how to calibrate salt

[a87.pal]

How do you guys know if you are getting enough/too much salt? What methods to you take to ensure optimum levels?

From my experimentations, I am led to believe the best strategy is to always drink a ton of water and then go zero salt for some time, then binge salt one day. The water ensures the kidneys can filter out excess salt when you binge. And my previous experimentation suggests that if you are not sweating a lot the body is very good at maintaining sodium homeostasis.

However, for people who spend a lot of time outside, how much salt do you consume? (if you do post, also mention your body weight for reference)

[TylerDurden]

I follow my instincts. I get a very nasty, odd feeling in my mouth as soon as I eat more than very tiny amounts of salt. I take that to mean that it's bad for me, as other minor experiments with lots of salt-intake have led to me feeling somewhat unwell.

*Topic moved to the hot topics forum as salt is not palaeo*.

[raw-al]

I cannot handle salt at all. Even when I was a vege. Even if it was cooked into foods I would taste it. However some people cannot live without it.

Not sure I could explain as some my assumptions about nutrition have changed since I started raw.

Meat contains salt so I assume that you should get sufficient just by eating it.

Ayurveda says it will (amongst other things) influence your hair to turn grey prematurely.

[yuli]

How do you guys know if you are getting enough/too much salt? What methods to you take to ensure optimum levels?

From my experimentations, I am led to believe the best strategy is to always drink a ton of water and then go zero salt for some time, then binge salt one day. The water ensures the kidneys can filter out excess salt when you binge. And my previous experimentation suggests that if you are not sweating a lot the body is very good at maintaining sodium homeostasis.

However, for people who spend a lot of time outside, how much salt do you consume? (if you do post, also mention your body weight for reference)

Why would you want to binge on salt, wouldn't that just taste bad to eat it so much?
Same with drinking a ton of water, I'll drink a ton of water only after extreme physical activity and sweating, when I feel really thirsty.
Normally I drink relatively little water on average but I do consume sea salt, I don't seem to get problems from it.
If you are not sweating when you need to it's not a good thing though, you need to sweat at times to maintain homeostatsis and get rid of toxins. This is why we have so many sweat glands and can sweat easily from our skin, conveniently for that we don't have fur either.
Just eat salt in only small amount and ONLY if you crave it, if you feel thirsty after then its too much salt probably.

Its interesting that there are many recommendations to add salt to a raw meat diet for cats and that it gives them more health. Could be because they are not getting fresh blood and the salt makes up for it partly? I haven't been adding any salt to my cats diets and I noticed that my male cat is starting to steal the foods that I have salted for myself, so I will try and give him a little sea salt and see if he does well with that.

In the summer I do spend a lot of time outdoors, and end up going for weeks/months camping, I eat about just as much salt then as in winter.
Weight is about 116 - 124 lb (fluctuates with season) at height 5'9.

[raw-al]

Check your blood pressure if you are eating salt.

[yuli]

I never check it but the few times in my life I did at the doctors they said it was on the acceptable low side...whatever that is? I read that salt increases blood pressure...really, I know mine is low, I can feel it myself...and have always eaten sea salt, perhaps its the type of salt and what you eat it with.

[raw-al]

At your age I suspect that the salt (if it was an issue) would not be causing HBP. I know mine is on the low side. I also meditate which tends to lower it.

One of the problems with BP is that it varies enormously during the day and can be caused to rise by emotions, and even moving a muscle. If you are going to get it checked don't run up the stairs to the Doc's office.

After my friend had the HBP scare I bought a monitor and it's amazing how the BP varies minute by minute.

A friend of mine was drinking V8 juice for lunch everyday and figured he was doing himself a big favour. He found out it is full of sodium and his BP was very high. (we pilots have to have our BP checked every 6 months over 40 yrs old.)

Emotion exacts a huge toll on us. Try this. In the morning when you first wake up, before you move at all, take your pulse at your wrist and remember the rate. Do this every day for a week. You will notice one day that it will be slightly elevated. On that morning scan your thoughts or issues that have come up. You'll find that there is something/someone who is p*#ssing you off or you have been eating crap. So then you can do the math. If the person is causing your heart to beat faster because you are unhappy then it's up to you to calm yourself down somehow because nothing is worth killing yourself over.

Your heart requires energy to beat faster, so if it beats more often than necessary you have to consume more food and this means your digestion has to work harder etc etc.

[yuli]

Thats true relaxational, meditational techniques work very well, I try to do as much of them as I can, the less stress the better, although a some pressure is fine as long as you are doing something you want to do.

