Those with Meniere’s Disease Lower Their Salt Intake
Physicians often recommend low-sodium diets to their patients with Meniere’s disease. That is what happened to me when I was first clinically diagnosed with the ailment. I was very diligent in ingesting less than 1500 milligrams of sodium each day as my doctor recommended. The more I analyzed the advantages of a low-sodium diet, the more I was sold on its worth.
The primary idea behind the low-sodium diet is that decreasing sodium decreases the amount of endolymphatic fluid in the ear. This minimizes endolymphatic hydrops and the difficulties connected with it. The low-sodium diet does appear to help many Meniere’s disease sufferers.
Considerable sodium consumption brings about high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a primary cause of stroke and heart disease. Since the 1970s, sodium consumption has increased significantly. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that the typical sodium intake for Americans is above 3400 milligrams each day which is substantial.
Decreasing sodium in your diet is valuable even for those who do not have high blood pressure. The lower your blood pressure, the lower your probability for stroke and heart disease. That is the point that definitely convinces me. We should commit to consuming decreased amounts of sodium.
The 2010 Dietary guidelines for Americans advises us to limit our regular sodium consumption to 1500 mg sodium every day. This is a decrease from 2300 mg daily in the 2005 recommendations.
Adhering to a low-sodium diet is probably the first thing your physician will advise you perform. Some Meniere’s patients are finding the change helpful and studies have proven that these regimes benefit, so it is clearly worth a try. A low-sodium diet is one of the most challenging diets due to the fact many foods have got sodium in them and nearly all processed foods have significant portions of sodium. The easiest way to adopt the low-sodium diet is to steadily lower your salt intake until you hit the amount your physician has targeted for you. This might not be the approach your doctor would like you to employ, but if you take away all salty products from your diet instantly and replace those foods with their low-sodium equal, you will learn that everything has unexpectedly lost its savor. I know because that is what I did. After a few weeks, your taste buds adjust to the decreased sodium level and the flavor comes back to foods in a fresh way. At this time, when you taste foods with regular sodium content, they taste very salty.
It will take time to unlearn your salt preferences. Research has shown that reductions in salt content at 10 percent a year are not detectable to one’s palette. Going from a substantial sodium diet to below 1500 milligrams daily immediately can be discouraging.
Most sodium that standard Americans consume comes from restaurants and processed foods. If you eat out, reduce typical high sodium food items and do not add any extra salt from the saltshaker. Ask that the saltshaker be removed from your table. Ask for salad dressings and sauces on the side so you can determine how much you eat.
Review food labels to learn about the sodium content of the items you consume. If you judge sodium content according to taste only, you will still be taking great volumes of sodium into your system. The most obvious high-salt foods to avoid include cured meat items, canned soup, salted nuts, potato chips, bacon, etc.
Good Luck in your quest to reduce your sodium intake and good luck conquering Meniere’s disease.
Learn more about low-sodium diets. Stop by the overcoming Meniere’s disease website and learn more.
