How much salt shoud you have in a day

I see that on labels they have the SALT content .... And I was wondering how much should you have and be in a healthy level....

I just read somehwre that sodium intake should be approx 2400 mg a day equal to one teaspoon of salt. So I guess thats tha amount of salt allowed per day.

Original Post by sugandhi24:

I just read somehwre that sodium intake should be approx 2400 mg a day equal to one teaspoon of salt. So I guess thats tha amount of salt allowed per day.

Oh wow I don't consume any were near that... Thanks....

Hey,

 I've checked into this, and most nutritionists say that you should try not to exceed 1200 mg/day. . . this can be difficult based on the kinds of foods you are eating, but I eat pretty healthy and I'm normally right on that mark.

 

The recommendation is to not exceed 2400 mg, but if you have high blood pressure,  they say to be around 1500mg. That will usually lower your blood pressure. 

Wow, I didn't know that, I have hypertension and so to please my doctor I try not to use too much salt in one day but it seems like everything has salt in it, does anyone know how much salt soy sauce has in a tablespoon?  I use quite a bit of soy sauce.

It is possible to see how you rate in the salt department when you do an analysis of your log.  Select analysis, select a range, of say 7 days, then select analysis.  A pie chart is shown, along with a grade.  Listed below that is a summary of each day.  If you HOVER your mouse over the link for the day, it will give you another summary, which includes Cholesterol, Sodium, Vitamins A & C, Calcium and Iron. 

Bear in mind that the percent shown is that of an average 2000 calorie diet, and therefore, if you took in 2350 mg of sodium on a 1200 calorie diet, you are at roughly twice the norms...eg... if you ate twice as much of the same food, the total would be 4700, and the recommended norm is around 2500 a day.

Remember too, that the figure is only as reliable as your reporting.

I try not to go over 1000.

i think 2500 is a recommended maximum, not a norm.  most sources recommend much less.  it's  virtually impossible in the western world to get too little sodium, because it's added to so many foods.  best policy is to shoot for as little as possible. 

if i eat only foods i've prepared from scratch, i can have days as low as 700.  i figure this helps to balance out those bad days.

Here's a website I found when I was searching for how much sodium I should have in my diet daily.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sodium/NU002 84

Thought you might be interested.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

i think 2500 is a recommended maximum, not a norm.  most sources recommend much less.  it's  virtually impossible in the western world to get too little sodium, because it's added to so many foods.  best policy is to shoot for as little as possible. 

if i eat only foods i've prepared from scratch, i can have days as low as 700.  i figure this helps to balance out those bad days.

I don't get the suggestion that this is a maximum from this explanation about the 2000 calorie diet on Calorie Count... "The FDA food labeling standard adopts the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) from the average USDA 2,000 calorie dietary guidelines "  However, your point about aiming lower is well taken.

Calorie Count also checks sodium, if you look at your daily analysis you will see the sodium content.

I think most people would be surprised at how much higher their sodium content is than they thought. It's in everything including milk.

Experts recommend no more than 2400mg per day, the human body only needs about 500mg per day to function. I try to keep my intake as low as possible as I'm prone to water retention.