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Balancing Sodium and Potassium


For decades food companies have added a ton of salt in a wide variety of food products, thus a deficiency of sodium is unlikely unless you’ve shifted to consuming the majority of your food from unprocessed sources. 

Ingesting more than 3870 mg of sodium without enough potassium and magnesium to balance it out will lead to: 

  • Too much fluid swirling around in your blood

  • Overactive muscles/nerves

  • Potentially chronically elevated blood pressure (genetic trait)

Ingesting less than 2000mg of sodium per day will lead to:

  • Muscle cramps

  • Dehydration

  • Low energy

  • Nausea

  • Headaches

  • Brain Fog

  • Increased blood pressure 

  • Increased risk for heart attacks and strokes

  • Bone loss (sodium intake of <3000mg per day)

Sodium is an essential nutrient that gives you the following benefits: 

  • Regulation of fluid and electrolytes (sodium/potassium/magnesium) balance outside your cells 

  • Pulls water out of your cells and into your bloodstream

  • Excitability of muscle and nerve cells 

  • Transports nutrients through in and out of your blood cells 

The Institute of Medicine, the U.K. Food Standard Agency, and the Sodium Working Group for Canada have all agreed that consuming 2,300mg of sodium per day (1 tsp) is completely safe with no adverse health effects. However, for those who do sufficient physical activity and structured exercise, 4000mg-6000mg is likely what you’ll need. If you have the symptoms of sodium deficiency, season your food or drinks with some salt or try an electrolyte supplement to make your water more exciting. 

Where people commonly fall short is in their intake of potassium and magnesium 

Potassium is an essential nutrient that gives you the following benefits:

  • Regulation of fluid and electrolyte balance (sodium/potassium/magnesium) balance inside your cells

  • Pulls water out of your bloodstream back into your cells

  • Relaxation of muscles and nerve cells

  • Maintains the ideal pH levels of your blood 

The United States and the U.K. have agreed that consuming 4,700mg of potassium per day is optimum to balance out one’s sodium intake and achieve a healthier and more stable blood pressure.

Examples of Potassium Rich Foods

Meat/Fish

  • 1 Salmon Filet 14638mg

  • 3oz Cod/Tuna/Halibut/Trout 200-400mg

  • 1 Oyster 84mg

  • 3 oz pork tenderloin 371mg

  • 1 Chicken Breast 358mg

Fruits/Veggies

  • 1 Avocado 974mg

  • 1 C. Cooked Swiss Chard 961mg

  • 1 C. Cooked Bok Choy 630mg

  • 1 C. Kale 300mg

  • 1 C. Spinach 540mg

  • 1 C. Steamed beets 518mg

  • ½ C. Tomato Sauce 405mg

Drinks

  • 1 C. Coconut Milk 631mg

  • 1 C. Coconut Water 600mg

  • 1 C. Whole Milk 322mg

  • 1 C. Coffee 116mg

  • 1 C. Black Tea 88mg

Nuts/Seeds

  • 49 Pistachios 291mg

  • 23 Almonds 200mg

  • 6 Brazil Nuts 187mg

  • 14 Walnut halves 125mg

  • 10-12 Macadamia Nuts 104mg

  • 2 Tbsp Hemp Seeds 300mg

  • 2 Tbsp Flax Seeds 168mg

  • 2 Tbsp Chia Seeds 115mg

Chocolate

  • 3.5 oz. 70% or higher Dark Chocolate 830mg

Next Steps

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References

DiNicolantonio, J. J., Mehta, V., Zaman, S. B., & O'Keefe, J. H. (2018). Not Salt But Sugar As Aetiological In Osteoporosis: A Review. Missouri medicine, 115(3), 247–252.

Graudal, N., Jürgens, G., Baslund, B., & Alderman, M. H. (2014). Compared with usual sodium intake, low- and excessive-sodium diets are associated with increased mortality: a meta-analysis. American journal of hypertension, 27(9), 1129–1137. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpu028

Moore, L. L., Singer, M. R., & Bradlee, M. L. (2017). Low sodium intakes are not associated with lower blood pressure levels among Framingham Offspring Study Adults. The FASEB Journal, 31(S1). https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.446.6 

O'Donnell, M. J., Yusuf, S., Mente, A., Gao, P., Mann, J. F., Teo, K., McQueen, M., Sleight, P., Sharma, A. M., Dans, A., Probstfield, J., & Schmieder, R. E. (2011). Urinary sodium and potassium excretion and risk of cardiovascular events. JAMA, 306(20), 2229–2238. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2011.1729