Do you pay attention to your salt intake? We should eat a maximum of 6 grams of it daily, but the following symptoms of your body indicate that you are consuming too much salt.
Our body needs salt to stimulate nerves, to absorb and drain fluid and to contract muscles. For these functions to run smoothly, about 1 to 3 grams per day is needed. On average, however, we consume 9 grams of salt per day. Far too much, according to De Hartstichting. The organization therefore advises to eat a maximum of 6 grams per day.
5 signs that you are consuming too much salt
You may think that it’s not too bad with your intake, because you don’t add much salt to the food yourself. Yet the total number of grams of salt you eat daily may be higher than you think, because no less than 80 percent of what we eat is processed in products such as bread, meats, cheese, pizzas and ready meals.
Are you curious about how much you get daily? Then take a look at the back of the packaging of your food. If you suffer from the symptoms below, you may well be consuming too much salt.
1. You need to urinate more often
Having to go to the toilet more often is a classic example of ingesting too much salt. If you wake up at night because you need to pee and you also recognize the symptoms below, you should take a closer look at your daily intake.
2. You retain moisture
Bloating is common, and one of the reasons for this is eating too much of the white stuff. If you retain fluid, you may suffer from swollen fingers or swollen ankles, heavy legs or swollen feet, for example. This is especially noticeable when you sit in one position for a long time, during a long car ride or if, for example, you do a sitting job and then want to get up. Keeping moving is therefore the best remedy for this.
A quick fact: ducks also suffer from too much of the white stuff:
Enter #ducks no bread! #Bread is too one-sided food and contains a lot of salt. Because they leave other food, they miss important nutrients. More info: https://t.co/VipmMCrGex #staff pic.twitter.com/cnT3p2JAok
— AnimalLot Foundation (@AnimalLot) August 6, 2021
Popcorn is like a bucket of salt
3. You are thirsty, very thirsty
You probably know that thirsty feeling after a bowl of popcorn at the cinema. You get a dry mouth and want nothing more than a drink after such a bowl. If you systematically get too much salt, it also means that you are very thirsty. If you drink the necessary number of glasses of water per day and you still experience thirst, keep track of how much salt you consume.
4. You often have a nagging headache
A symptom of not drinking enough water is a headache, but did you know that consuming too much salt can also give you a nagging headache? It is often a mild headache. This headache is probably because the salt in your body absorbs a lot of fluid, causing you to get dehydration symptoms.
5. You feel like (unhealthy) snacks
If your body receives a lot of salt, chances are that you will also crave unhealthy snacks. So if you think about salty peanuts, chips and salty popcorn all day long, it could indicate that you’re getting a lot of salt.
After these salt facts, do you also want tips to lose weight quickly? You can read it here.
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5 signals from your body that you eat too much salt every day