Sodium calculator

[HeronNS]

Recently there was publicity about a heart health calculator, and today I discovered a few other similar calculators. Further to my recent yammering on about needing more sodium I took the sodium calculator. And according to it I take in 900 mg sodium a day, this includes what I've been adding to my food lately. The calculator congratulated me on this (extremely low, unhealthy) level!

projectbiglife.ca/

[scats]

Interesting but I always find with multiple choice that my answers are never catered for. I don't eat out,home cook most other food and eat very little pre processed food. I'm probably in control already ( until I have a bad day - there aren't many bad things you can't make if you're desperate enough )

[HeronNS in reply to scats]

I know what you mean but this time I was able to truthfully answer the questions. They give suitable number of options. When I did the heart health one (not sure if it's in this link) I came up with a heart age three years older than I actually am, but something like eleven years younger than the average for my age group, which sounds about right as I can't do vigorous exercise but otherwise live quite healthily.

[Telian]

Very interesting - since I've started to eat cheese - only recently found a dairy free version, it appears to be 55% of my daily intake! otherwise I am an unhealthy low! I like this calculator, haven't taken the others yet but thanks Heron

[Slowdown]

300g per day on these calculations, no wonder salt tastes wonderful when I do your taste test! Breakfast on the way with added salt.

[Longtimer in reply to Slowdown]

That`s what mine came to...OH always telling me I should have salt....will add a little methinks...but of course won`t be telling him he`s right.....

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Slowdown]

Me too - and a third of it comes from cheese! I had to say 1 per month or less for a few things because I couldn't say never - but they are things I might eat a few times in a week when we are away from home. Now wonder my feet go up like footballs!!!

But I tried Heron's salt taste test the other day - it tasted VERY salty...

[Rosbud in reply to PMRpro]

What is Herons salt taste test please, just wondering as at the moment I'm craving anything salty ?

[Slowdown in reply to Rosbud]

Here's Heron's original post, Rosbud: healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk.... Interesting reading.

[Rosbud in reply to Slowdown]

Thank you so much , will rad with interest x

[Rosbud in reply to Rosbud]

Oops should say read !

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Rosbud]

What pred dose are you on Rosbud? If it is fairly low, craving salt can be a symptom of poor adrenal function.

[Rosbud in reply to PMRpro]

I'm on 10mg at the moment ,just starting dsns to 9.5 x

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Rosbud]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem yet - but pred makes you lose more sodium through the kidneys and it has been very hot so you will be losing some in sweat too.

[Rosbud in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you for your help x

[Rosbud in reply to Rosbud]

Brain dead today , I wonder if only having one kidney makes any difference?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Rosbud]

Honestly don't know - it shouldn't, one well functioning kidney should be working all you need. A single kidney usually increases in size to compensate.

[Rosbud in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for this its just been on y mind x

[Slowdown in reply to PMRpro]

Same here with the cheese, and I did the 1 per month since cutting down/out dairy to ease digestion - bit difficult to nuance intakes.

So VERY salty means you don't require more, I suppose? Just tested, first taste great, second getting rather salty!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Slowdown]

According to Heron yes. She also says it doesn't work with salty food - I wonder why not...

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

Because the food tastes good. Ever start eating just one or two salted nuts?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

True = though it is far worse when I eat non-salted ones...

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

And I suppose a lot of high salt foods don't taste salty to us, the flavour masked by other ingredients, particularly sugar.

[HeronNS in reply to Slowdown]

This is what my informant told me, and it works for me. Salt tasted pretty horrible when I got home from my trip and the weather was unseasonably cold, even with frosts in June. Now that we are in the heatwave afflicting most of the Northern hemisphere salt tastes mostly nice to me again as I sit here in a sweaty lather. 😓 I had wondered whether it was the brand of salt (sea salt) but apparently not.

[Slowdown in reply to HeronNS]

I got very hungry after this little discussion and am now sitting down to steamed wild Alaskan salmon and veg + sprinkle of sea salt. Bon appetit!

And for tomorrow, PMRpro's lasagne with aubergine

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Slowdown]

I'll be right round - that salmon sounds ace and I can't get wild salmon here...

[Slowdown in reply to PMRpro]

One of my favourites, takes 10 mins, one steamer, one plate!

Second time I've made your lasagne with aubergine, love the yogurt and egg topping.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Slowdown]

Good isn't it?

[HeronNS in reply to Slowdown]

I noticed a shocking difference from one fingertip-full to the next. It went from pleasantly salty to ohmygod this is horrible!

