Thu, Oct-24-13, 10:35
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Experimenter
Posts: 25,874
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Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: San Diego, CA
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Good article from Maria Mind Body Health about salt:
Quote:
SALT and ENERGY
When clients first adapt this lifestyle, one of the first side effects is a rapid improvement in insulin sensitivity. Eating low carb starts to banish insulin resistance and causes insulin levels to fall quickly. And as insulin falls, the kidneys begin to promptly release fluid. One common complaint I get from clients when they first adopt this lifestyle is that they are up in the middle of the night urinating more than usual. I explain that this will go away eventually and it is good, but there is some bad news that comes along with it. The good news is that when you release that excess fluid, fat oxidation becomes easier. The bad news is as the extra water goes; it also removes essential sodium and electrolytes. When sodium levels fall below a certain level, which can happen quite fast, there are some undesired side effects such as headaches, low energy, dizziness and cramping. When you first start your well-formulated low carb lifestyle and you notice if you stand up quickly and get dizzy or feel faint, you are dehydrated! Just drinking water isn’t going to work like is would with a high carbohydrate diet. You need to add more sodium! You can add more salt to your food, drink bone broth or take sodium tablets. Salt is not the evil nutrient that your doctor warns you about. You’ve got to start thinking differently. Just like understanding that eating more fat lowers your cholesterol, understanding that a well-formulated low carb diet requires more a lot more sodium.
FUN FACT: A small fast food milk shake has more sodium in it than fast food French fries and you wouldn’t even know it because of all the sugar.
My favorite way for clients to get more sodium is to consume homemade bone broth. This is so easy to make, you can even do it in a slow cooker! Bone broth not only helps with getting sodium, but you also get a ton of minerals and electrolytes. Commercial broth will not have these benefits. It takes a few days to make, but I often make a huge batch in a pot that Craig had to make home brew (this was years ago… yes, we have come a long way in our journey) and I freeze it in small containers, it keeps it forever.
1. Even if you don’t have any side effects like edema or headaches, you will need extra water and sodium. Eliminating all packaged foods eliminates a lot of sodium from your diet. Also this diet doesn’t have a lot of liquids in the foods so you will want to drink at least half your body weight in ounces.
2. If you get the fierce headaches that some people get when starting on a low-carb diet, add sodium. And drink extra water.
3. If you really don’t want to make your own bone broth, you can use store bought bouillon, but please watch for MSG and gluten. Not all brands are healthy. Bouillon has a lot of sodium and tastes really good as a hot drink and can eliminate carbohydrate cravings.
4. In addition to drinking broth, I suggest you get some Celtic Sea Salt. Himalayan Salt will also work. Throw out your typical store bought salt and replace it with these. After a few months of using this salt, if you go to a relative’s house or a restaurant with regular table salt, it will taste “chemically.”
5. Don’t use these salts sparingly. These salts have been harvested either from ancient sea beds or made by evaporating sea water with high mineral content and contain about 70% of the sodium of regular salt (which has been refined, bleached and processed until it is pretty much pure sodium chloride, often with anti-caking agents added). The other 30% is other minerals and micronutrients (including iodine) found in mineral-rich seas. I greatly prefer these salts taste-wise to regular salt, it is well worth the extra bucks. Do not mistakenly use Morton’s “sea salt” which is devoid of iodine and nutrients.
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I posted for months about this in my journal and also recently started a thread about fluid retention. SOOO sick of this!
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