BTW....I DO NOT tolerate iodized salt in any significant amounts, first I can tell right away if the salt used was iodized and processed, taste bad, second, it will make me very thirsty and dry, sometimes it gives me a thirst that feels like can never be quenched!
The V8 your buddy was drinking has a huge load of iodized salt. LOL, he "found out" it has lots of sodium, try that stuff, its salty man, plus on the back it has the sodium indicated, plus its got lots of tomatoes in it. Its funny how some people consume something thinking/pretending that they have no clue it has something bad, then wonder, why is my BP high when I am drinking a can of tomatoes with iodized salt for lunch everyday?  I am not singling out your friend this happened to me and many many people we just have to accept to pay attention to what we are consuming and how it makes us feel.

[raw-al]

I hear ya. I see people buying stuff like that which is so incredibly manufactured that really all you are getting is a load of taste mixed with sewer water. I mean if you want to eat a tomato, buy a tomato.

I remember a show on TV years ago where a representative from a trucking company came on and explained that they would take a tanker load of chemicals to one destination and then just do a quick rinse of the tanker and load it full of juice for the return trip.

My ex used to buy lots of juice boxes. I cringe when I see that crap. However it's at least one step up the evolutionary ladder from the house she grew up in where a weekly stash of "Pop Shoppe" soft drinks were considered a "great deal". (Pop Shoppe was before your time I believe)

[Iguana]

We get salt from seaweeds, oysters and other shellfish. You drink the seawater in them as long as you like it. We can also drink some seawater. I use it to brush my teeth and I drink a bit sometimes.

[goodsamaritan]

We get salt from seaweeds, oysters and other shellfish. You drink the seawater in them as long as you like it. We can also drink some seawater. I use it to brush my teeth and I drink a bit sometimes.

How often does this happen to you?  Getting salt with seaweeds, oysters and shellfish?  I know it may be instinct, I'm just interested if you personally eat these at least once or twice a month? How often over the years?  Rough estimate.

I ate some live oysters yesterday... just enough salty ocean in them.

[raw-al]

I used to eat dulse (a certain variety of seaweed) from the seashore as a child. I cannot eat it nowadays as the salt to too strong. Tastes change.

[TylerDurden]

I'm sure I get plenty of salt via all the raw oysters and raw mussels I eat throughout the year, even though I often filter the saltwater away. No wonder I then get a nasty reaction to consuming any additional table-salt.

[Iguana]

How often does this happen to you?  Getting salt with seaweeds, oysters and shellfish?  I know it may be instinct, I'm just interested if you personally eat these at least once or twice a month? How often over the years?  Rough estimate.

I ate some live oysters yesterday... just enough salty ocean in them.

I don't often have sea weeds, but oysters and shellfish quite often. I varies from one year to another according of the availability of others animal foods. In Switzerland, I had shellfish very often because it was really hard to obtain edible eggs and wild-animals-meat was also in limited supply. There's nothing like Slanker in Continental Europe, you can't just ask for grass-fed-beef at every street corner. All the commercial meat is bad, no way except from Orkos, but then it's very expensive and moreover the amount of meat you're allowed to pass at once through the Swiss border is limited to half a kg per person! So, in Switzerland we relied mostly on NZ lamb and Australian horse steaks from supermarkets.

Actually, in my new location, I get enough wild animals meat, so I eat less seafood especially when I also get eggs. In the season when there's no eggs, I nevertheless have shellfish or fish at least once a week and mostly twice a week to alternate with meat.  

So,roughly shellfish at least once a week anyhow, anywhere - if available. 

  

[a87.pal]

I'm guessing the key to toxicity half of the sodium equation is daily exercise/sweating. This is tricky for me because I spend most of my time at work and indoors during the winter.

However, what about the deficiency half of the equation? From my own experience, I know after a while my body will adapt to very low sodium, but I doubt this is optimum biochemically. As I have seen throughout the forums, salt intake is key for adequate stomach acid production.

Adding salt to my meat almost always makes it taste better, so I am hesitant to guide my intake based on taste. And from experience, I have never noticed a difference whether I get my salt from kimchi-seasalt-or seaweed, though fish and crab seem to be a more optimal (and expensive) choice.

[yuli]

All I know is I love sea salt, I realize as I get older my tastes may change completely or I may not need the salt anymore.

Tyler you filter away the saltwater from your oysters why? Isn't that the thing that naturally comes with the oyster. Why rinse these things.

