It was the SODIUM!!! page

[marti783]

so for the past couple months I've been having random stomach pains and bathroom issues. Every few days I would just empty out my system. It wasn't very fun. I couldn't understand it because I am a strict Paleo eater. One theory was that I was eating too much protein. Probably twice as much as i should. So I cut that down to normal amounts and it helped a little but not totally. Then, out of the clear blue sky, I stumbled across an article discussing salt and sodium. The article mentioned how sodium helps produce stomach acid that digests protein. I thought to my self, hmmm that sounds interesting. So I went to NutritionData.com and plugged in a days worth of food and found out my sodium was at 33% of daily value! So i immediately started putting salt on everything I ate and like magic, no more stomach pains. The point of this post was to just let everyone know that might be suffering from the same thing that it might be the low sodium from a Paleo Diet!!

also, I have the Paleo Diet book by Dr. Cordain and he lists a days worth of meal that has about the same amount of sodium I was getting but didn't mention that low sodium levels could lead to some nasty side effects. strange.

[JeanPatrick]

Interesting info.

I know cordain would not recommend salt because of the sodium : potassium ratio of the modern diet (According to him, our goal is to up potassium and lower sodium). However, I believe that if you manage to get your sodium low by eating no processed foods and other heavily salted foods, a pinch of salt here and there is fine by me.

[Piscator]

Well congrats on your discovery! It's always cool when you find something that works - puts you at a higher level of responsibility for your own health. I'd compare it to learning to work on your car; you suddenly notice every sound and get real curious when something doesn't sound right.

[Stabby]

I have been thinking I should probably cut down a bit but when 90% of what I eat is vegetables, fats and meat it's kind of hard. I doubt I'm taking in THAT much but more than the body needs to utilize is clearly having at least some negative effect on me.

Damn you himalayan crystal salt!

[LessofMimi]

I would recommend sea salt = unrefined salt. I use it on everything and it's got the right balance of minerals, etc, so it doesn't cause bloat, etc.
As with most things, unrefined is better.

[Anand Srivastava]

Another thing. Its not like we need to get extra salt. Its just that our system is conditioned to discard sodium regularly. So if you reduce the salt at once it will cause a problem. I would think that if it is reduced very slowly then there should not be a problem. But how to do that. I have no idea ;-). Also have an alternative source of Iodine if you do that.

[breadsauce]

It is not cutting sodium that I find a problem (in fact, I have upped my sodium for exactly the same reason as the OP) but how to get enough potassium? I seem to manage if I eat loads of sweet potato - but that increases the carbs massively.

[jo]

Interesting question on the Weston Price site:

Q. Do we need salt in our diet, so many say we do not?
A. Mary and I discuss the subject of salt in our book Nourishing Traditions. Salt is essential to life, that is why we have salt taste buds. Without salt, we die. We need salt for protein digestion, carbohydrate digestion, adrenal function, cellular metabolism and brain development. Unrefined salt provides us with many trace minerals.

http://www.westonaprice.org/faq/793-...questions.html

I have the book Nourishing Traditions so I'll go and look it up. I do remember them saying that WP found many traditional cultures did add salt to their diet.

[tgantcheva]

It is not cutting sodium that I find a problem (in fact, I have upped my sodium for exactly the same reason as the OP) but how to get enough potassium? I seem to manage if I eat loads of sweet potato - but that increases the carbs massively.

Try bananas - potassium is huge there!

[dacec]

What are natural sources of iodine? I use Celtic sea salt, we love it....but it does not have iodine.

Edited to answer my own ?.

Food Sources of Iodine:
Asparagus
Dulse
Garlic
Kelp
Lima beans
Mushrooms
Seafood
Sea salt and fortified salt
Seaweed
Sesame seeds
Soybeans
Spinach
Summer squash
Swiss chard
Turnip greens