Many popular diets these days suggest that in addition to reducing calories and increasing exercise, you should reduce or even eliminate sodium from your diet. Excess sodium causes water retention, which is manifested in the form is the excess weight. While reducing calories and exercise will eventually cause the loss of fat, eliminating or significantly reducing the consumption of salt or sodium will result in a temporary loss of water weight.

Why Do We Need Sodium?

To function properly, your body needs a little ‘sodium least 500 mg per day. Sodium is necessary for:

• Maintain proper fluid balance in tissues
• Balance of calcium and potassium to maintain a healthy heart and balance
• By helping the transmission of nerve impulses
• Helping muscle function
• Maintain the proper functioning of blood

How much sodium do we need?

For adults and children over four years of age, the FDA recommends no less than 500 mg per day, far less than the average adult consumes. Two thousand 4-100 mg of sodium per day is optimal. However, if you are African-Americans over the age of 50 or if you have a health condition such as chronic kidney disease, hypertension or diabetes, may be more sensitive to the effects of sodium. Therefore, you should follow your doctor’s recommendations.

3 main sources of sodium

• The table salt is added to our food (there are 2300 mg of sodium in 1 teaspoon of salt)
• Sodium naturally in foods such as meat, dairy products and vegetables
• The sodium added in food processing business. Most of the sodium we consume comes from processed foods on the market, which may include canned foods, lunch meats, drinks and condiments such as soy sauce. A fast food meal can contain over 1,000 mg of sodium.

Ways to reduce sodium intake

• Relax! Stress do you want salty foods loaded with fat.
• Read food labels for sodium content. Sodium can be hidden in processed foods in the form of monosodium glutamate, yeast, sodium bicarbonate, disodium phosphate, sodium alginate, sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite.
• Eating fresh and processed foods.
• Put the salt shaker or fill a salt without seasoning.
• Use sodium-rich condiments sparingly.
• Leave out the salt in your cooking and use fresh herbs or chicken broth.
• Maintain a steady flow of liquids inside and outside the body to keep your metabolism moving.
• Stay away from fast food!
• Dietary touted as so-called "healthy" may actually be very high in sodium.

Excess of sodium and kidneys

Another factor to consider when discussing the effects of sodium, as it relates to diet, is that the kidneys must work harder to filter large amounts of salt, and liver, which normally works to convert fat into energy, must work up to the kidneys. If your liver is busy helping the kidneys, your metabolism may slow down, then, do not you burn more fat as you would otherwise.

Sodium has effect weight loss?

Cutting the sodium initially can expect to lose 1 to 2 pounds, depending on the size of the body. But once reintroduce the sodium, part or all of the weight of the water return. Reducing sodium intake is an important factor in maintaining the metabolism and eliminate water weight, reducing calories, exercise, and drink plenty of water will still be the best strategy for long term weight loss.