Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sodium

Worried about drain cleaner

cellphone — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:25:02 -0800

Am I being too paranoid about drain cleaner? I poured a whole bottle of Works drain opener down my kitchen sink and it didn't work. I didn't want to let a bunch of HCl sit in a steel sink overnight so I poured 2 pounds of baking soda into the sink (slowly, wearing rubber gloves, mixing it up gently), and it looks like it's stopped reacting. Can I go to bed not worrying about damage to my sink or fumes from the drain cleaner? I had the window open for the last hour or so.

How is sodium in foods calculated?

captain cosine — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:19:55 -0800

Question about nutrition information - For products like pickles and olives, which are usually packaged in jars with brine, does the total sodium content listed on the facts (amount per serving x number of servings) include the amount in the liquid? Also, for items such as tortilla chips, where a lot of salt and seasoning tends to fall off the chips and collect at the bottom of the bag during shipping, does the total sodium content include the stuff at the bottom? or do they instead take a serving size from the bag, as someone eating the chips would do, and analyze it that way?

Also, a distantly related question (linked only by nutrition labels as the subject): I know that beer companies are not required to put the nutrition info on the bottle itself, but are they required to do an analysis of their products and have the information available somewhere? I'd really like to know how many calories are in that bottle of Chimay Blue or Stone Smoked Porter.

Taking grains of salt seriously

jammy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:46:36 -0800

SaltFilter: Looking for a good book or online resource that helps one calculate the amount of salt in various kinds of food - down to the grain if possible. I've googled a bit & found a few things but I'm looking here for personal recommendations (i.e., a book that you found helpful, well-written, clearly laid-out, etc.). Thanks.

Imagine a world...with no movie theatre popcorn...

sararah — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:06:06 -0800

A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Meniere's Disease -- basically chronic vertigo and other inner ear/balance issues. The first course of treatment is through diet: very low salt and no alcohol. The trouble is he still eats like he is in college... My friend has been having vertigo episodes for a few months now and after a docket of tests the doctors have come up with the diagnosis of Meniere's Disease. The verdict: no (or very little) alcohol and a fairly low-sodium diet (around 1800 mg daily right now).

My friend's diet consists of sodium laden convenience foods like frozen pizzas, frozen french fries, lunch meats, canned soups, etc. It would be a lot easier to help him eat better were he not halfway across the US, away from his girlfriend and most of his friends who would gladly batch cook healthier meals for him were it more convenient. He's coming to visit in October so we will have the chance to teach him how to cook some stuff.

I am looking for easy, simple low-sodium "replacements" for the stuff he is used to eating -- he is not a whiz in the kitchen and he is somewhat of a picky eater. As his girlfriend puts it, he "hates eating." He does eat some fruits and vegetables, although usually raw fruits are the extent of it.

Things I have come up with so far:
-I want to look into prepackaged pizza dough mixes (Betty Crocker, etc) to see what the sodium content is like, but the trouble is coming up with low sodium pizza sauces, cheeses, and other toppings?
-Roasted sweet potato "fries" that would have a lot more flavor without the salt.
-Low sodium batch cooking of easy soups and stews -- maybe look into getting him a crock-pot?

Low-sodium resources and recipes are appreciated. Also any advice from people who have dealt with this disease or vertigo episodes would be much appreciated as nobody seems to know anything about this strange affliction. He's committed to feeling better and we'd like to help him as much as we can! Thanks!

Healthy chips and dip?

XMLicious — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:24:31 -0800

Healthy chips and dip? Lo, long have I quested thro' the dales and deep, like Bilbo for the One Ring, seeking chips that art not crap for my diet. (That would be “crisps” for you heathen Brits. And yes, I know Tolkien was British.)

Recently I happened upon Snyder's of Hanover sunflower and corn chips. They have a very nice texture but the flavor is meh.

In dip news, I like Middle Eastern food in general. I like حُمُّص بالطحين but besides putting it in falafel I've never found much else to use it with, much less dip in it.

