Sodium

Sodium gets a bad rap. You have probably heard that sodium should be limited because it could impact blood pressure. Which can be true, but sodium also has some super important roles in the body and reducing it too much can also be a problem! In this episode we talk about sodiums important functions that it does for the body - and the very important difference between sodium and salt.

HTMA - https://metabolismmakeover.thrivecart.com/htma/?affiliate=mmwithbaylee

Buoy - https://justaddbuoy.com/collections/all?snowball=BAYLEE69699&utm_source=snowball&utm_medium=default-program&utm_campaign=BAYLEE69699

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Featured Mocktails:
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Orgain - https://www.instagram.com/drinkorgain/
BUBS naturals - https://www.instagram.com/bubsnaturals/

**The information provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional or your physician before starting any new supplement. Individual needs and circumstances vary, and only a healthcare provider can determine what is appropriate for your specific situation.**

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee: 0:23

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minute. This is Bailey.

Brianna: 0:28

And this is Brianna.

Baylee: 0:30

This week, I am drinking, we're back to poppies, I'm doing the watermelon one, which I do like, even though I usually don't like watermelon flavored things.

Brianna: 0:37

Sweet. I haven't tried that one yet. I'm having a half calf, which is a dumb idea. It's a dumb idea at 4 o'clock, but it's a half calf.

Baylee: 0:45

terrible idea.

Brianna: 0:46

And I know this. I know this. But I added some I usually do further foods. Collagen. But I did Orgain because it was at Costco and it was like on sale. It's pretty good. And then the Bubz Natural MCT oil. So it's like some stuff with it, but I know I'm gonna regret this.

Baylee: 1:03

When you're tired tomorrow because you couldn't sleep, you'll know why.

Brianna: 1:05

Yeah, exactly. It's like that vicious cycle, but I'm hoping half, half and maybe I won't drink it all.

Baylee: 1:11

This week, we are talking about sodium. This is a essential mineral that your body needs, but a lot of us tend to fear it, so we're gonna, we're gonna talk about its purpose. If you might need more, signs that you might need more, we're gonna do a deep dive on sodium. Because it's something we've talked about a couple times that, like with the electrolytes, they all have sodium in it.

Brianna: 1:38

Yes. Well, I think, I think it's because people interchange sodium and salt. Sodium is like the natural, mineral and then salt is sodium chloride. So it's a little bit different, but sodium, helps with fluid balance and hydration digestion and cell signaling. And it also helps like muscle cramps, but that's kind of like the cell signaling. So, you

Baylee: 2:02

Yeah. Muscle contractions. Kind of texture brain. It's also going to play a role in like blood pressure, which So with sodium, it is an electrolyte. And it's as far as like your fluid balance and your hydration, it's going to regulate the amount of water inside and outside your cells. So how it works is sodium basically attracts and holds it. On to water. And that's what helps your body maintain those proper hydration levels. Going to work with potassium as well to balance the fluids inside and outside the cells, preventing the dehydration and water retention. Now, when sodium levels drop too low, your cells can actually swell and lead to confusion, fatigue, and even, like, brain swelling in severe cases, where too much sodium can pool excess water to the bloodstream and increase your blood volume and blood pressure, which is why we have been taught to fear sodium, and everyone is very nervous to add electrolytes, especially electrolytes with a little bit of higher sodium in it. Not to say that everyone needs like element one at the thousand milligrams of sodium. Not everyone probably needs that. I honestly, I don't do well with a full element in one day, I do have or I can sometimes do a full one in one day, but I can't do it like multiple days in a row.

Brianna: 3:23

Yeah, I don't think I drink enough water to need a full element all the time.

Baylee: 3:30

Yeah. And

Brianna: 3:30

That's just me, because I'm really not great at drinking water, no matter how many water bottles I have. But yeah, and everybody is scared of it. And my whole thing is like, it's because Potassium and sodium play together, and so I'm like, if we just increase our potassium, a lot of this wouldn't be such an issue, because potassium helps to lower blood pressure. And so they work, they work together, but you need it. This is why, you know, if you're constantly peeing all the time, you probably need to have more salt. You need to retain that water a little bit, actually hydrate your cells. But this is why like athletes and people in hot climates and on low carb diets need to replenish sodium to avoid like muscle cramps, dizziness, spasms, dehydration, because you lose it and sweat.

Baylee: 4:17

I think we always think about sodium in terms of hydrating, but we also, we don't always think about in terms of digestion. So it's also going to affect your digestive health by Well, sodium basically helps stomach acid be produced. So, sodium chloride, or salt, is a key ingredient for producing hydrochloric acid, which you need to break down your food and absorb your nutrients. So, if you have low sodium intake, it can lead to poor digestion, bloating, and even some acid reflux. So, we want to make sure we have it in these terms as well. It doesn't just have to do with the dehydration or hydrating. It also has to do with like, Digesting your food and nutrient absorption and even like supporting the gut barrier because sodium is going to help maintain a healthy gut lighting and help prevent issues like leaky gut.

