Training & Nutrition - Salt

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Tony V
03-24-08, 10:39 PM
Hope somebody out there can help me out.Over the weekend in my cycling group the conversation of salt came up.Some of us have salt in our diets while other ones don't.What I want to know is,what is to much and what is not enough?We all do about 150 KM. per week,and we are purely recreational riders.Hope some can help me out.
Cheers,Tony.

Az B
03-24-08, 10:42 PM
I asked my doctor this question and he told me that if I eat any kind of processed foods or fast foods in a week, I'm getting plenty of salt. Probably still too much.

Az
El Julioso
03-25-08, 11:19 PM
1,600-2,400mg./day is generally recommended. If you lose a lot of salt through perspiration, you will need more. The average American consumes about 6,000mg. of sodium per day, BTW, and the average for Australians is probably similar. Getting enough salt is very easy; getting the right amount is harder, with salty processed foods in abundance, but it's still very doable.

Apus^2
03-26-08, 06:08 AM
My kidneys work fine, I drink lots of water, I sweat a lot, thus I eat all the salt I want.
kuan
03-26-08, 06:21 AM
One gram per quart approximately, that's what you sweat, exercising or not. Two grams is not much. That's less than half a teaspoon.
ericgu
03-26-08, 10:17 PM
Hope somebody out there can help me out.Over the weekend in my cycling group the conversation of salt came up.Some of us have salt in our diets while other ones don't.What I want to know is,what is to much and what is not enough?We all do about 150 KM. per week,and we are purely recreational riders.Hope some can help me out.
Cheers,Tony.

Short answer:

Generally, you only need to start thinking about salt when you're on rides more than 3 hours. *but*, if you are sweating hard and/or you eat a low-salt diet, it can be a factor earlier.

Long answer:

I wrote this after I had a couple incidents last year WRT salt.

http://riderx.info/blogs/riderx/archive/2007/08/17/the-importance-of-staying-salty.aspx

Let me know if you have any questions.