Dulse is like a drug for me I love it...I'll eat it with cheese, with fruit, with meat, with nuts with fish with anything it literally goes with everything for me! Its also a convenient mineral packed snack you can take anywhere with you, and I love that they sell the raw one at our supermarkets. But I have to be careful cause I have found shells and pebbles in it, ouch on the teeth.

Seriously though if I overeat salt I just seem to sweat it away, I don't get any blood pressure problems etc. it actually feels relaxing. Now if I didn't eat any sea salt I would have some issues. So I would definitely rather eat too much then not enough.
I think it highly depends on the person and their diet though, how much salt they need.

I remember gathering the dried sea salt of the rocks this summer, I am definitely gonna be doing that this coming summer, except this time I'll bring some raw fish that I will catch and then eat it with the salt that I gather, now thats fucking paleo in your FACE!  Well for me it is 

[TylerDurden]

All I know is I love sea salt, I realize as I get older my tastes may change completely or I may not need the salt anymore.

Tyler you filter away the saltwater from your oysters why? Isn't that the thing that naturally comes with the oyster. Why rinse these things.

  I find the taste of seawater too sharp and I taste the actual flesh of the oyster/mussel more without all the extra fluid.

[raw-al]

Dulse is like a drug for me I love it...I'll eat it with cheese, with fruit, with meat, with nuts with fish with anything it literally goes with everything for me! Its also a convenient mineral packed snack you can take anywhere with you, and I love that they sell the raw one at our supermarkets. But I have to be careful cause I have found shells and pebbles in it, ouch on the teeth.

Seriously though if I overeat salt I just seem to sweat it away, I don't get any blood pressure problems etc. it actually feels relaxing. Now if I didn't eat any sea salt I would have some issues. So I would definitely rather eat too much then not enough.
I think it highly depends on the person and their diet though, how much salt they need.

My sister and I would collect a garbage bag full of dulse and polish it off in a weekend. We used to put it on the pot-belly wood stove for just a short time till it turned brown. Tasted like potato chips. (The thin sliced ones that come in a bag for you Brits reading this.)

Ayurveda says that vata body types need salt. That's why you enjoy it so much. Your body is requesting it. (The trick of course is to separate out need from want.)

[yuli]

My sister and I would collect a garbage bag full of dulse and polish it off in a weekend. We used to put it on the pot-belly wood stove for just a short time till it turned brown. Tasted like potato chips. (The thin sliced ones that come in a bag for you Brits reading this.)

Ayurveda says that vata body types need salt. That's why you enjoy it so much. Your body is requesting it. (The trick of course is to separate out need from want.)

I read some stuff about Vata types and indeed I fit their description almost perfectly, definitely predominant Vata.
This is one of the reasons maybe I still have warm cooked foods in my diet as well, on 100% raw I felt TOO much Vata, especially when I ate too many raw plants, but including raw meats are just fine w me as long as I have a warm meal every once a while. Before I even read the vata stuff I have already adjusted my diet to raw meats but include highly spiced cooked tubers and potatoes with salt and a lot of warming spices.

I don't always need salt though, for example I am eating fresh wild snapper now and it needs no salt as its perfect the way it is. With a lot of the warm foods I feel salt is needed.

Separating need from want is nice but the two things also go together so its difficult. For example when I need to eat meat I WANT it too....

It's important to figure out for each individual which foods they do best on to feel their healthiest, but easier said then done 

[raw-al]

I read some stuff about Vata types and indeed I fit their description almost perfectly, definitely predominant Vata.
This is one of the reasons maybe I still have warm cooked foods in my diet as well, on 100% raw I felt TOO much Vata, especially when I ate too many raw plants, but including raw meats are just fine w me as long as I have a warm meal every once a while. Before I even read the vata stuff I have already adjusted my diet to raw meats but include highly spiced cooked tubers and potatoes with salt and a lot of warming spices.

I don't always need salt though, for example I am eating fresh wild snapper now and it needs no salt as its perfect the way it is. With a lot of the warm foods I feel salt is needed.

Separating need from want is nice but the two things also go together so its difficult. For example when I need to eat meat I WANT it too....

It's important to figure out for each individual which foods they do best on to feel their healthiest, but easier said then done 

I said the part about separating wants from needs because I figured somebody would say something about the "chronics" who "need" alcohol.

Your choices sound appropo. Raw veges are bad news for a Vata type.

The snapper you are eating would have a certain amount of salt in it naturally as does any meat.

[Caveman]

Sorry to bump this older topic, but I've found that too much salt could have been causing digestive problems for me. I am now and have been eating my meat with no salt at all and my digestion seems so much better. I used to go crazy with salt and would have more frequent upset digestion.