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 feel free to share and make sure to subscribe and
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squarespace.com forward slash health coach kait 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
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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
