Salt
Read the many comments below about salt intolerance
Salt Additives
The following may be found in salt as anti-caking agents (list courtisy of Pepper Combs):
- Ferric ammonium citrate
- Silicon dioxide
- Sodium ferrocyanide
- Magnesium silicate
- Magnesium carbonate
- Propylene glycol
- Aluminum calcium silicate
- Sodium aluminosilicate (also called sodium silicoaluminate)
Iodine is often added to ensure sufficient dietary iodine.
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I have been sensitive to salt ever since puberty. I would always crave salt and retain water (mostly in my abdomen) during the second half of my cycle. Then, when I would get my period, the bloating would subside and I would be ok for 2 weeks or so.
Since entering perimenopause, the situation has become much more severe and lasts most of the month. It took a long time to realize that I couldn’t just avoid potato chips and think I was watching my salt! I now read labels and generally avoid restaurant food as well as food made by others. People often say, ” I didn’t add any salt.” ,not realizng that it’s a sodium issue and salt is just one culprit.
I now follow a pretty strict regimen of 1500 mg per day with no more than 500 mg per meal. I am not one of those people who can consume all of my sodium in one meal and I often consume far less than 1500 mg in one day because I try to leave a little room for error. One interesting and very much welcome side effect has been that I rarely have urine incontinence anymore and if I do, it is after I go off my diet and eat something very salty. If you look on the web, you will find that there have been studies confirming a connection between sodium intake and incontinence for a certain percentage of the population.
After reading some of these posts, I am intrigued by the idea that there is a gluten intolerance and/or fructose component to all of this. 2 different doctors have suspected celia cbut the test has been negative. Maybe they have been testing for the wrong thing. Besides the salt problem, I have acid reflex, runny nose/cold symptoms particularly in second half of menstrual cycle, and cracked skin on my fingers that seems to be related to eating commercial baked goods but i am still trying to confirm that.
I have hesitated to try going gluten-free because I already lost 30 lbs when I switched to a low-sodium diet and while some of that weight needed to come off, I don’t want to lose any more.
Hi Mary,
I would not assume that a test for celiac is 100% accurate, especially for some of the tests.
Also, do not assume that you will lose weight if you cut out gluten, on the contrary, you may well gain weight. Most people with a gluten problem are under-weight (although there seems to be a smaller percentage that are over-weight due to gluten intolerance). Don’t worry, there are plenty of carbohydrate options available to you if you cut out gluten. There is lots of information on this site and others.
So I encourage you to give it a try.
If you decide to try it, do please come back and tell us how that has effected your salt sensitivity.
I am a celiac who is salt sensitive as was my Dad. You probably will gain weight on a gluten free diet for a couple of reasons. 1) If you are gluten intolerant you will absorb food better after you are off gluten for a while, 2) a gf diet has more starch in it than a wheat based diet. Cracking skin can be a sign of elevated blood sugar; I had it on my feet until I got my blood sugar down. I also retain quite a bit of water with menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Reflux is also very common with celiacs. You can get a home test for antibodies from www.enterolab.com. Articles are available at celiac.com and at the CSA Celiac Website under “resources” then look for “library series”. Would be glad to correspond with you about these issues if you like since I am very familiar with it. Thanks for mentioning the stress incontinence/salt connection. I did not know that and I have both problems.
I would say my gluten-free diet has less starch in it than when I was eating wheat. Why do you say that a GF diet has more starch in it?
I’d certainly like to find out more about what you know so as to share with others.
Hi Paula, thanks for the info. I understand the part about absorbing more nutrients and thus gaining weight, but like Allergy Guy, I am confused about how I would be getting more starch with a GF diet. Besides, I have always suspected that I could starve to death on a high carb diet.
I have had my glucose tested many times and it has never been high. I suspect the opposite. Sometimes if I go too long without eating, I get very cranky and I feel desperate for protein. I have suspected that my blood sugar level is too low.
In general though, I do crave sweets. Maybe it is two sides of the same coin? I will admit that the intricacies of blood sugar levels evade me.
I will check out the sites you suggested. I would be happy to correspond but don’t know how to go about arranging that.
You can correspond via this site – should be helpful for others too.
