7 Signs You Are Eating Too Much Salt And Harming Yourself

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you noticed something like this - urgently reconsider your diet.

Salt is this: Salt - that is, sodium chloride - is not easy to give up. And there is a very good reason for this. But there are much more reasons to cut the amount of NaCl in your menu.

The life hacker figured out the origins of the human passion for salty and the symptoms that clearly indicate that it is worth eating less.

Why do we love salty so much

The answer to this question lies in evolution. Each of us is a descendant of a person who survived largely because he loved salt. And we, in fact, are alive and healthy only because our body receives a sufficient amount of salt.

The blood is salty. This is a good example of how important salt is.

Sodium and chlorine ions play a key role in maintaining the body's water balance and muscle fiber function. In addition, sodium ions are involved in the transmission of impulses in the nervous system. A deficiency of any of these two elements for the body is catastrophic: it leads to dehydration, accelerated elimination of essential trace elements from the body, weakness and, as a result, rather quick death.

Fortunately, humanity has not experienced a lack of salt for a long time. However, this was not always the case. In the days of the Paleolithic, with table salt, mankind was strained. With the exception of the sea coast, it was not so easy to get sodium chloride: it is found, in particular, in meat, so our ancient ancestors had to run for the necessary ions.

But hunting is still all right. The situation was aggravated when the mankind settled deep into the continents was carried away by agriculture, and the diet changed dramatically in the vegetative direction. There is a lot of potassium in vegetables, fruits, cereals, but practically no sodium. It was then that our ancestors appreciated the taste of rock salt, as it became the key to survival.

Then there was a simple evolutionary logic. If you think salty is tasty, it means that you will be healthy, alive and leave offspring, at the same time passing on to him the love for sodium chloride and the habit of salting food. If you consider salty tasteless, you will not leave anything. They literally prayed for salt. So, the ancient Roman historian Tacitus spoke about the Germanic pagans who deified salt springs. Soldier, soldo, salary (English "salary"), even sweetness - all these words, as linguists suggest, come from the root "salt".

Why eat less salt

For tens of thousands of years, mankind has been literally obsessed with salty. So is it any wonder that we, too, demonstrate our love for sodium chloride?

But there is an important nuance here. The human body, taught by long evolution, values sodium very much. And he tries to keep it to the last drop. This played into the hands of people in an era when salt was in short supply. But now there is an excess of it. And the organism functions in the same way as in the old, "lightly salted" times! As a result, sodium accumulates and instead of the expected good it becomes evil: it causes problems with the heart, blood vessels, stomach, kidneys and more.

How to tell if you are eating too much salt

Unless you are on a salt-free or vegetable diet, chances are you are consuming excess NaCl in one way or another. Mayonnaise and other sauces, fast food, sausages, sausages, smoked meats, canned food, not to mention traditional fish and meat, are all sources of sodium.

The WHO recommends eating a maximum of 2,300 mg of sodium per day. And this is no more than 1 teaspoon (5 g) of salt.

Fortunately, to some extent, our body still knows how to deal with an excess of salt: after all, we have kidneys that are able to excrete excess sodium in the urine. But their excretory abilities are limited.

There are some obvious signs that the kidneys are not getting enough sodium chloride that you load on a daily basis. This means that you endanger your health. These are the symptoms.

1. You notice that your thinking has become worse

Excess salt has a significant effect on the cognitive functions of the brain. Proven by Canadian scientists who investigated the association between Dietary Sodium Intake and Cognitive Function in Older Adults between the amount of NaCl in the daily diet and the ability to think quickly, learn new things, and so on. The subjects of the study were 1,200 adults, and their example of the relationship "more salt - less brains" was clearly established.

With age, kidney function deteriorates, and therefore even the amount of table salt that you are accustomed to in your younger years becomes superfluous. The older you are, the more important it is to monitor your diet closely and, if necessary, make changes to it, replacing salt with less dangerous seasonings.

2. You are often thirsty

Excess sodium disrupts the water-salt balance in the body. To restore it, the body requires more water, because the liquid will help the kidneys to excrete excess NaCl. Therefore, salty foods cause an acute thirst. Everything seems to be good, but not very good. Firstly, this is an increased load on the kidneys, and secondly, due to the additional fluid, the blood volume increases. The consequence is an additional load on the cardiovascular system.

3. You are familiar with puffiness of the face and swelling of the hands and feet

Oh, by the way, about the extra fluid. Sodium keeps it not only in the blood, but also in the tissues of the body. This is how swelling occurs. Swelling can be symptoms of other diseases. If they harass you regularly, you should consult with a therapist. Often, however, to get rid of the puffiness, it is enough to reduce the amount of salt in the diet.

4. You have high blood pressure

This symptom is also associated with the fact that sodium retains water in the circulatory system, increasing the total volume of blood and, as a result, increasing its pressure on the walls of blood vessels.

5. Your lower back hurts

Too much salt increases your risk of various kidney diseases. According to The World Action on Salt and Health, one of the first symptoms of this is an increase in the amount of protein in the urine. Also, an ultrasound scan can detect stones. If you regularly feel pain in the kidney area (they make themselves felt as discomfort in the lower back), do not hesitate to contact a therapist. Most likely, after a series of tests, you will be offered a low salt diet.

6. Your stomach hurts regularly

The causes of abdominal pain can be very different: from hunger to appendicitis. Therefore, if you feel such discomfort on a regular basis, be sure to complain about it to your doctor and follow the recommendations issued by a specialist. Yes, one of the causes of pain can be a diet high in salt: as research shows Salty Diet Makes Ulcer Bug Bite, NaCl is very popular with bacteria that cause ulcers and other diseases of the stomach.

7. You love fast food

You may not have any unpleasant symptoms (yet). But if you regularly visit fast food restaurants, snack on burgers on the go and like to sit in front of the TV with a packet of chips, then, most likely, you exceed the salt standards at least several times. And the consequences of this will manifest themselves sooner or later. Although rather early.