theguardian.com/lifeandstyl...
This isn't a recent study but I came across the article while reading today's articles about salt in processed food and the lack of progress with voluntary agreements.
Snazzy and I are always banging on about cutting salt to help with fluid retention when on pred. There is more than just that though.
That's interesting I have made everything from scratch for years and use very little if any salt in my cooking but it hasn't saved me. It will no doubt be something else I enjoy instead.
I have always liked peanuts but found them too salty. I have recently found unsalted roasted peanuts are available, yum!
No, I don't use salt in cooking and haven't done since I got my first microwave nearly 40 years ago! I cooked veg in the microwave, you weren't to salt until after - and I always forgot... I also dislike salted nuts of any sort - so I buy big bags of almonds and hazelnuts from the baking section and mourn the lack of peanuts!
But the slightest overdose of salt now and I puff up like a balloon and it takes a few days to get back to normal. I don't know if it makes the PMR worse but it does make me very uncomfortable.
It doesn't take much to make me puff up at the moment. I blame pred, I never used to be this bad.
I think it is a combination of factors - but pred and salt are high up the list!
I was like you both for years, no added salt unless necessary , rare salty snacks or foods , and I used potassium or seasalt if I did need it.
I always hated anything that tasty too salty even as a child.
Unfortunately , my other health issues cause me blood circulation problems and I have borderline / low blood pressure , so now I've been put on extra salt or salt tablets everyday so that I can get less dizzy and numb!
Circumstances and the different types of illness you might get stuck with at once do make a big difference to what self-help care you can do each day , and often the things you should do to help one condition can make the other one worse.
It's hard to know what is right from one moment to the next sometimes , especially when the " brain fog" kicks in ( I must go and make one of the recommended cups of coffee I can have each day to help the brain on its way! 😋😁).
I'm currently going through the complex process of working out which things I can do , take, or eat , that may be good for everything that's going on at once .
Oddly , nicotine skin plasters and a nicotine inhaler have also been recommended to speed up the healing of my rarer types of ulcers!!!
And one of the home tips from the experienced ulcer sufferers is the drinking of flat , full caffeine coke to reduce the growth and pain of those ulcers 😫😫😲😦😭😞
Unfortunately , you do find that when two or more illnesses collide the options to really help yourself improve with lifestyle techniques become narrower by the day.
If the " Normals " find it hard enough to follow a healthy lifestyle , they should try seeing what you have to try and do for better health living the " New Normal" life!
I lived in Africa for some years and we used to use flat coke to keep hydrated when we got malaria. It worked well and didn't make you feel sick!
It was a popular option for kids and sickness bugs in Germany ...
I get unsalted , skinned , peanuts in big bags from the same health shop I get my other nuts from.
I toast them in the oven like I do with almonds , hazelnuts and cashews , then put the tiniest amount of salt on some for those that want it , and keep mine plain.
I also blend my own toasted nut butters as they are so much cheaper to make than buying them in the shops , and no unnecessary additives guaranteed!
I can get peanuts still in the pod so to speak - I suppose I ought to get some to have with my G&T and chuck the outside around and pretend I'm in Singapore. Or even, look up the recipe for a Sling ...
Yum , I can pass you on the odd cocktail recipe or two , one of my multifarious jobs in my youth , I even did the old Tom Cruise in " Cocktail" training , well it was the late eighties after all!
So am I the exception who proves the rule? Too little salt and the morning headaches return.
The trouble is we can sometimes have too little salt. I was amazed in hospital last year that they gave me salt tablets. I didn't realise you could have too little! We don't have "prepared food" so I suppose that was the reason.
It is also to do with renal function. David is low on sodium despite the most disgusting high salt diet!
I had to laugh at that? He seems to do everything wrong!!😀
I’ve never been a high salt user, even as a child I didn’t like salt - remember the Smith’s crisps with the separate salt - I never used it. Funnily enough I now occasionally yearn for salt but only on fish and chips, which I rarely have. They say if you want it your body needs it - is that true? Also the MS I’ve tested positive for remains inactive! Interesting.
Love it!!!
Salt and Shake were my favourite "salted " crisps specifically because I didn't have to put the salt on them!
It used to be funny because my Mum would buy us a bag each and I would open the tiny bag and use about 5 grains ( if any!) then pass it on to her and she would use double!
The same was true with sugar , for years she would put a giant crunchy mountain of sugar on my breakfast and while she was out of the room I scraped off as much as I could into a tissue and ran off to flush it down the loo !
My Mum would even do this on a bowl of Frostiest or Sugar Puffs.
It's what is really frustrating about having my various illnesses , as despite all the years of living "healthy ", and sneeking good health past my mother's eagle eye , I still turned out like this!!
I suppose the only way of seeing that positively is that I clearly had health problems set in the Genes , and I wouldn't like to contemplate how much worse I would have been , how much earlier, if I hadn't lived healthily for all those years of my life.
