Low Carb AND Low Salt

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jim buch - 25 Jul 2007 16:25 GMT

I am wondering if anyone has looked into the combination of Low Carb and
Low Salt as an additional means for controlling Blood Pressure.

In a sense, it might not be too hard to do.

The simplest things to do are to avoid processed meats and canned
vegetables as big contributers.

I have found some frozen hamburger patties that range from 40 mg sodium
to nearly 500 mg sodium for approximately 4 ounce patties. I consider
these heavy sodium products "processed" for enhanced flavor.

It seems hard to find low sodium salad dressings, low sodium mayonase
and a number of other low sodium alternatives to common food products.

There are alternatives if you don't mind mixing up your own salad
dressings or baking your own low salt baking items, for example.

It appears as if LOW FAT is now the official healthy alternative and LOW
SODIUM is now obsolete. Most LOW FAT alternatives are heavier in Carbs
or Sodium or Both.

In marketing terms, LOW FAT is now the major "Brand" for heart heathy
foods, except for ORGANIC. And, of course LOW CHOLESTEROL still hangs in
there.

Of course, the major issue is that only a subset of people are sensitive
to the sodium content in their diet - for blood pressure response. So,
it may or may not be worth the effort. "Your Mileage May Vary".

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nanner - 25 Jul 2007 16:51 GMT

>I am wondering if anyone has looked into the combination of Low Carb and
>Low Salt as an additional means for controlling Blood Pressure.
>
> In a sense, it might not be too hard to do.

it is not hard if you make your own foods, avoiding processed

> The simplest things to do are to avoid processed meats and canned
> vegetables as big contributers.

right, canned veggies are icky anyway. i have switched from salamis and
those type coldcuts to low-salt turkey, etc

> I have found some frozen hamburger patties that range from 40 mg sodium to
> nearly 500 mg sodium for approximately 4 ounce patties. I consider these
> heavy sodium products "processed" for enhanced flavor.

i have to checkthe burgers i was buying frozen, from BJs. Anyone know?

> It seems hard to find low sodium salad dressings, low sodium mayonase and
> a number of other low sodium alternatives to common food products.
>
> There are alternatives if you don't mind mixing up your own salad
> dressings or baking your own low salt baking items, for example.

yeah, i mainly use oil & vinegar anyway. i like to use cheese in place of
salt in salads

> It appears as if LOW FAT is now the official healthy alternative and LOW
> SODIUM is now obsolete. Most LOW FAT alternatives are heavier in Carbs or
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> to the sodium content in their diet - for blood pressure response. So, it
> may or may not be worth the effort. "Your Mileage May Vary".

i like to avoid extra salt because I feel bloated and I think I retain water
if i have too mush. I won't give up my Feta cheese but I don't use a salt
shaker at the table at all and use salt sparingly in cooking.

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Bill Eitner - 25 Jul 2007 18:32 GMT

> I am wondering if anyone has looked into the combination of Low Carb and
> Low Salt as an additional means for controlling Blood Pressure.

    I think it's a great approach but difficult to stick
    to long term. Carbs and sodium are common/cheap.
    The flipside is that it takes an uncommon and more
    expensive (calorie for calorie) diet to limit them.
    It's easier to take pills.

    The way I understand it (could be wrong and/or oversimplified)
    there is a fairly linear relationship between body water and
    blood volume and blood pressure. Things like low carb, low
    sodium, exercise, saunas and drinking lots of water reduce
    the volume of water stored in the body. That reduction of
    body water relates to a reduction in blood volume which
    reduces blood pressure.

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RRzVRR - 26 Jul 2007 12:32 GMT

>> I am wondering if anyone has looked into the combination of Low Carb
>> and Low Salt as an additional means for controlling Blood Pressure.
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> body water relates to a reduction in blood volume which
> reduces blood pressure.

If you're interested in learning more about the relationship
between bodyfat and blood pressure look more into the area
of bodyfat and hormone release. Bodyfat is also a apart of
your hormonal system; with different fat stores releasing
different hormones. If a persons high blood pressure is
related to their weight than its likely a kidney and stress
hormone connection.

Fat thats stored around your middle (visceral) releases
different hormones than the fat stored in other areas of
your body -- which is why it can be more dangerous. Mainly
the visceral fat releases a stress hormone that will keep
the kidneys in a "stress" state and thereby keeping them
from releasing sodium.

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Doug Freyburger - 25 Jul 2007 19:09 GMT

> I am wondering if anyone has looked into the combination of Low Carb and
> Low Salt as an additional means for controlling Blood Pressure.

Reduced blood pressure seems to be one of the most common
results of low carbing. Maybe even the most common result.
Mine pegged at normal by the end of Induction and has stayed
there ever since even when my adherence to maintenance is
poor and I recall plenty of others saying it happened to them as
well.

Because of this most of the folks who ask about combining low
salt with low carb are newbies who haven't experienced it
themselves yet. Most does not equal all as you point out!

> In a sense, it might not be too hard to do.

Tedious - Here's a pickaxe. Move that mountain two paces left.

Hard - Here's a Q-tip. Use it to shatter a giant cube of solid
titanium.

Using these not-quite-completely joke definitions, it would be
tedious but not hard. Restaurants add salt to pretty much
everything and you've already mentioned processed foods.

If you always ate foods that came from the green grocer and
butcher and cooked for yourself all the time you could control
salt. That would sure be healthy eating!

> Of course, the major issue is that only a subset of people are sensitive
> to the sodium content in their diet - for blood pressure response. So,
> it may or may not be worth the effort. "Your Mileage May Vary".

Some restaurants know how to handle low salt requests. The
only ones that can't be trained to handle it for a regular customer
are the ones with language barrier issues. Low salt requests
aren't that rare.

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Aaron Baugher - 26 Jul 2007 02:41 GMT

> I am wondering if anyone has looked into the combination of Low Carb
> and Low Salt as an additional means for controlling Blood Pressure.

> Of course, the major issue is that only a subset of people are
> sensitive to the sodium content in their diet - for blood pressure
> response. So, it may or may not be worth the effort. "Your Mileage
> May Vary".

I haven't studied it enough to speak authoritatively or anything, but
I suspect that much of the anti-salt pressure is an off-shoot of the
anti-fat hoax. Salt tends to go with fatty foods: meat, eggs, gravy.
Not so much with fruit and sugary desserts. So when fat (especially
meat) became evil, salt became guilty by association. For people who
took on low-fat as a belief system, pushing people away from salt was
an extra way to push them away from meat.

Maybe salt has harmful effects in its own right, but I wonder.
Sometimes I think if most people went low-carb, a lot of the other
so-called dietary issues -- salt bad, fiber good, good-bad-maybe fats
-- would turn out to be irrelevant.

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Aaron -- 285/235/200 -- aaron.baugher.biz

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trader4@optonline.net - 26 Jul 2007 16:12 GMT

> > I am wondering if anyone has looked into the combination of Low Carb
> > and Low Salt as an additional means for controlling Blood Pressure.
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> --
> Aaron -- 285/235/200 -- aaron.baugher.biz

I recently read an article about salt in the People's Pharmacy collumn
in the local paper. The guy always seems to give good and balanced
advice. Someone asked about how effective salt restriction was in
controlling blood pressure. His response was that studies have shown
that it's only effective in reducing blood pressure in some people.
Others see no benefit at all. He suggested rather than going on a
salt restricted diet for life to try it for a month and see if it does
any good. He also said that the average reduction is quite small, a
few points.

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