[Hidden]

Hi HeronNS, I took a look at this calculator and put in the 'ticks' as appropriate as I thought. My breakfast usually consists of 2 scrambled eggs and then some fruit or orange or advacardo (perhaps not a fruit) and a coffee and a bunch of vits and minerals. I have started adding salt to the eggs which I never did, doctor said " don't add salt to anything" since adding salt I don't get as many headaches which I used to get on waking, (how strange) with added salt I don't get them. In our hot whether at the moment I sometimes take a salty drink which gives me more energy somehow. Anyway to get to the point, the calculator gave a finger of 400 mg way below the recommended figure. Perhaps l should eat more salt???!!!!. Incidentally my blood pressure has improved

[HeronNS in reply to Hidden]

Glad, and somewhat relieved, that I'm not the only one who's found this positive effect of taking a tad more salt! Probably if I'd done the test before my last couple of months of salting my food I'd have been down to about 400 mg myself. A book on salt which I read suggests that people around the planet if left to their own devices regarding salt all settle on approximately the same level. I can't remember what it is but it is considerably higher than the guidelines and evidently many times what you and I normally consume.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

I don't consciously leave out salt - it all happened after I got my first microwave. The best use for a microwave is cooking veggies but you were told to salt them AFTER cooking or they would have dried out spots where the salt was. I always forgot to salt them - and over a relatively short period of time I enjoyed the flavour of the natural food more than when it was salted. I use herbs - and a smidgeon of salt in my salad herbs is the only salt I use, because the one I like in terms of herbs, comes with salt in it. I'm just as happy with others and no salt when I can get them.

When you remove all manufactured baked goods from your diet because you can't eat wheat - it takes out a MASSIVE amount of salt. And I just don't like most processed meats - OH on the other hand eats more than enough to make up for me!!!

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

I eat very few bread or other baked wheat products (not daily), no pasta, hardly any prepared foods, no processed ingredients (like canned vegetables), eat out seldom, and so on. Add to that the fact that we removed salt from the table decades ago I was really only getting salt from cooked rice or oats, and whatever happens to be in the food itself. And if it's true as you point out that pred can lead us to excrete more salt, well I guess I've been on an increasingly slippery slope for some time.

[Hidden in reply to HeronNS]

Hi HeronNS,

looks as if we could have similar diets, Wife and I seldom eat out. Mainly home cooked food which I cook so I know what goes in it . Mainly fresh veg from the garden at moment. Broad beans nearly all gone. Runner beans nearly every evening with tomatoes, zucchini (courgette) But we have to buy other veg and meat. If I make Lasagna I don't use pasta but substitute with zucchini which is less carbs of course. Fish is one favourite 2 or 3 time a week, usually wild salmon, haddock and tuna. We seldom have potatoes which I love if they are new, but wife has chips with her haddock, I stick to veg but usually steal a chip as I am dishing up.

[HeronNS in reply to Hidden]

Oh yes, I'm a vegetarian, although I eat cheese, eggs, and there is a fair amount of salt in meat (animal blood salty, like ours), so I miss that source, too.

[Hidden in reply to HeronNS]

Sent a reply but somehow it listed it as a separate entity. Oh now its sorted

[ConventCassie in reply to Hidden]

With more salt? (Changed your BP.) Do you treat high BP?

[Hidden in reply to ConventCassie]

My Doctor tried to get my blood pressure under control several years ago by telling me 'not to add salt to anything' it didn't work so he put me on blood pressure reducing medication. It did reduce my blood pressure to respectable values, however I continued with the no salt regimen for many years. I later found out I was not getting enough salt and I eventually found out that salt was rather important, especially if one did not get enough. I subsequently red a book called 'Too Little Salt: Ten Annoying Symptoms. by Sally Getting. After reading it, I tried a few tips I gleaned from the book.

One result is that my blood pressure became more stable and somewhat lower. Another symptom I used to get was early morning headache. I don't get them now.

Pete

[HeronNS in reply to Hidden]

The other day I was at the supermarket and after I'd been pushing the shopping cart around for a while and beginning to feel a bit like I was getting plenty of exercise I remembered I hadn't checked my blood pressure lately. So I went to do so right away, expecting it might be up somewhat. Not at all. My heart rate was up slightly, as it should be if you've been exercising, but blood pressure at a very nice low normal. So extra salt has done me no harm at all if the evidence gathered since mid-May counts for anything.

[ConventCassie in reply to Hidden]

Oh Wow! Thanks & for the resource. What do doctors know anyway, right?

[HeronNS in reply to ConventCassie]

Not my doctor's fault. I was simply a member of the public who was brainwashed into thinking the less salt the better. And until recent years it was probably the right thing to do as I would have been getting plenty of salt in bread, prepared foods, etc. I started noticing the morning headaches while I was still working (retired nearly four years ago) although I can't remember exactly when they began. It was something which just got worse and worse, and particularly so this spring. So it's even more remarkable that only adding salt, and not an enormous quantity, seems to have brought about such a rapid and effective change. I have not had a morning headache since. and fewer other headaches, nearly always explainable by the current oppressive heat and humidity.

[ConventCassie]

Interesting. My book is coming Thursday I got headaches when I gave up all caffeine for Plant Based no oil. My doctor said it couldn’t be the coffee because that would be far over in 3 weeks. So I had them for a year. Added coffee & all gone. Now I’m on the Pioppi Diet and crazy about this U.K. cardiologist. They don’t seem to mind the salt either.