Brianna: 5:11

So it's very important. I think we fear it a lot, but if you do it correctly, it's excellent and you need it. And there's a lot of, I think, negatives from having too low of salt, to be completely honest. Now, if you have like severe blood pressure, stuff like that, or like a kidney disease. Okay, you're going to need to talk to your doctor about your specific limits, but for the most part, you get much more not great side effects from having too low of salt, in my opinion. But too much sodium can lead to that high blood pressure, also known as like hypotension. Obviously, when you consume too much sodium, your body is going to retain more water. That balance is going to be off, and so it increases your blood pressure, because it increases your blood volume. So this puts pressures on, you know, the blood vessel walls. Not great to have a long term high. blood pressure. Because we know over time it can lead to things like heart disease, risk of stroke, kidney issues, et cetera. I find it so interesting when people are terrified to do something like Element, but then they'll go to McDonald's because you are getting the majority of your salt, you know, sodium chloride from processed foods, fast foods. Those are the major culprits of excessive sodium intake, not salting your food at home or drinking something like Element or drinking an electrolyte drink. In my opinion,

Baylee: 6:31

And that's what I like to point out too because everyone's nervous to like start electrolytes. I don't know what it is about them because we're not scared about Gatorade, but

Brianna: 6:40

we just, I think people don't know, I think, you know,

Baylee: 6:43

And that's how, yeah, you would go grab a burger and fries just fine. Kind of same thing. Not really, but like sodium wise, it can be kind of the same thing. And I also like to point out that usually as you start working with us, you are going to gear more towards whole foods. So if you were also someone who went from more processed foods, you're going to more whole foods, you're naturally decreasing that salt intake. You probably need to make sure you're getting enough, like, real mineral salt now at this point. Because your whole food is not going to just naturally have as much salt because we don't need to preserve it. We don't need to just make it shelf stable. We don't need these things. That process foods have and

Brianna: 7:30

so adding some salt and I would say, you know, not all salt is created equal. So we have regular table salt. It's highly refined and it's stripped of most of its minerals. And it contains additives like anti caking agents. It's all sorts of things and it, it does do a good job at providing sodium, but it lacks the benefits found in more natural salts, like your mineral salts Himalayan pink salt, Celtic salt, Redmond sea salt. They all contain trace minerals, trace minerals, and they're all a little bit different. Like some have a little bit more magnesium, some potassium, calcium, et cetera. So these minerals especially can really help with hydration, that muscle function overall wellbeing. They're just not the same as like your typical table salts and again everything works together in the body Our body needs all of these minerals working together and you're not getting that from just regular salt

Baylee: 8:21

I've talked about it before but the company buoy that I've mentioned so they actually have like a squeezer that is Trace minerals or and it has salt or sodium and it I really like it and you can definitely tell there's like real mineral Salt in it, so we'll drop that link in the comments as well because you can get a discount through there But that's a great one to add or yeah balance easy really available. So yeah, you don't need a ditch salt altogether or especially table salt, but maybe start including like a real mineral rich. salt, that's going to help give you some of those other benefits that Brianna mentioned. And overall, like generally guidelines recommend to limit salt intake to about 2300 milligrams. So not to say that everyone needs to like go above that. But again, when you're switching to more whole foods, you're naturally declining. So if you're only even getting like 500 milligrams at three meals a day. You only have 1, 500, so consider that when you're thinking about your meals as well. They're not as processed. You might need to add salt, and that's okay. It's just, again, finding that balance is everything in moderation for your needs. Some people are going to be more sensitive to sodium than others, meaning they might see a bigger blood pressure spike from too much. So if you have high blood pressure, you would want to like reduce your processed food for the sodium while getting enough whole foods with quality salt.

Brianna: 9:57

because you still need it.

Baylee: 9:59

yes, you

Brianna: 9:59

I have to tell people that all the time. You still need it.

Baylee: 10:03

Yes, I've actually gotten to a point my sodium was pretty low when I was interning

Brianna: 10:07

Mm hmm.

Baylee: 10:08

at the time I was also renally passing out and Like no one said anything about my sodium levels being on the low end My potassium levels were also on the low end and as soon as I started electrolyte drinks, I have no issues So like

Brianna: 10:24

I think that's what's

Baylee: 10:25

it on anxiety.

