Amelia Grant

A real gift for patients with kidney problems is a salt-free diet. It allows you to remove excess fluid from the body in a few days without loading the kidneys. The lack of salt in the diet also helps those who want to lose weight. However, any coin has two sides: for someone, a salt-free diet will be useful, but for others, it can be harmful.

Essential Component

Sodium chloride is one of the most important chemical components in various fluids of the human body. It is part of the blood, lymph, extracellular space, and all cells. But in everything, the measure is good. An excess of salt, like any chemical, can cause a number of deviations and diseases: high blood pressure, kidney disease, calcium metabolism, osteoporosis, and diseases of the joints. Moreover, table salt can be a real poison: a dose that exceeds the daily rate by 100 times is fatal to a human.

What Is Normal Intake?

A person needs about 5-8 grams of salt per day. In the hot season, this dose may increase to 30-40 grams. Alas, people consume far more salt than is necessary. We salt the dish while cooking and when we sit down to eat. But often the amount of salt contained in the original products is already enough! With the most usual diet, a person gets about 10 grams of salt per day.

Doctors insist that everyone needs to control the use of salt. For this, it is worth seriously limiting smoked foods, ready-to-cook foods, and canned foods in your diet. There is a lot of salt in them, and besides its quantity is impossible to calculate.

Features of the "Unsalted" Diet

The idea of a salt-free diet is quite robust. Especially for people suffering from hypertension and heart failure - it normalizes the pressure, relieves swelling and improves the quality of life.

The salt-free diet will bring undoubted benefits for those who want to lose weight - unsalted food seems less tasty, so such diets will psychologically help to limit eating. If you combine a salt-free diet with a low-calorie diet, you can slowly lose the "extra" weight.

With a salt-free diet, you lose weight not because of fat loss, but due to the fact that non-salty food entails the loss of fluid from the body. Following a salt-free diet, you can lose a few pounds in the first four days.

But it is better not to use a salt-free diet in the summer. In the heat, a person sweats a lot, and then a large amount of useful trace elements is lost. As a result - weakness, and fatigue. It is necessary to be attentive and those who lead an active lifestyle and play sports. In this case, the body needs more minerals than usual.

Obvious advantages

The benefits of a salt-free diet have been proven by medical research. Due to the normalization of salt in the body, metabolism and the work of internal organs improves. When excess salt leaves, it helps to get rid of edemas. That is why this diet can be used for pregnant women. 

During a salt-free diet, a person at least temporarily refuses high-calorie, heavy foods and consumes healthy food. It is necessary to eat often and gradually, which prevents overeating. Since a salt-free diet is especially useful for people suffering from cardiovascular and kidney diseases, after an examination and consultation with a doctor you can even use it throughout life.

Obvious disadvantages

If you decide on a salt-free diet, remember that it still belongs to the category of hard. And not everyone is helpful! That is why it is recommended to consult a doctor before starting the course. In addition, it is necessary to provide alternative sources of iodine and fluoride in the body.

For some people, it will be better to use a lighter salt-free diet. It does not imply the complete absence of salt, but its limitation in quantity. You can start your weight loss with that. Since a low-salt diet is less effective, your results will be lower. But even a small change in the diet will be very good.