Salt

[Stavia]

Is it a problem if my BP is always great at about 110 or less?
I eat heaps.

[Tincup]

Is it a problem if my BP is always great at about 110 or less?
I eat heaps.

If you are keto (i.e. low insulin), you need salt. What happens is that as insulin drops (because you are restricting carbs and also protein to a certain extent), it signals the kidneys to excrete sodium. When insulin is high, it signals the kidneys to conserve or retain sodium. Ref: http://www.amazon.com/High-Blood-Pressu ... 0892819758 Long time low carb researchers Phinney and Volek: http://www.artandscienceoflowcarb.com/books/ note that a low carb diet should not be a low sodium diet. About 5 grams per day, or 2 teaspoons of table salt, will help prevent these symptoms. See: http://www.ketotic.org/2012/05/keto-ada ... ow-to.html In my case, though I salt food, because it is all from whole food, it tends to be a low salt diet before adding salt. I probably don't add more than a couple of grams a day. I tend to be in mild to moderate ketosis (0.5-2 mmol/L serum ketones) all the time and have been adapted for 5-6 years. I think this is very individual. I only had one time, after adaptation, where I symptomatically needed to add salt (fairly lethargic on a day of skiing - in the middle of the day, drank a cup of miso soup, basically salt water and immediately went out and was my normal hard charging self). I did not know about this during adaptation and it would likely have been very beneficial.

[asiagillett]

I am in league with you Stavia, always around 108-109 and I eat a ton and crave it.

A

[Tincup]

Also, Gundry told us to use iodized salt. Either "normal" iodized table salt or iodized sea salt.

[apod]

I appear to have entered into this same group, as I'm now very rarely over 100/60 -- usually somewhere around 95/60 or so. I've seen it a few times in the high 80's / 50's with a resting pulse down in the 50bpm range. If I recall, a low-carb diet was the most effective for lowering BP from the AtoZ study.

Lately, I'm digging taking raw / soaked nuts, tossing them in EVOO, then sprinkling onion powder + parsley + salt. Easy salty little snack (even better over a breakfast salad.) I've been craving lots of salt-cured olives lately as well... also on the breakfast salad.

I thought this was an interesting article from a while back:
http://eathropology.com/2013/05/21/the- ... science-2/

And more recently:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 095848.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 173645.htm

I've been going with "Real Salt", although I have some supplemental iodine. I like this quote from Attia regarding low carb diets -- "if you fail to supplement sodium or fail to consume enough fat, you will feel bad no matter what."

[Surfrank57]

Salt is essential for both whole food diets and low carb versions of keto (mild , moderate or deep stages).Number one cause of lethargy and PVC's is low salt and electrolyte imbalances. Enjoy you salt as long as BP is ok, no worries. In fact low carb crew and bio hackers are actually doing heavy salt now, talk about a dietary shift.

Frank