Silver linings !😋😘😘
That’s exactly why they were my favourite Bee and still are as they’re back in the shops I see!
I know I was so happy when I saw them in their six packs.
They also give me fond memories of going to the pub in Summer on walks with my Dad, sitting in the beer garden , a bag of Salt and Shake in one hand and a bottle of pop with a straw in the other .
My grandparents ran the village pub. I was often to be found under the counter with a bottle of portello and a packet of crisps. I never used the salt either.
Happy memories.
😋😂😂😂😂
I wouldn't be able to get under there now, let alone get out!
I bought a six pack today!
When I was told by a fellow traveller last year that I might be salt deficient she told me to take a bit of table salt and taste it. If it tasted good it meant I needed it. She suggested I keep on taking a few grains on my fingertip until it no longer tasted good. Well, that first evening I never got to that stage. But I had no headache the following morning. A couple of evenings later I thought I'd better consume salt the same way again. And at first it was fine. Tasty. Then, suddenly, it tasted awful! That's when I knew I'd had enough. Unlike sugar, which we continue to crave no matter how much we eat, the body knows when it's had enough and will stop us from taking too much.
The problem with salt is you often get it in forms where you don't taste it. I think that's why so much prepared food contains salt. It enhances the flavour of the food, but you don't get the impression you've just eaten a teaspoon of salt. This means too many people do in fact consume too much salt because it's hidden.
I did some reading about salt last year when I discovered I was most likely low in salt, and the recommended daily intake of salt is probably too low, although it's very difficult to reduce the intake to that level unless you make everything from scratch. I did a little quiz on line to see how much salt I usually consumed in the course of a day and it came up as slightly over than 900 mg so I was definitely in a dangerously low range. Too low an amount of salt can actually lead to higher blood pressure. One of the things which had been happening to me was increasing blood pressure. This didn't concern my doctor as it was still well within normal limits, but it was definitely significantly higher for me. Other symptoms included consistently waking up with a morning headache which might go away as soon as I had eaten, but sometimes didn't and didn't respond to the usual painkillers. Also for years (pre-PMR) I'd occasionally experienced a "skippy" heartbeat. This was getting worse. I also developed aching legs at night, sometimes so painful it would keep me awake, and was only relieved by using a hot water bottle even in the summer. Every single one of those symptoms has disappeared since I started to consciously salt my food. The red flag tends to be return of morning headache.
My blood pressure is normal for me (lower again).
When I complained of fatigue one of the things my doctor checked was electrolytes including salt. I forgot to ask her the result, but as she said everything in the blood tests was normal except low ferritin (again) I assume the salt was okay.
That's a great read , thanks .
You are right , I actually like the taste of salt now ( to a point ) when I never did , I am happy to put a little on some chips , whereas a child , if I got some at a fish and chip shop I'd be scrapping as much of it off as I could because it made me squirm
( obviously my Mum was also in charge of the salt and vinegar ratios!!).
Oddly , I always feel like I have the taste of salt in my mouth , yet that's partly why I need it , to stop the dehydration and water loss that makes your blood volume low.
I'm using my salt in a homemade isotonic drink in the morning as it is more palatable and will hopefully start to have the therapeutic effect it should throughout the day.
Another symptom I forgot to mention in my too long reply was the pinch test to check how dehydrated your skin is. I find if I'm getting more salt my skin rebounds from the pinch instantly but is somewhat delayed if I'm not. just think, something I had thought was completely related to aging can actually be improved by putting salt on my morning eggs!
That's true , it's because the salt is allowing you to retain enough water in your system to give you proper hydration in the skin.
Moisturising your skin with water , food and supplements from within does far more than any topical solution or moisturiser.
I can't do the " pinch test" because it doesn't quite work the same way with EDS/ Hypermobility , but it is a good way to see how dehydrated you are generally.
Sometimes people need more salts and electrolytes than others , like me and you.
So , often the GP doesn't tell you if you have low normal or borderline salts when really that is the time that they should .
If you are normal but low , that is the time the advice would be most helpful , so you can take the right preventative measures before you start suffering the symptoms.
The same is true , obviously , if you have too much salt or other mineral blood levels , as people with illnesses that are effected by the need to have lower electrolytes could make the right changes earlier too , and possibly avoid hypertension issues.
It's the kind of thing most people, including myself, wouldn't even know could be a problem, nor what questions to ask, even that there were questions. I told my former doctor years ago that I felt like I had a bird in my chest and he sent me off for some kind of testing involving a treadmill but so long ago I've forgotten, and of course nothing found. But I never ever remember having electrolytes tested for, or if they were wouldn't have known, or wouldn't have known the relevance. i only found out about the salt connection by accident - a fortuitous meeting with a fellow traveller while on holiday last spring. Without that meeting i would still know nothing, and might perhaps be getting sicker.
I'm lucky that I live on an island , and am friends with a producer , whom makes some of the best naturally processed seasalt in the World , Halen Mon.
