high salt diet

Question
My 18 year old daughter was told due to her having low blood pressure and postural hypotention, that she needs to eat a lot more salt.
i always hear about too much salt, so now I am trying to figure out just how much more does he mean without eating too much.
Her typical diet is a whole grain bagal w/ cream cheese for breakfast, an apple or banana for snack, egg salad sandwhich or tuna sandwhich for lunch with some green beans & carrots, supper is usually meat (chicken or beef) and veggies. Later she usually has a bowl of popcorn with butter or some ice cream or something similar. How can we increase her salt without forcing her to eat potato chips all day? She does not add salt to her foods as she does not like it. She does not like potato chips either. Any ideas? We need to get her bp up to prevent these near faints.

Answer
Hi Sarah,

Unfortunately I would need a prescription from the doctor to know exactly how much sodium your daughter should eat... as a registered dietitian we are not licensed to develop a prescription on our own.

Your daughter sounds like she has quite a low sodium intake--perhaps as low as 1000 mg--largely because she is eating few processed foods. Many people who don't like salt have a high sodium intake from foods like ham, bacon, canned soups and canned veggies, frozen dinners and fast foods.

If her plan (and I think it's a good one) is to continue with a healthy diet, the option is to take salt tablets just like medicine. Again, the doctor will have to prescribe an amount (I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000-2500 mg), and an outpatient dietitian at a hospital in your town would be able to help you come up with a diet plan specific to how she likes to eat.

Good Luck :)

Laurie

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