Salt

Salt is my enemy.

After a number of weeks I discovered that carbs (both simple and complex) aren't as big an impact on my blood sugar as I thought.  The bigger impact is salt.  If I have the same combination of macronutrients, but one meal contains a higher salt content, my blood sugar seems to go up.  I'm not sure why.

Salt also seems to slow down my weight loss.  If I have a high sodium day (or two) then I seem to actually gain weight.  I burn more calories than I eat, but I end up gaining weight.  This is most definitely water and not "fat" as even the weight of the food doesn't add up to what I gained in weight.

As a result, I have needed to very carefully watch the sodium intake and, when I am close to the limit for the day (2500 mg) I start drinking water.  Lots of water.  I know, this sounds counter intuitive, to prevent water weight gain drink more water, but the act of drinking water seems to draw the salt out of my body and that prevents me from gaining water weight.  Or at least as much weight as I would otherwise.

So, how much water to drink?  The 8 cups of water per day is a myth.  There is no evidence to state that 8 cups of water is a magic number.  It's a target, but I believe that there is a better target:  the colour of your urine.  Yup, I said that.  If your urine is pale yellow to colourless then that is the correct amount of water.  I have found, through drinking lots of water, that the amount of water I need to drink varies on a day by day basis.  I am personally closer to 10 cups of water being the correct amount, indeed on some days it is even higher while on other days it is lower, but at least I have a starting point and that is important.

Salt = bad

Water = good

Simple words but they seem to be true.  For me at least.

Status for August 30th

• Weight - 342.1 lbs
• Blood Sugar - 7.4 mmol/L