Interesting fact , it is Barack Obama's favourite . They make these things called Salt Diamonds which he loves to put on his chocolate and they use the chilli salt on their salted caramel .
When they visited the UK they came up to Anglesey , allegedly to visit Prince William etc. but the real motivation was apparently that he wanted to go to my friends mini salt refinery to see the Salt Diamonds being naturally formed and collect his own.
It's rather expensive these days which is why I'm quite thankful that I got chatting with the owner by the beach and stayed friends with him since , Mates Rates are a lovely thing !
Let's face it most Doctors don't think to check your electrolytes as standard when you have these symptoms anyway , if you are lucky they might consider dehydration , more likely they are happy to dismiss it as stress and anxiety and send you on your not so merry way!
Interesting read and pleased you've found what works for you, albeit against medics recommendations sometimes. There is a point at which you stop yearning for the salt and then it returns - gives added strength to the saying listen to your body. I won't be concerned when I need to use salt on my chips! You've explained very well the 'taste test' of the salt and has been a great help.
Thanks for the tips Heron.
Count me in the same group. Not trying to dispute the article, but one has to make decision based on individual needs, as often said - we are all different. My BP is normal - low.
I live in sub-tropical climate and during summer I do take extra salt. They even sell special drinks for this season called appropriately "Salty". I only take it before my long bike rides. What I have noticed is rather interesting. I used to take backpack with me with water tank ( 2L) for 90 min - 2 hr ride, because I sweated so much. I literally sweated those 2 liters during the ride - verified by measuring my weight before and after. I did that until this year. Now I drink 2 glasses of "Salty" before ride and nothing else. I sweat much less.
Here is my thinking on this... I was actually drinking too much water and diluting salt content in my blood and body was working hard to re-balance and get rid of extra water. It sounds unlikely, but too much hydration can be deadly - at certain point body stops functioning if there is not enough salt in the blood. Here is one paragraph from runners world..
"Hyponatraemia can cause many health issues that range from mild to life-threatening. The brain is especially sensitive to changes in the sodium levels, which is why often the first symptom of hyponatraemia is confusion. Other symptoms include dizziness, headaches, fatigue, irritability, muscle weakness, cramping, nausea and vomiting. Runners may even become disoriented, unconscious, or experience seizures."
runnersworld.com/uk/health/...
I have the same problem. I would drink lots and lots of water and water only on long rides. I would sweat like a pig and couldn’t keep water in me and almost passed out after a race one time. Somebody gave me some salt and it was like a miracle. Going almost from a blackout to be able to walk in a few minutes. If somebody wasn’t smart enough to recognize my salt problem I would’ve needed to go to hospital. Too much water will definitely dilute your system from salt.
last year I came across the book called "Waterlogged -The serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports" by Tim Noakes. You can probably find one of his presentation on the youtube. It explained the issue and from then on I changed how and what I drink during training. Also, I spoke to my PT ( still going fro my knee) and he said that for short rides (less then one hour) water is fine, but for long rides to add about 1-1.5g of salt/liter.
It is the reason that I drink , and suggest, good quality mineral water over just tap water when reminding people to increase fluids and decrease the effects of dehydration on inflammation .
As , I have to drink alot , possibly even more than most because of POTS , it does help replenish trace salts and minerals working through the system and reduce the " flushing out " of the essential salts by too much plain water passing through the kidneys .
I also need the extra salt now as part of my treatment , and the isotonic drinks I have made for years for sport I take each day now , they probably do help reduce the physical effects on the body from the sweating , if not always reducing the amount of sweating itself.
It does depend on the mineral water - some are very low sodium content.
Yes the type does matter , it's not just for sodium content either , people forget that the salts you need aren't just sodium . It's Potassium and Magnesium levels that make a big difference too.
Potassium is equally important in your kidney function and hydration , and quite ofte it's that , that people are lacking , especially when they eat too much sodium .
It puts the balance out in your kidneys , causing more sodium concentration in the blood , in turn increasing the blood pressure and retention of water.
It's the reason that when you have higher blood pressure and water retention issues doctors with knowledge on electrolytes don't just tell you to reduce eating salt but tell you to reduce salt intake and swap to potassium salt for when you do use it.
That's why bananas are a great energy food while you exercise or suffer from Fatigue too , they contain alot of potassium.
If you find you have both water retention , Fatigue and increased low mood a low Potassium level is often part of the cause , that's why I always used to tell my girls to eat a banana a day to keep the frowns at bay , it's the only food that can advertise that it comes with a smile!😁😊😊😘
Thanks for reminder. Here's a good article for those who want to know more:
healthline.com/nutrition/ho...
Off to enjoy some sweet potato chips now....
Baked sweet potato fries for me with my dinner tonight , Great minds!!😋😁😘
Be careful about reducing salt too much. Last year over 26,000 cases of low sodium causing dizziness, low blood pressure. As we get older, we absorb less
Amount of prednislone and tapering
Dropping the amount of prednisone
Salt substitute?
Reasonable Adjustments?
