a sub? Even for a 100% healthy person, subs are one of the worst things you can eat, but it's a lot worse for CKD peeps. Please start really watching your diet and start with a proper CKD diet.

[kungfudude]

Because not all subs are created equal. One can raise and lower sodium content through the makeup of the sub.

And fwiw, I've done quite well on my reduced sodium diet since I began it in January. Gfr is up, creat in down and I've even lost 18 lbs and remain very active.

And thanks to all for the responses.