How much salt is enough?

Khannie

Didn't want to hijack the other thread.

So....I eat well. Very little processed / packaged stuff (almost none). I exercise 7-12 times per week (exercise = proper exercise / dripping sweat). Sometimes I add salt to food, but rarely enough (Sometimes I throw a pinch in with my PWO shake to aid absorption). My average weight is around 64KG.

How much salt should someone like me get in their diet? Should I be adding it to food myself?

corkcomp

Khannie wrote: »

Didn't want to hijack the other thread.

So....I eat well. Very little processed / packaged stuff (almost none). I exercise 7-12 times per week (exercise = proper exercise / dripping sweat). Sometimes I add salt to food, but rarely enough (Sometimes I throw a pinch in with my PWO shake to aid absorption). My average weight is around 64KG.

How much salt should someone like me get in their diet? Should I be adding it to food myself?

do you ever find you get cramps? if you ever exercise twice a day and are only eating foods in between with no salt then yeah i reckon you should be adding a little .. i tend to sweat BUCKETS so i do add a little salt to food and veg tastes a lot better!

Mellor

I never add salt to anything, I never seen the need. I disagree that it tastes better, it tastes different, I rather taste my food alone.
Thier is likely enough salt in a natural diet for do the average person, I use soy sauce sometimes, I suppose thats my only added salt.

Khannie

corkcomp wrote: »

do you ever find you get cramps?

I do yeah. I didn't want to put it in the first post but I've been having cramps in my left calf for a while now. Gonna start adding salt to stuff and see how I get on. A bit like yourself I sweat a _lot_.

Mellor: I think salty stuff tastes better if your body's short on it. I don't have any salt cravings myself. Used to love the stuff though.

EileenG

Funny, I always say that I love salt, and I nearly always add some to things I cook, but I find that if I'm eating out, or eating any sort of processed food, it just tastes far too salty for me.

And yes, if you are sweating a lot, you do need to replace the salt.

eclectichoney

I wouldn't ever put salt in my food, but i do tend to eat a lot of smoked salmon which has masses of salt. It's another good option if you don't want to have to add table salt which could alter the flavour of meals.

Mr Magnolia

I always use salt when cooking. It's a basic and essential requirement from a flavour point of view.

El_Dangeroso

I think there's no reason to avoid salt in the diet unless you're already suffering from hypertension.

There was a myth propagated by a doctor in the 1940's that because salt causes a slight temporary raise in blood pressure that it must cause the chronic high blood pressure that is a risk factor for stroke and heart-disease.

Many studies have tested the hypothesis but it has always come up false.

That said, lots of salt definitely a bad idea for someone with high blood pressure or hypertension.

Like EileenG my desire for salt reduced drastically when I started eating properly. I find a lot of food in restaurants far too salty. Plus there are so many other more interesting ways to season food, paprika is my current favourite.

I think it's an old food manufacturing trick is to up the salt to disguise the sweetness of a lot of added sugar, and sweetness, salt and fat combine to make a food very addictive and encourage overeating.

Mr.David

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

I think it's an old food manufacturing trick is to up the salt to disguise the sweetness of a lot of added sugar

Salt actually has the effect of sweetning food e.g. making a tomato pasta sauce salt will balance the bitterness/acidity of the tomatoes better than sugar. Counter intuitive but true!

Also used to make food hot/spicy as its a cheap way to do it. Explains why so many cheap indians are laced with salt.

Khannie

Well....I've upped my salt intake over the last few days by adding it to food. Leg cramps have eased considerably so looks like I was low on it.

Stark

I get bad headaches sometimes if I'm very low on salt. (Usually happens after a very hard session of exercise on a hot day and I drink nothing but water afterwards). In severe cases, hyponatremia can be fatal although I've only heard of this happening to people on extreme detox diets and to some woman who was partaking in a water drinking competition.

mike65

When I first got a highish blood pressure reading I gave up, after 24 hours I wondered why I ever "needed" to add the stuff. There is more than enough in the food stuffs and addons like ketchup as it is.

Khannie

That's the thing Mike.....I don't think there's much salt in my diet at all. I prepare all my own food with basic ingredients and none of them would have added salt. I eat very little pre-packaged stuff. About the only things I can think of that I'd eat regularly that have added salt are cottage cheese and butter.

justsomebloke

just remember if you use things like cajun spice or other mixed spices that they may contain salt

rubadub

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

I always use salt when cooking. It's a basic and essential requirement from a flavour point of view.

Khannie wrote: »

I prepare all my own food with basic ingredients and none of them would have added salt.

Joe the Santa wrote: »

just remember if you use things like cajun spice or other mixed spices that they may contain salt

Thats what to watch for, making your own food but using sauces or spices like that can already have more than enough. Many will add it without even tasting to see if it really needs the salt first.

If you want a shock check out the salt content on curry pastes (not sauce the dense small jars of paste). You are supposed to "dilute" these pastes with other sauces and only use a small bit, but I know people who use it straight. I think one I saw was 7 or 8% salt. Its a cheap way of diluting down spice mixes too.

Mr Magnolia

Like Khannie, I seldom use prepack stuff. When I do you can generally taste the salt of them so I know the content level is high.

smallgarden

one of main places irish people get salt is bread and breakfast cereals,theres high amount of salt in both which people dont realise, and processed stuff and obviously salty stuff like rashers/sausages etc

El_Dangeroso

smallgarden wrote: »

one of main places irish people get salt is bread and breakfast cereals,theres high amount of salt in both which people dont realise, and processed stuff and obviously salty stuff like rashers/sausages etc

Yeah but I don't think eating rashers is bad for you.

Salt is a benign substance unless you have hypertension. Your body has very efficient mechanisms for controlling the salt content of your blood.

It is toxic in excess quantities but then so is water.

watna

EileenG wrote: »

Funny, I always say that I love salt, and I nearly always add some to things I cook, but I find that if I'm eating out, or eating any sort of processed food, it just tastes far too salty for me.

I find this too. I love salt and always add some to food (never when cooking though as people prefer different salt levels and it's too easy to add some when cooking and more afterwards too). I can't eat ready made meals because they taste too salty and I ate out last night and ate a meal that I'd make myself regularly enough and I found it quite salty. Makes you wonder how much salt is in processed stuff because I'd consider that I use a good bit of it my homecooked food.

callig

I've come to learn that salt added judiciously during cooking results in a better flavoured dish..If done right, you produce flavourful food that needs little salt at the table.

Adding salt at the end of the cooking process will just make the dish taste salty.