Why does salt make me feel full?

Jools Holland

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35
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  1. Vegan
Does anyone know why adding salt to my meals makes me feel progressively fuller and make me stop eating at an earlier point? When I don't put any salt in my meals it seems like I never stop eating because I never feel satisfied and full.

I just find it strange because I'm aware that the research indicates that people who increase their salt intake are more likely to eat more, not less.
 
I thought the same thing when I saw your most recent post in your thread. Yes, an excess of salt can increase hunger as some energy is used to eliminate the excess. However it sounds like you have been on a very low sodium diet since going Vegan? If so, I can see why you might be craving it, especially if you exercise/sweat often.

I've never really gone extremely low sodium at any point in my life (since I've been Vegan or before) so I can't really relate. Since eating Vegan, Fiber and resistant starch from whole foods feed what my bacteria needs to produce SCFA such as Butyrate that greatly assists in feeling full/satisfied from food.
 
You probably needed salt, you need some salt to balance your electrolytes. People can actually "drown" from sweating too much and drinking too much water without sufficient salt. You also may have needed iodine, I don't know.
 
You probably needed salt, you need some salt to balance your electrolytes. People can actually "drown" from sweating too much and drinking too much water without sufficient salt. You also may have needed iodine, I don't know.

Yes, I have actually been sweating a huge amount (I think because of chronic insomnia - I think I feel a lot hotter all the time when I don't sleep well) and I was constantly thirsty all the time and would drink a huge amount of water throughout the day. Since adding the salt it feels like I have to drink much less water throughout the day in comparison now. I think I'm OK when it comes to iodine because I eat sushi pretty much every day. (Yes, I know about the arsenic in rice).

When I first went plant-based I was feeling good all the time and wasn't having the problems that I was having and I think it was because I was following John Mcdougall's advice and putting salt on all my meals. I have been massively limiting my salt intake over the last year or so and I think that's when my problems seemed to get a lot worse.

I should not have listened to Michael Gregor and his recommendations that you can get all the sodium you need from a low-salt plant-based diet. You can't make broad statements about things like this because there is too much individual variability and interactions between different variables. This has reminded me to be skeptical whenever I hear scientists make absolute claims like this.
 
Yes, I have actually been sweating a huge amount (I think because of chronic insomnia - I think I feel a lot hotter all the time when I don't sleep well) and I was constantly thirsty all the time and would drink a huge amount of water throughout the day. Since adding the salt it feels like I have to drink much less water throughout the day in comparison now. I think I'm OK when it comes to iodine because I eat sushi pretty much every day. (Yes, I know about the arsenic in rice).

When I first went plant-based I was feeling good all the time and wasn't having the problems that I was having and I think it was because I was following John Mcdougall's advice and putting salt on all my meals. I have been massively limiting my salt intake over the last year or so and I think that's when my problems seemed to get a lot worse.

I should not have listened to Michael Gregor and his recommendations that you can get all the sodium you need from a low-salt plant-based diet. You can't make broad statements about things like this because there is too much individual variability and interactions between different variables. This has reminded me to be skeptical whenever I hear scientists make absolute claims like this.

All you have to do is soak and rinse your rice to prevent contamination.

As for plant based doctors, though they mostly offer sound advice, I feel like some of it is better applied to people with existing health problems like heart disease or morbid obesity. Sure there are people of average weight who are fit who can eat these low salt or no oil diets, but low salt can be dangerous in some people. And while no oil might work for some people, it can also make some people overly thin or their skin dry. I've considered doing no oil for a while, but I see it more as a weight-loss mechanism than a way of life. I think the rare vegans who die of heart disease likely do so due to things like inactivity, drug or alcohol abuse, stressful lifestyles, or smoking than using olive oil.