Table 2 shows that consumption of fresh, unprocessed foods, yields daily intakes of sodium which could have rarely or infrequently exceeded the governmental and institutional limits of 2300 mg/day. In fact, to exceed limits would require a diet consisting almost entirely of seafood and even then, the seafood would have to be primarily shellfish. It is also technically possible to slightly exceed recommendations eating only vegetables, but that would require eating a lot of celery. However, try eating enough celery in a day to hit 2300 mg of sodium – that’s 72 stalks! Perhaps 55 carrots sound more reasonable?
Are you starting to see the measures you’d have to go to on a natural diet with no added salt to exceed current sodium recommendations? Under normal food category selection by free-living people, sodium consumption would be significantly lower than the recommended daily allowance. So, readers I encourage you again to ask the simple question; “where’s the salt in natural unadulterated foods?”
Paleo dieters, consider this data. Fresh fruits contain a paltry 70 mg of sodium per 1000 calories on average, nuts supply only 10 mg of sodium per 1000 calories on average, fresh meat yields low concentrations of sodium (377 mg Na/1000 kcal), and fresh vegetables average only 1020 mg of sodium/1000 kcal.
Both Tables 1 and 2 show the implausibility of regularly consuming a combination of contemporary, normal foods on a regular basis, which would exceed 2300 mg of daily sodium. Reaching a sodium intake of 7000 mg/day, day after day, week after week, and month after month (as suggested by one Paleo blogger17, would be virtually impossible. These kinds of excessively high sodium intakes can only be achieved by adding mined sea salt, or processed salt47, 48 to natural, real foods. The Paleo Diet is not about adding salt, preservatives or any other additives to food, but rather about eating real, unprocessed foods as they occur naturally.
The Ratio of Potassium to Sodium: The Most Important Dietary Factor
Inclusion of a significant amount (35% to 45%) of plant food (fruits, vegetables, nuts, certain tubers – without added salt or sea salt) into your diet virtually assures a low sodium intake, no matter what else you eat. But more importantly from Table 1 you can see that if you eat natural, unsalted foods, potassium intakes will always greatly exceed sodium intakes under all normal food group selections.
High potassium consumption has been demonstrated to override the negative health effects of a high salt intake38, 49-52. Unfortunately, the typical western dietary pattern not only produces high sodium intakes, but also low potassium intakes, because we so infrequently eat high potassium foods such as fruits and vegetables. Worse, the western diet is high in sodium-enriched, potassium-depleted processed foods (particularly sugar, refined vegetable oils, margarines and processed fats) 26. So the message here is to reduce your sodium intake from processed food; don’t add salt or sea salt to your Paleo recipes, and definitely include more potassium rich plant foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) into your diet.
The bottom line
Salt isn't Paleo, even if it's sea salt.
There are a few key tips for keeping your body's sodium levels in the healthy range:
- Limit your added salt intake. You can do this by severely reducing processed food. Only add sea salt to your Paleo recipes occasionally.
- Don’t worry about the natural sodium content of fresh meat or fish. They only contain moderate amounts of sodium.
- Include more potassium-rich plant foods into your diet. This includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, and can help offset the amount of sodium you eat.
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