Ok how important is Sodium?

[AKIRA]

A girl that does bodybuilding and I were talking about food a few weeks ago. I said I eat a lot of cottage cheese and she said, "what about all that sodium?" It never occurred to me how much sodium is in a Breakstone's fat free jug! 450mg of sodium in 1/2 a cup? Sounds like a lot for such a small serving.

So lets say you do consume a lot of sodium. Here comes a newbie question....

What if you just drank MORE water to combat that? Does that even do anything?

 

[Doublebase]

Good question. I am awaiting the answer.

 

[Smoo_lord]

Shoot me if Im wrong, but doesnt sodium increase water retention?

 

[1quick1]

Don't quote me on any of this. I don't use table salt or add sodium to my foods but I don't monitor my sodium intake whatsoever. My understanding was if you're drinking a gallon of water a day, like you should, that as long as you aren't getting ridiculous with it or have prior issues related to sodium intake you would be fine.

 

[P-funk]

How much sodium do you eat a day? I would probably venture to guess that you don't eat that much, or at least not enough to warrent a real problem. (Yes, cottage cheese is relatively high in sodium. You can get low sodium if you are concenred with it).

Anyway, sodium is uber important in for cellular function in our bodies. Eating to little or not getting enough can be damaging.

 

[fufu]

If you drink alot of water you can progressively flush sodium out. Sure you will retain some water weight at first if you have alot of sodium in your system, but eventually you can bring sodium levels down through your urine.

 

[fufu]

Shoot me if Im wrong, but doesnt sodium increase water retention?

This is true. Not really anything to worry about, though. Generally you will need to be eating an excess amount to notice and extra water retention.

 

[AKIRA]

If you drink alot of water you can progressively flush sodium out. Sure you will retain some water weight at first if you have alot of sodium in your system, but eventually you can bring sodium levels down through your urine.

Thats exactly what I am asking.

I am not necessarily asking from a health standpoint, but a water retention point. Its common sense that sodium retains water. And I also know you drink water to lose water...so, my take is if sodium may put you in a water retention zone (ate too much cottage cheese ), then youll have to consume water to lose whatever water weight you were trying to lose BUT NOW you have to drink even more to combat the sodium intake as well.

Am I making sense?

Basically, what I am asking if if I wanted to cut or just lose weight progressively, if I consume some low calorie, high sodium items, can I just relax and know that I will just have to consume more water to balance levels out?

Cuz if I can, I still dont see the importance of sodium besides a health issue. Drinking water isnt hard, so..

 

[fufu]

Yeah. It may counter-intuitive to drink alot of water when you want to reduce water retention.

Water weight is no biggy when dieting down, just be aware of it. If you are concious of what you are eating and exercising and effort to balance things out you will be fine. Just focus on the long term.

 

[AKIRA]

Good! Then its settled. Sodium is not a big deal for vanity hungry people!