Brianna: 10:27

you're like, no,

Baylee: 10:28

It's my bedrolls

Brianna: 10:31

And I think that's what people, like anyone who's ever tried like a mineral mocktail or done an HTMA and they're doing it like, you know, certain types of minerals, including salt or, you know, sodium and potassium. especially sodium, they notice like energy, like they feel more energized, those sort of things. Like,

Baylee: 10:49

and I want to clarify that too, because I do have questions like, Oh, if it's giving me energy, can I do it at night? So I will do like an electrolyte drink seven o'clock at night or whatever. It's not keeping me up. It's not like you're doing an energy drink. It's basically your body is getting the parts that it needs to run a little better. That's what the energy is from. It's like normal energy, not I'm on crack energy.

Brianna: 11:14

no, yeah, like the energy your cells need to properly function and do their thing. And I will say, you know, again, everybody is individual. It could help working with someone, especially if you do have some of those health conditions that we talked about, cause it could be daunting and scary. But again, if you really just cut down your sodium intake from processed foods and fast foods. you're on a great start. So there is some ways to hopefully include sodium in your diet without overdoing it. You could use those mineral rich salts like we talked about. You can incorporate whole natural salty foods like seaweed, olives, pickles like fermented low additive versions. Bone broth is a great one. And then, you know, you can balance it out with Potassium and magnesium again, I think the recommendation for potassium is like almost 4, 000 milligrams per day. If you were to look up the potassium amounts that are in certain foods, you'd see like, oh gosh, I'm probably not even meeting half of that. So potassium is found in like avocados, bananas, potatoes, dried apricots, those sort of things.

Baylee: 12:21

Yeah, for potassium, about 2, 600 milligrams is recommended if you're a female, 3, 400 milligrams for male, 2, 900 milligrams if you're pregnant. And yeah, that's kind of just average guidelines. You could need more. So, that's where, like, html testing can be super helpful. We'll go ahead and drop a link for htma testing and the notes as well, because it will assess your mineral status and kind of let you know like, hey, you need sodium, you need potassium, you need magnesium, whatever it is. I'm actually, I need, I need potassium right now. So I've been doing my electrolyte drinks with coconut water. And so focusing more on those potassium rich foods as well, like avocados, bananas, potatoes.

Brianna: 13:07

Yeah. And two, those recommended amounts are if you're not deficient. So again, knowing that we're using these every day for all of our cellular processes, if you are deficient, you're going to need more, which I think the majority of people are. Maybe not on a lab test necessarily deficient in potassium, but definitely in like on HTMAs. And again, we find these intracellularly and extracellularly, so a lab doesn't always give you a great indicator of like where it's at.

Baylee: 13:36

Signs that you might need more sodium in case you're wondering, I don't know, do I need more or do I need less? So just a quick snippet. If you have like frequent muscle cramps or muscle weakness, dizziness, low blood pressure, fatigue, brain fog, excessive thirst, or like Brianna mentioned, the frequent urination, like if you're always peeing, you might. Not actually be absorbing that water. You're just paying it out. Headaches are a big one. I Always know if I have been slacking a little bit on my electrolytes. I get headaches and I cure myself with electrolytes. Weird how it works.

Brianna: 14:10

Weird.

Baylee: 14:11

Yeah. And it could also be like cold hands and feet. So low sodium levels can cause poor circulation.

Brianna: 14:17

Mm hmm.

Baylee: 14:18

Just some things to think about. And also like specifically, if you're an athlete, if you've been doing low carb, if you're in very hot climate areas, or just, you know, you have low blood pressure, those are just some reasons you may need some more sodium. Again, a disclaimer from this episode. This is not medical advice personally for you. This is just general nutrition information.

Brianna: 14:45

Yes. Just

Baylee: 14:47

Not your dietitian. We're, we're your podcast hosts at this point.

Brianna: 14:52

Yes, so please do not have very high blood pressure and start drinking Element multiple times a day and tell your doctor that you listened to a podcast where dietitians told you it was fine because they are going to be very upset with us.

Baylee: 15:05

Yeah. We're just getting your wheels turning to see what's going on there. We're, we're turning your wheels.

Brianna: 15:11

what it is, because I mean, like you said, people are very scared. I just think we don't know, like, what are electrolytes, like, what do they do? It sounds scary. So we're just filling you in on one of the key electrolytes. What it does, why it's important, why you don't need to fear it, and why maybe you need to switch up your intake a little bit.

Baylee: 15:29

Yeah. One of our key goals of this podcast is to educate. So that's exactly what this episode is for. And when this episode airs, it's going to be Thursday, January 30th. And The next day tomorrow, when you're listening, will be Friday, January 31st, We're going to be talking about 25 and Fine, so be sure you join us. You can sign up through our Instagram. If you can't find the link, just send us a message and we can send it to you. But we're going to try and do these once a month, just to pick a specific topic, and it's almost like you get to join us for a live podcast episode, and you have some like Q& A time.

Brianna: 16:07

More interaction with us. We think it'll be fun.

Baylee: 16:10

Yes. Alright, everyone. Short and sweet episode for you today. And we will be back next week with a new topic. Bye.

Brianna: 16:18

bye.