Question on sodium...

[GRardB]

Alright, so I'm in this health class in school (junior year in high school), and I hate it. Apparently, soy isn't a complete protein according to our text books, milk is good for you, etc. etc. Stupid stuff.

 

One thing that got me interested was sodium content in foods. My teacher said that lots of processed foods have TONS of sodium. I thought the only high-sodium food I ate was my canned prepared beans (yes, I'm half Hispanic ). But I checked out my veggie burgers and veggie chicken nuggets, and I was surprised to see 500mg per serving of veggie nuggets (which I eat once a day) and 470mg in the burgers (two a day because I have nothing else to eat at school; they don't care about vegetarians or health-conscious people).

 

So my health teacher said the words "you should be getting about 2,400mg a day." I was skeptical about this, because I've read that you shouldn't get MORE than that a day, which meant to me to stay really far away from that, but I think I might be around that value daily.

 

So what should my limit be if I want to be as healthy as possible?

 

Also, does anyone know of any good-tasting, low-sodium veggie nuggets/burgers?

 

Thanks!

Gerard

[pamela]

2,400 mg a day is considered a maximum.

 

You do need some sodium (especially as an athlete) but you should definitely keep it under 2,400 mg. You probably shouldn't be eating vegan chicken nuggets and burgers every day anyway.... so pack a lunch. I think I ate at my high school caf half a dozen times in four years. You'll probably save a tonne of money too.

[GRardB]

2,400 mg a day is considered a maximum.

 

You do need some sodium (especially as an athlete) but you should definitely keep it under 2,400 mg. You probably shouldn't be eating vegan chicken nuggets and burgers every day anyway.... so pack a lunch. I think I ate at my high school caf half a dozen times in four years. You'll probably save a tonne of money too.

 

I had a feeling it was a maximum...another reason I hate health class.

 

But I do bring lunch. The veggie burgers are what I bring because I can't bring anything else high in protein (about 30g, I'm trying to get bigger) besides them :-\ Or maybe I can? Any ideas?

[gogh_me]

Just a tip about canned beans, dump them into a strainer to drain the liquid and then rinse them off well with water. This cuts most all of the added sodium.

 

And if you want to bring burgers for class, making your own in large batches (so you can freeze half for the next week) is a good way to cut sodium and cost while boosting nutrition. Try out some of fat free vegan's burger recipes.

http://www.fatfreevegan.com/search/search.pl?Terms=burger

 

Anything you can buy packaged you can find a recipe to make it.

[Guest]

This largely depends on how much you sweat. I know cyclists in the south that eat upwards of 3500-4000 and feel terrible if they don't. Personally though I hate salty food and tend to get 1500 on most days and I'm fine. Granted even when I ate meat my doctors said my sodium levels were too low...but too low for what. I've never had any problems associated with low sodium and since going vegan my sodium levels are surely lower. I say keep it around 2000 and you should be more than safe. Not an easy task if you live on processed vegan food(or any processed food) but nobody should be doing that anyway.

[xveganjoshx]

I bet I take in a shit ton of sodium but I also drink gallons of water daily. I don't know about sodium levels for health but for bodybuilding sodium levels have to do with water retention. My muscles look fine so I don't worry about it. I only feel guilty when I may stir frys and use a ton of terriyaki sauce.

[GRardB]

I bet I take in a shit ton of sodium but I also drink gallons of water daily. I don't know about sodium levels for health but for bodybuilding sodium levels have to do with water retention.

 

I was actually just going to ask about that. So does drinking a lot of water justify a high-sodium diet, or does it just make it a little better?

 

Just a tip about canned beans, dump them into a strainer to drain the liquid and then rinse them off well with water. This cuts most all of the added sodium.

 

And if you want to bring burgers for class, making your own in large batches (so you can freeze half for the next week) is a good way to cut sodium and cost while boosting nutrition. Try out some of fat free vegan's burger recipes.

http://www.fatfreevegan.com/search/search.pl?Terms=burger

 

Anything you can buy packaged you can find a recipe to make it.

 

Thanks for the tips! Question, though: I'm bulking and some of the recipes have low sodium but also low protein. I don't get that much protein for breakfast (gotta rush in the morning), so I rely on my veggie burgers during school to sort of make up for it. Any ideas on how to boost up a 4g protein burger to about 15g (excluding the buns)?

 

 

This largely depends on how much you sweat. I know cyclists in the south that eat upwards of 3500-4000 and feel terrible if they don't. Personally though I hate salty food and tend to get 1500 on most days and I'm fine. Granted even when I ate meat my doctors said my sodium levels were too low...but too low for what. I've never had any problems associated with low sodium and since going vegan my sodium levels are surely lower. I say keep it around 2000 and you should be more than safe. Not an easy task if you live on processed vegan food(or any processed food) but nobody should be doing that anyway.

