Drinking Salt Water?

[Amber Lee]

Everyone knows if your ship goes down and you're stranded in a raft in the middle of the ocean you're likely to die from dehydration, even though you're surrounded by water. This is because our human kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking seawater, you have to urinate more water than you drank. Eventually, you die of dehydration even as you become thirstier.

So how come everyone keeps posting on here about drinking salt water to get their electrolytes up? This just doesn't make sense to me and goes against everything I've ever been told about drinking salt water. 

 

[ladyshanny]

Where in the world have you seen anyone talking about drinking salt water?! I'm pretty familiar with all the nooks and crannies of the forum and I can't say I have ever seen that. (Not saying it's not there, but link me because I've never seen it).

We do recommend that people salt their food. When you eliminate all processed foods, you eliminate almost the entire intake of sodium. Sodium is an electrolyte needed for human function so we do remind people to salt their foods.

[Babsie95]

There was a comment I think I remember reading earlier this week (cant seem to find it) but it referred to adding salt to their water and loving the taste. It struck me as odd when I read it which is why I remembered it... I will keep trying to find it and link back to it if I do

[SugarcubeOD]

Just now, Babsie95 said:

There was a comment I think I remember reading earlier this week (cant seem to find it) but it referred to adding salt to their water and loving the taste. It struck me as odd when I read it which is why I remembered it... I will keep trying to find it and link back to it if I do

I read that post... it would be the same as drinking gatorade which is a high sodium electrolyte drink... she doesn't drink salt water like ocean water, she puts a teeny sprinkle of salt in her water... that's what I gathered... she's only the second person who I've ever seen mention it on here and the first person said they put salt in enough to get the sodium but not even near enough to taste the salt.... it's no different than salting your food, but if you thought it was as salty as sea water, I can see where you would be confused!  I'll see if I can find it also and we can ask her

[Babsie95]

On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 1:36 PM, kirkor said:

I add salt to my water and it is so yummy.  Although when I'm doing outdoor activities with friends and share my water bottle, they think I'm weird.

 

[SugarcubeOD]

Ha ha, I just found that too... I posted a message to him on that thread so we can see what he says

[Babsie95]

I wasn't concerned personally but as Amber mentioned it goes against traditional knowledge about not drinking salt water even if stranded on a boat in the ocean  So when she brought it up I just remembered it

[SugarcubeOD]

17 minutes ago, Babsie95 said:

I wasn't concerned personally but as Amber mentioned it goes against traditional knowledge about not drinking salt water even if stranded on a boat in the ocean  So when she brought it up I just remembered it

Oh shoot, sorry, you're right!  Good memory tho!  

[ladyshanny]

I saw that post too but it didn't read to me like "drinking salt water" as the OP described above (ie, stranded in a raft and drinking ocean water). It's pretty common for endurance athletes or extremely active people, especially during heat, to make their own electrolyte beverage or take salt tablets. It's because they are sweating their sodium out faster than they can replace it and it helps prevent cramping.

The average person does not need to do this and, again, I wouldn't consider it "drinking salt water".

Note, any time anyone mentions drinking salt water, I'm reminded of one of the steps of that CRAZY master cleanse which requires you to drink a litre of water with 2 heaping tsp of salt in it every morning on an empty stomach. This creates a nearly immediate and explosive, forced bowel movement and they call it a colon cleanse. Don't do this. 

[slc_melissa]

To get something to ocean-level salinity, you'd need to add something like 2 Tablespoons of salt to a liter of water.  I am one of those people that occasionally puts salt into my water if I feel like I need it.  I add something like less than 1/16th of a teaspoon (a pinch of salt) to a liter of water.  

[Amber Lee]

No salt measurements we're given in the above quote but regardless of how much you use, wouldn't the same principle apply? 

[SugarcubeOD]

6 minutes ago, Amber Lee said:

No salt measurements we're given in the above quote but regardless of how much you use, wouldn't the same principle apply? 

Not really... it would be no different than salting your food... the amount of sodium that most people get from a standard american diet on the daily would be significantly more than what ends up being a pinch in a litre of water. 

[kirkor]

Me:

Ok not really (that's Monstro from Pinocchio BTW ) but here I filmed this just now ... it's fairly typical:

[jeffkj]

On 8/11/2017 at 3:32 PM, Amber Lee said:

Everyone knows if your ship goes down and you're stranded in a raft in the middle of the ocean you're likely to die from dehydration, even though you're surrounded by water. This is because our human kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking seawater, you have to urinate more water than you drank. Eventually, you die of dehydration even as you become thirstier.

So how come everyone keeps posting on here about drinking salt water to get their electrolytes up? This just doesn't make sense to me and goes against everything I've ever been told about drinking salt water. 

 

I add fresh squeezed lemon and a dash of salt to my water and it is yummy!

[quinnmj]

The last time I saw my doctor she told me that my sodium levels were a little low, and add to that regular exercise and being on the W30 (I tend not to salt my food much more than the recipe calls for) as well as the fact that I drink 3-4 litres of water every day - I definitely have to pay attention to my sodium intake. I can tell when I haven't had enough salt when my brain gets foggy and I start to feel a little nauseated. I usually sprinkle one of those little single serve packets of Real Salt to my water bottle and I'm feeling better before it's halfway gone.