Healthy sources of sodium?

[Tama]

Al is, as I've said before, MTF trans and he (is okay with being called that until he gets the bottom surgery) has been told to lose weight. He was nearly 300 and is now about 256, and still going down.

He's been told to cut out fried anything, potatoes, nicotine, alcohol, etc, the last one mainly because the testosterone blocker he's on can mess with the liver.

At any rate he's also been told it may affect his sodium levels. I've tried looking but I can only seem to find "OMG THESE HAVE SO MUCH SALT" or "these foods have the least amount of salt" kinds of things, not GOOD sources of sodium.

Thoughts please?

[Kiwi]

Most food has natural sodium, if you eat a healthy balanced diet you should not need to add sodium into your diet. Veggies, cheese, grains and pretty much every food all contain trace amounts. If he is told he needs to add sodium I would suggest a high quality sea salt that has extra minerals in it.

Does he have a food tracker like MFP? That will allow him to track his sodium intake.

[Seshat]

In its pure form, rather than as salt, sodium is a trace nutrient. (We do need a certain amount of salt, usually less than modern westerners eat, but definitely some.)

I would recommend asking a doctor or a pharmacist what the first signs of sodium deficiency - or sodium toxicity (if he might get too much) are. Then you can watch for it for a while, then gradually relax the alertness.

As Kiwi said, a varied diet of mostly the kinds of foods eaten before industrialisation (but yay for refrigeration and snap frozen vegetables and so on) will probably provide plenty of sodium.

[Nunavut Pants]

Potassium may help, as well--it is chemically similar to sodium, and can "stand in" for it to some extent. So bananas may help...

[mjr]

Have you considered Kosher salt? The flakes are bigger, so you kinda use less of it, and you can still get the sodium. Just buy fresh foods and sprinkle the salt on them when you cook them.

[wolfie]

Potassium may help, as well--it is chemically similar to sodium, and can "stand in" for it to some extent. So bananas may help...

Check with the doctor first. The nervous system uses both sodium and potassium compounds, but needs to keep them in proper balance. For the last few years of her life, my mother had a condition where she needed to avoid excess potassium, while still getting enough sodium.

[greek_jester]

Potassium may help, as well--it is chemically similar to sodium, and can "stand in" for it to some extent. So bananas may help...

Be careful with this. Potassium regulates your heartbeat, so too much or too little can lead to a heart attack or your heart just stopping. You also need to be cautious if your kidneys are not doing too well, since it is one of the things that can go haywire when they're not doing their job.

[TheSHAD0W]

Sodium *is* salt, basically. All the health issues regarding salt intake have to do with sodium. Salt is simply the richest source of it, and the chlorine ions that come with it are essentially unremarkable. If you're low in sodium, ingesting it via salt is perfectly fine.

[Aria]

If he's eating a very unprocessed diet, he might need salt. I remember one time, after I went Primal, I had a wicked craving for olives. After eating half the jar I wondered what had just happened and realized, with a start, that I hadn't eaten anything salty for 3 days. My body knew what I wanted.

So I would suggest olives. If olives taste AMAZING, you needs salt, eat more olives. If they're meh, you're good, stop eating. That's my way of handling salt, anyway.