Salt (sodium ion) is a mineral that ‘lives’ in the liquids in your blood.  It is essential to life, and is integral in nerve impulse transmission.  Water goes wherever salt is.  Salt keeps water in your bloodstream.  If your blood has too little salt in it then the water ‘leaks’ out into the tissues.  Salt is so important that Roman soldiers, who did not eat our highly processed diet, were sometimes paid their wages in salt.

Too little salt leads to headaches (which can be severe), fatigue, nausea, or just a ‘blah’ feeling.  Fortunately it only takes a few minutes for salt to move from the stomach to the bloodstream.  This leads to a rapid resolution of symptoms.

Too much salt can lead to excess water in tissues (bloating), or in susceptible people to high blood pressure.  So how much is ‘too much’?  This can vary widely.  Generally only patients in congestive heart failure (CHF) need to worry about getting too much salt while on any of our diets.

We lose salt through two main ways.  When you sweat you lose large amounts of sodium (salt).  If you’re curious, taste your sweat.  So the more you sweat the more salt you lose.  During the summer add at least 1000 mg daily.  However, you DO NOT lose potassium through sweat, so you don’t need to adjust it.

Second, we all regulate our salt levels with our kidneys.  If you are on the VLCD (even if eating ‘regular’ proteins such as chicken or meat) your kidneys become temporarily ‘leaky’ and spill large amounts of both salt and potassium into your urine.  This is why we insist that you take prescription potassium and concentrated salt while on the VLCD.

Most people are concerned about getting too much salt.  This is extremely rare on any of our diets.  First, the VLCD, and even the LCD and Maintenance diets are intrinsically low in sodium.  Second, patients on the VLCD are losing vast quantities of sodium through their kidneys.  With increased exercise we all have additional losses through sweat – even if you don’t think you sweat.

The good news is that low salt is quickly and easily resolved.  First you have to recognize the problem.  If you don’t feel right, have a salt source.  If it is the problem – and it usually is – you should feel better within 15 minutes.