A gluten free diet typically substitutes rice for wheat. Most commercial products for wheat have a naturally higher protein content, and commercial products may add gluten to make the dough lighter and stretchier. Rice is higher on the glycemic index (how it affects blood sugar) than wheat. I find that I tend to eat more of something that is gf because it is generally less satisfying.
Our family has had problems with low blood sugar, but if we get too overweight then it flips to being type2 diabetic. Having polycystic ovary, I am insulin resistant which precedes type2 diabetic. Your body does not process its own insulin well enough or overproduces in response to sugar and starches you eat, so after you eat your blood sugar plummets and you get “low blood sugar”. Elevated insulin levels also contribute to fluid retention because insulin provokes an inflammatory response.
I tried metformin to bring down my my sugar which is borderline high, and it was very hard on my stomach. I found that if I stick to protein and the low carb veggies, the cravings go away. The Rosedale Diet or the diet at www.drhoffman.com is low carb and work well for me. If your cholesterol is ok, it allows more fat in the diet which helps satisfy you. The longer you are off the carbs the less you crave them. Some people take a chromium picolinate supplement to help them metabolize the insulin better.
Good luck and let me know if I can help.
Thanks Paula. I have been avoiding the sugar and gluten issues because I don’t want to lose any more weight by restricting my diet further. I have really cut down on how much wheat I eat but I still eat very low sodium corn chips which are gluten free but are of course high in carbs.
My fasting glucose tests are always normal but I do feel that I have a problem processing sugars. I haven’t forgotten either of these issues however and will probably address them at some point. Losing weight might seem like a good problem to have but too skinny is just as unattractive as too heavy. I used to look young for my age, now I look 10 years older. I am going to look at The Rosedale diet and drhoffman.com
Mary
Which tests are the most accurate? It sounds like the allergy test is pretty accurate, assuming it is a true allergy. Is that true? Is there a way to tell if you are allergic or probably have celiac? What do you recommend?
The main reason I lose weight is because I don’t plan my meals well and then I don’t eat much rather than go off the diet.
Allergy tests are not all that accurate. And there is much debate as to what a “real allergy” actually is!
There are several tests for celiac. I believe the stool test is the most accurate.
Do you think it would be worth the effort to plan your meals? At least have some standard ingredients on hand as a fall-back. Eat properly, even if repetitively, then you’ll have the energy to work on new and more exciting meals.
My perimenopause started at 40 (about 6 years ago) and I have noticed the tiniest amount of sodium will cause weight gain, I know sodium is a naturally occurring in fresh foods and that is the only sources I eat.No Packets no eating out.
I have about 10lbs of fluid retention which has been with me for 9 months now, my average intake of sodium is about 200mg-300mg a day. I am scared to eat anything but fresh fruit.veg and chicken as I have seen my weight go up 6lb overnight and it was weeks before that 6lb went away, if I am very careful I will drop a lb now and then but its a nightmare.
Dont have any other health issues and am very active but despite drinking plain water and being on minimum sodium, it will not resolve itself.
Wow Jean, I thought my situation was bad. Although I will have to say that I think it is getting worse as time goes on. At one time I had hoped that this would end at menopause, but now I suspect that it is here to stay.
As you might suspect, I have a lot of questions for you. I may insult you with these questions but I have to ask if you realize that frozen chicken is usually injected with sodium and also, are you sure the water you are drinking isn’t softened? Assuming chicken and water aren’t the problem, have you had your kidney function tested? I have only heard of one person who is as sensitive as you, and she has kidney problems. I certainly hope that isn’t the problem.
What does your doctor say about all of this? Other than the water weight, how do you keep weight on with such a restrictive diet? Have you tried diuretics? Are you like me? When I am retaining even a few lbs of water, I feel very much out of touch with my muscles. It sounds crazy to people who don’t experience it but when I am not retaining water I feel like an athlete. When I retaining water, I feel like a slug. I can’t use my muscles in the same way because I can’t feel them working. As I mentioned in my original post, I even become incontinent, a couple of times to the point of urine running down my leg. That is one area that has gotten much more sensitive over the years that I have had this problem and it can happen even before I feel the weight gain. Just eating the offending food can cause it within an hour. Luckily that is rare.
