Sodium Cycling

Grissim Connery · 10-07-2008, 05:57 PM

I sodium load a week or so before tournaments and then cut out salt to drop water. besides this, i generally don't add salt to anything (unless i mess up a meal and need to salvage some kind of flavor). recently i've been trying some of the sauces that use tamari. this has been a nice change of pace, but my water weight changed dramatically in that time. is there any benefit to cycling sodium?

Steven Low · 10-08-2008, 06:43 AM

I strongly doubt it. As athletes we want a lot of sodium so our CNS/heart operates well. If our bodies don't need it they will simply excrete it.

The nice thing is our bodies have a couple of hormones that regulate sodium and water retention so all the crap about too much sodium leads to high blood pressure & hypertension is a bunch of BS (IMO). Well, at least for healthy athletic people.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Mike ODonnell · 10-08-2008, 07:02 AM

BB do that trick for shows.....to cut weight and get cut. Outside of that no idea if there is any other advantages.

Like Steven said....I love sea salt....but stay away from sodium from processed foods as much as I can. High BP is more a response to insulin and other things like stress, cortisol, sleep. That and high glucagon tells the body to release water, not store it....hence why high protein diets can dehydrate you.

Mike ODonnell · 10-08-2008, 10:47 AM

Sea salt is also high in iodine....which is good for the thryoid. Chances are if your body is craving something....there is usually a reason for it.

Garrett Smith · 10-08-2008, 11:19 AM

Heavily sweating athletes need dietary sources of sodium, preferably from food sources and/or a good sea salt (good sea salts are not white, BTW).

MOD, sea salt is not high enough in iodine to be much of any consequence. It has some, that's true, but not enough to correct a deficiency (and many people are deficient these days). A better food source would be sea veggies.

Grissim Connery · 10-08-2008, 11:52 AM

i got a pot roast cookin in a slow cooker right now. maybe i'll wrap it in some algae tonight.

Mike ODonnell · 10-08-2008, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garrett Smith

MOD, sea salt is not high enough in iodine to be much of any consequence. It has some, that's true, but not enough to correct a deficiency (and many people are deficient these days). A better food source would be sea veggies.

Yeah I didn't mean it would help with severe deficiencies....but it certainly can help maintain daily healthy levels (so no one gets a deficiency down the road). Prevention is the name of the game.

Of course ideally we need to just all turn into sea based animals for health....but I have yet to perfect my shark formula (as that is what I would choose....Mmmmmm....surfers)

Liam Dougherty Springer · 10-14-2008, 10:19 PM

When I read The Paleo Diet a while back one of the things I found interesting was his mention of a sodium/potasium relatonship which was reminiscent of the Omega 6/3. It was stated that an over abundance of sodium would effect our potasium absorption. I had never previousely run across this. I am bringing this up because While I agree with the advocation of healthy sodium sources for active individuals should we also be worried about a potasium balance?

Steve cool post about the CNS you got any of your handy studies, honestly I will take your word I am just trying to get more savy with desifering good research reports. I'll google it too I am also trying to learn how to better pick worth while info sources from the ton of crap that will often come up in a search.

Garrett Smith · 10-15-2008, 06:59 AM

Liam,
Yes, we do always want to get a solid amount of potassium in our diets.

From what I've been reading from Cordain lately, I'm actually beginning to think it is the chloride in salt that is more of an issue with high blood pressure and osteoporosis (this was in his last email blast, not in the online newsletter)...that and the fact that most people are deficient in iodine and that allows for more spots for chlorine to infiltrate and hang around. Also, how sodium chloride and iodine interact for absorption:

Quote:

On a molar basis, there is 30,000 times more chloride than iodide in iodized salt. Chloride competes with iodide for absorption in the intestinal tract.

My ideas on the subject:

For athletes, use some salt on food, good sea salt, and not too much

Eat a ton of veggies for potassium, even consider supplementing potassium bicarb to "alkalize" the system, two birds with one stone

Get your iodine status covered (I run a urine test to check), this will help detox the body of extra bromine/fluorine/chlorine (-ide).

Grissim Connery · 10-15-2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liam Dougherty Springer

Steve cool post about the CNS you got any of your handy studies, honestly I will take your word I am just trying to get more savy with desifering good research reports. I'll google it too I am also trying to learn how to better pick worth while info sources from the ton of crap that will often come up in a search.

any basic physiology book will describe it. look up a section on action potentials, and then look up a section on nephrons and kidney function. you can probably find all of it on google