in today's video we are going to be answering the question is sodium bad for you and specifically
when it comes to low carb diets such as keto it has long been assumed that too much sodium in your
diet will increase your blood pressure and in turn your risk of heart attack and stroke but is this
really the case sodium is an essential mineral after all and it helps to maintain fluid balance
in and around our cells and tissues it is also essential for nerve and muscle function
including the function of our largest and most important muscle in the body
the heart a healthy individual will have about 16 grams of sodium circulating their bloodstream
at any given time so why does the american heart association
tell us we should consume less than 1.5 grams a day so in today's video we are going to break down
and answer all of these questions and ultimately conclude whether too much sodium is bad for you
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a health coach and i post
videos on a high fat nutrient dense way of eating if you like this video please give it a thumbs up
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to start your free trial today we're going to start off today talking about the basics what
sodium is what salt is and the role they play in our body and then we will get into whether
having too much sodium in your diet is bad for you sodium and salt let's start off by talking about
the difference between sodium and salt because these two words often get used interchangeably
salt is made up of 40 sodium and 60 chloride and it is thought to be the sodium and salt
that is detrimental to our health and that really is all there is to it sodium partially makes up
salt and sodium is essential to our health for a few reasons most of the sodium in our body
is either in our bloodstream or in the fluid that surrounds our cells and its presence is required
in order to keep these fluids in balance and as i mentioned at the start sodium is also necessary
for proper nerve and muscle function and this is why you might experience muscle cramps
when you are exercising especially if you're pushing it really hard or if it's really hot it
we lose sodium through our sweat and when levels become low we can experience muscle cramping
and this is why sports drinks are so popular with athletes
these drinks are meant to replenish electrolytes including sodium but i am in no way making a
case for you to drink gatorade drinks like this are packed with sugar and artificial sweeteners
but my point is is that it is well known that sodium is something we need
especially when we are active so i think that this campaign against sodium is a bit hypocritical
is too much sodium bad for you now the thinking behind too much sodium being bad for us stems
from something known as the salt blood pressure hypothesis the salt blood pressure hypothesis
has been around since the early 1990s it was developed off one study done on six patients
and the hypothesis is as follows eating salt drives the body to crave and drink more water
the water is retained by the body to dilute the excess sodium this retained water increases blood
volume and therefore increases blood pressure leading to hypertension and premature death
now here is the first reason why this hypothesis is incorrect the kidneys process 1.5 kilos or 3.3
pounds of sodium every single day yes a kilo and a half the average american consumes about
8 grams of salt per day which is only a drop in the bucket of what your body processes every day
is an extra 4 grams of salt a day really going to make a difference it's not likely when we consume
less salt our kidneys reabsorb more of what we already have the second fact that totally
debunks this hypothesis is that clinical studies have shown that 80 percent of people who have
normal blood pressure do not see any increase to their blood pressure when they consume more salt
none at all and 70 of those with pre-hypertension and 50 of those with hypertension are also not
affected however for those who are salt sensitive meaning their blood pressure does increase with
salt intake when they decrease sugar consumption they are no longer affected so yes there
is a small percentage of people who do see a slight increase in their blood pressure when they
consume more salt however sugar seems a little bit more at fault here now for those of us eating
a low carb diet whether that be keto carnivore or another variation sodium is extra important under
consuming it can lead to serious side effects and i'm going to get more into that in just one second
but first i'm going to take a quick moment to tell you about today's sponsor squarespace squarespace
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to squarespace.com forward slash health coach kate to start your free trial and when you love it and
decide to launch use code health coach kate to save 10 off your first order thank you again
to squarespace for sponsoring this video sodium for low carb all right so as i already mentioned
sodium is of significant importance when you are eating a low carb diet when we limit carbs
in our diet our insulin levels fall significantly and this causes our bodies to excrete more water
and more electrolytes including sodium you may have heard or experienced the dreaded keto flu
when you first switch to the keto diet and a lot of the symptoms of the keto flu are due to
this loss of sodium not being replenished the vast majority of sodium people are consuming nowadays
comes from processed food so it makes sense that when you switch to a low carb diet and you cut out
a lot of this processed food you are getting less sodium as a result and there are additional risks
to not consuming enough sodium that aren't often talked about when you are not consuming enough
salt the body activates salt retaining hormones these hormones save your life in the short term
but damage your body in the long term by harming vital organs including stiffening of the heart and
blood vessels low salt diets have been shown to have numerous negative health outcomes on the body
including accelerated hardening of the arteries compromised kidney function increased insulin
resistance increased sugar cravings increased appetite accumulation of visceral fat increased
fasting insulin and that's just to name a few our biological system naturally drives us to be in a
sodium surplus and this is because it prevents dehydration infection and blood loss and our
bodies have the ability to excrete excess sodium so over consumption should be of little concern
ideally you want to be consuming around four thousand to seven thousand milligrams of sodium a
day which is about two to three teaspoons of salt you might need a bit more if you are very active
or if you live in a hot climate but start with this and see how you feel salt your food liberally
and add a pinch of salt to your water as well but anyways that is all i have for you today
so in summary no sodium is not bad for you and if you've cut processed food out of your diet it is
pretty likely that you are now not getting enough sodium and also keep in mind that your body has
mechanisms to excrete excess sodium so you really can't consume too much let me know in the comment
section down below if you have ever eaten a low sodium diet and if you noticed any effects it had
on your body also if you liked this video please give it a thumbs up and subscribe if you're not
already and remember to check out today's sponsor squarespace i will put the link in the promo code
in the description box down below if you guys did like this video you might also like my video on
signs of hypoglycemia and what you can do about it which you can find right here if you want to
catch up on my most recent upload you can find it here and if you want to check out my keto diet
and carnivore diet coaching programs you can find them here thanks guys i'll see you next time bye