Did you ever retain water before perimenopause? I don’t think I mentioned it earlier but I always had very sore breasts before my period because of the water retention. Now they don’t always get sore even if I am retaining water so I am guessing that those are the months that I don’t ovulate.
I’m sure I will think of more questions as soon as I sign off. I originally signed into this website with an email that I don’t use very often but have changed it to one I use regularly so I will now get messages sooner. I would love to keep in touch so we can compare notes and just know that we aren’t alone. there must be somebody studying this but I haven’t been able to find anything.
Hi mary Z
I only buy Fresh chicken breast fillets so I hope they average at 60mg sodium each. The water is not softened no, sometimes I buy evian as its the lowest sodium one.
Before this menopause business I would retain 6lbs in week 3 of my cycle and I understand that is due to low progesterone, I used a natural progest cream in weeks 3-4 and that problem went away.
My GP ran a blood test and said my sodium levels were fine, which is really odd, but she said it meant my kidneys were working ok. The water accumalates in my thighs, I was given a low dose diuretic to see if it helped but the water returned 2 days after, was going round in circles. So the ‘diagnosis’ was ‘its hormonal’
I dont lose weight on low calorie, weight watchers or anything.My main exercise is running, I used to do weight training but when my thighs are tight, I cannot move freely enough and running and walking is easier.
Over the weekend I made special effort to eat more potassium foods, prunes, orange juice and grapefruit but all I got was terrible bloating and gained more weight. I dont think my gut is working right at all.
I did also wonder if the sweating from Hot flashes was affecting my electrolytes causing me to retain sodium from foods. I think I google it every day looking for resolutions, it rules my life.
Hi Jean,
Your chicken should be fine as long as it doesn’t have an ingredient list on it. Regarding your kidney function, did your doctor do BUN, creatinine and GFR tests? Those are the ones that my doctor did to check kidney function. (Normal results for some or all of them are different depending upon age and sex). I am still worried about your kidneys.
My sodium level is also normal although the last time I had it tested it was in the low end of the normal range.
Do you take a good-quality B-complex vitamin? I also have trouble with my digestive system and have acid reflux Th medicine I take can affect absorption of nutrients and I don’t take my B vitamins, I get sores in the corners of my mouth. B vitamins are supposed to help with hormone problems.
I am intrigued by the natural progest. cream. It doesn’t work anymore? I wish I had known about it all of those years. I am going to look into it now because I still have the breast tenderness some months.
Regarding the diuretic, I think it will only work if you take it all the time. I understand the the desire to avoid diuretics because I fight it also but you may be at the point where it is the best thing to do. Definitely watch your potassium intake if you do though. It is my understanding that some diuretics cause potassium depletion and some cause potassium levels to increase. Either situation is dangerous. My potassium was very high for a while and I had numbness and tingling in my hands and feet. Oddly enough, the symptoms can be similar when levels are too low. Inability to regulate potassium levels can also be a sign of kidney problems but my kidney tests have always been normal.
Sweating during hot flashes cannot be my problem because although I get hot flashes, they don’t cause me to sweat profusely (sounds great but that creates it’s own set of problems). And as I am writing this, it occurs to me that sweating should also help you lose the sodium, at least in theory. Did you read the recent response by Paula Mann to an earlier post of mine? She says that elevated insulin can contribute to water retention. I find this intriguing because I crave sugar and have always thought I have a problem processing it but my glucose tests always come back normal. I am going to look into that some more. You may have insulin resistance or something if you don’t lose weight on such a restrictive diet. Also, have you had your thyroid checked? There is very interesting theory (not very well received by most doctors) about Hypothyroidism Type 2 by a Dr Mark
Starr. I won’t go into details here but you might want to look it up on the internet and then get the book if it looks like it might fit for you. If anyone else were to read these posts they would think we are a bunch of hypochondriacs but they don’t live in our bodies. I also think most people walk around feeling rotten and don’t even realize they could feel better if they ate differently. I really feel for you. I think retaining water in the thighs is probably very uncomfortable and I can see how it would make exercise very difficult. Not to mention how such a restrictive diet must impact your family and social life.
I hope you don’t mind me grilling you. I am just trying to figure all of this out, want to learn all I can and want to share anything that I have learned.
Mary
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