Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by gustavotoyota 1067 days ago
My uncle eats ZERO salt. I think it's cool if he manages to do that, but for me that is unachievable.
4 comments

I hope he consumes very large amounts of milk, beets, carrots etc. which have some sodium in them. Or at least some processed foods...

> I think it's cool

Maybe, but it's definitely not the brightest idea one can come up with.

I almost never add salt to most things I cook, and with the amount of salt in frozen pizzas, bread, and whatnot it's basically fine. The lack of added iodine might actually be the biggest issue.
Sodium is required for normal muscle function, so zero salt can’t be good.
I stopped adding salt in my cooking when I had to cook for a young baby. Pleasantly surprised to find I didn't miss it much, and pretty soon my tastebuds reset and when I eat out everything tastes wayyy too salty.
Same here.

A can of peas already has half the required daily intake and in terms of salt content it's on the low side.

I also crave meat much less now - apparently it was about the salt all this time.

What is the point of that? Sodium is vital for your body so he is just risking hyponatremia for no good reason. Plus the body is really good at getting rid of excess sodium.
I started using "low sodium" salt, which basically is Sodium + Potasium, which both are electrolytes needed for the body. I grew up eating without salt (mom cooked with no salt at all) and using this low-Na-salt was amazing .
I know the parent said zero salt but ... that's hard to believe. In the modern world if you just breath you get salt in your diet. I bet if you try with all your might to get zero you probably up at the RDA.