But… Whoso putteth these chips in this dip, shall be the King of the Britons! There's a snacktacular gestalt between these two things, creating a Nietzschean Über-Snack, that I find delicious. And looking at the nutrition facts the combination doesn't look too bad health-wise: no trans fat, not too much fat overall, average carbs and below average sodium for a snack food. Definitely better than potato chips and onion dip, in any case.

So I ask you, me droogy droogs, what sort of healthy chips / crisps do you know of that I could put in my hummus, or healthy dip that I could dip my Hanoverian sunflower chips in, or other healthy combination of chips and dip?

Body punishes red meat & sodium consumption

jytsai — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:10:55 -0800

Friend'sHealthFilter: Red meat and moderately high sodium foods make him really fatigued/tired/groggy for 1-2 days after consumption. Chicken/fish/eggs doesn't provoke this problem, so I'm not sure that it's a high-protein foods issue. Any ideas why this occurs, and how to rectify this problem?

Diclofenac sodium and Eyes

biffa — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:46:24 -0800

I'm on diclofenac sodium for a back problem but it's freaking my eyes out. They feel like they're overtired all the time and sort of wanting to focus elsewhere. It's doing my head in, especially when I am in a car or tryig to sleep. Has anyone had similar problems with this drug? Any advice on how to mitigate this?

You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!

DragonBoy — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:50:47 -0800

When I came to I was tied to a chair in the dark basement of what appeared to be a farm house. Across the table was Herr Doktor with a menacing look behind his small circular glasses. He was filling a syringe when he said "Von dose of zee Sodium Pentothal and ve vill know zee truth!" "Sodium Pentothal?" I thought to myself, what the hell is that? How does it work and I'm pretty sure there is gonna be The Wikipedia article on Sodium Pentothal leaves a lot to be desired for this fan of the thriller genre. I'd like to know a bit more about how it works in terms of brain functions and what someone feels like when they're under the influence of the drug?

Can someone 'train' themselves to be resistant to the effects of the drug?

How easy is it to get specific answers to questions or do people under its effect just tell the truth about anything?

Also, how easy is this stuff to get ahold of? Would a small criminal gang be able to get their mitts on a doseage in the US without alerting the authorities?

This is all asked in preperation for NaNoWriMo in November. I'm not planning anything other than a book and even if I were, I would never tell you the truth!

Will Diet Coke make me gain or lose weight in the short term?

web-goddess — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:39:43 -0800

Any jockeys or prizefighters in the house? I've read repeatedly that Diet Coke and other diet soft drinks have both sodium - which makes the body retain water - as well as caffeine - which acts as a mild diuretic. Which effect is greater? Will drinking a diet soda cause a net gain or loss in your weight a few hours later? First off, I'll admit that this is totally prompted by an upcoming Weight Watchers weigh-in. I'm not trying to game the system, but I would like to be sure I'm not going in there carrying any extra weight. It sure seems like when I have a Diet Coke (after drinking normal water), I end up going to the bathroom a lot more often. So in a hypothetical situation where you wanted to weigh-in as light as possible, would it be better to A) just drink water, B) drink water and a bit of caffeine, or C) drink nothing at all? I've done some Googling and while I can find references to both the "water retention" and "makes you pee more" effects, I can't find anything that suggests whether they cancel each other out.

I'd just like to stress that I know Diet Coke isn't healthy and if I were a truly good person (that was sarcasm), I wouldn't drink it at all. But dammit, I've lost nearly fifty pounds in the past year and I need to feel like I have one tiny vice left. I've just always wondered whether I should cut it out on Weight-In day or not. (I know that the net effect is likely to be miniscule, and I'm truly not the type to obsess about 100g... but I just wondered.)

How does sodium affect your blood pressure?

thefinned1 — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 06:46:17 -0800

What in the process of absorbing sodium causes an increase in blood pressure What in the process of absorbing and incorporating sodium into the human body actually causes an increase in blood pressure and/or heart disease?
Is it constricting blood vessels?
Is it change in heart beat?
Something else?