 

Thanks, for the info. I'm definitely going to stop eating so much processed or prepared food. It's hard since I'm 16 and not much of a cook, plus I don't have that much time on my hands, but for my health, I've gotta try. I'm probably going to start making my own hummus (can you believe the kind I buy has 100mg per 2tbsp serving??).

 

Thanks for the advice, guys. I really appreciate it.

Gerard

[Guest]

Drinking lots of water offsets some of the effects of high sodium in the diet but mostly just the cramping issues. It doesn't make up for the other side effects of high sodium diets...high blood pressure, cirrhosis, and kidney problems.

[gogh_me]

Sorry, didn't know you were looking for high protein. I looked through my library of recipes and remembered that I've made these before

 

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7653.0

 

And now that I've come across them again I think I'll make them this weekend. They were so good! I've never calculated the protein until just now and they're around 12g, but you could always make it a double decker

 

As for breakfast, do you at least get something? Like a fruit smoothie with protein powder and nut butter?

[GRardB]

Sorry, didn't know you were looking for high protein. I looked through my library of recipes and remembered that I've made these before

 

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7653.0

 

And now that I've come across them again I think I'll make them this weekend. They were so good! I've never calculated the protein until just now and they're around 12g, but you could always make it a double decker

 

As for breakfast, do you at least get something? Like a fruit smoothie with protein powder and nut butter?

 

The recipe looks good (I might have to subtract that teaspoon of salt, or at least use less if I make it). Thanks.

 

As for breakfast, I usually have a bowl of cereal or a bowl of oatmeal, occasionally with a peanut butter sandwich as well.

[chrisjs]

I've always heard that high sodium intake is only a concern if you already have hypertension. (Within reason, don't break out the salt licks quite yet.) Anyone know how valid this is?

[DV]

For young adults, a high sodium is probably not much of an issue unless there is an underlying inability for their body to dump excess sodium in urine.

 

High sodium intakes can contribute to high blood pressure but there does not seem to be a clear cause and effect. If there is an underlying problem with an individual's kidneys then that person may have difficulty regulating sodium. Liver cirrhosis is not caused by a high sodium intake. However, individuals with liver cirrhosis induced ascites (fluid retention in the abdominal) are often advised to lower their sodium intake.

 

Your ability to deal with excess sodium is probably good unless you fall into one and/or more of the following groups of people: Over 50, hypertensive, black, chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, liver cirrhosis. There may be other disease processes which could contribute to an inability to regulate sodium. This list may not be complete.

[GRardB]

For young adults, a high sodium is probably not much of an issue unless there is an underlying inability for their body to dump excess sodium in urine.

 

High sodium intakes can contribute to high blood pressure but there does not seem to be a clear cause and effect. If there is an underlying problem with an individual's kidneys then that person may have difficulty regulating sodium. Liver cirrhosis is not caused by a high sodium intake. However, individuals with liver cirrhosis induced ascites (fluid retention in the abdominal) are often advised to lower their sodium intake.

 

Your ability to deal with excess sodium is probably good unless you fall into one and/or more of the following groups of people: Over 50, hypertensive, black, chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, liver cirrhosis. There may be other disease processes which could contribute to an inability to regulate sodium. This list may not be complete.

 

This seems like good news to me. Although I just went shopping today and definitely made an effort to take in less sodium. I discovered that my American cheese (which I already knew was horrible) had 310mg of sodium per slice, so I've eliminated that from my diet (yay, one step closer to being full vegan).

 

Also, I made two different kinds of burgers from the recipes on FatFree Vegan. I made the Oat-burgers and the Red Lentil burgers (but I made some adjustments for a lot less sodium). DELICIOUS! I think I'm done with processed veggie burgers.

 

I still don't know what I should be doing about veggie nuggets/wings and sausages 3.

[Guest]

Its easy...just don't eat them.

 

As for being young and sodium not affecting you...sure it won't hurt you but kids that smoke cigarettes don't get lung cancer either...you pay for it in the end.

[gogh_me]

Heres a somewhat healthy nugget recipe, they're really easy to make

 

Cut up firm tofu into cubes. Press the water out of them. Coat them in Veganaise (the grapeseed variety is my fav). And then roll them in crushed baked potato chips (like lay's) or (un)seasoned breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 for 15 mins or until golden.

 

Yeah, it ain't that healthy but its so much cheaper and healthier than freezer ones.

 

I've yet to find a healthy wing recipe, but there are plenty of unhealthy wing recipes

[Guest]

I think thats very borderline more healthy than the frozen ones...chips aren't much better than the breading...if anything it might be worse...I bet it tastes great though I really hate loving veganaise so much...luckily its a pain in the butt to get it out here.

[xjohanx]

http://www.t-nation.com/article/most_recent/sodium_your_secret_weapon

worth a look.

i never really cared about sodium, but my blood pressure is too low

[Guest]

If you eat really high amounts of sodium there are still things that can happen...if not don't worry. Sodium is also very important for muscle and nerve function. Its not something you don't want to be relatively balanced in. This is especially important when you look at your potassium/sodium balance.