If you're feeling bloated from excess sodium, “the best tip for quick-ish relief is to drink more water and eat mild foods with potassium, like banana, avocado, and sweet potato,” says Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD. “Both water and potassium help flush excess sodium and fluid out of the body.”
Flush the Salt With Water
When you consume too much salt, your body retains fluid to dilute the excess sodium. To improve the balance, you need to flush out the extra sodium by drinking more water. Aim for at least 8-12 cups of water throughout the day to get rid of the bloat, and maybe even more.
Drinking lots of water help in clearing excess sodium through urine. If you have eaten high-salt food, you should drink at least 12 glasses of water at regular intervals in a 24-hour cycle.
As a result, you may feel and look bloated and gain some water weight. Water retention that is caused by eating too much salt is often only temporary unless you eat high amounts of salt all the time. Your body fluid levels will usually return to normal within a few days after eating lots of salt.
If you're feeling bloated, puffy or like you've eaten too much salt, try increasing your water intake, adding more potassium to your daily diet, increasing physical activity and reducing added salt.
Bloating -- when your stomach feels swollen or tight -- is one of the most common short-term effects of having too much salt. It helps your body retain water, so extra fluid builds up. Foods don't have to taste salty for them to be high in sodium.
“While it may seem counterintuitive, drinking water may help to reduce bloat by ridding the body of excess sodium,” Fullenweider says. You may find that drinking water before a meal can help reduce bloat, and this step may also confer the double benefit of reducing the tendency to overeat.
Yes, certain types of tea can help flush how much sodium is in your body. Diuretic teas such as dandelion, green and ginger tea are all effective at reducing how much salt remains overnight and improving how you feel in the morning. Additionally, drinking plenty of water throughout the day can also be beneficial.
Chronic caffeine intake increases urinary sodium excretion without affecting plasma sodium concentration.
Eating a lot of salt can cause your body to retain more water, which can show up on the scale as extra pounds. But we're not just talking about water weight here. High salt diets appear to be linked to higher body fat—in particular, the kind of fat that accumulates around your middle.
Cancel out sodium with potassium to help lower blood pressure. Research shows that potassium helps cancel sodium's effect on blood pressure. It also likely lowers the risk of stroke. Many of us don't get enough potassium in our diets.
If you have too much sodium, your kidneys absorb it and clear it from your body through urine. But if you have kidney damage, your kidneys may not be able to remove the sodium the way they should. Eating foods with too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure.
Digging deeper, the researchers discovered that the high-sodium versions of both the DASH and control diets collectively increased the risk of bloating by about 27% compared with the low-sodium versions. How sodium causes bloating is still not understood, but the fact that sodium causes water retention may be a factor.
But you might not know that a banana a day keeps high blood pressure at bay. This fruit is packed full of potassium — an important blood pressure-lowering mineral. Potassium helps balance sodium in the body. The more potassium you eat, the more sodium your body gets rid of.
Vegetables and Fruits
Any fresh fruits, like apples, oranges, or bananas. Any fresh vegetables, like spinach, carrots, or broccoli. Frozen vegetables without added butter or sauce. Canned vegetables that are low in sodium or have no salt added — you can rinse them off to remove some of the sodium.
The most common cause of stomach pain and bloating is excess intestinal gas. If you get a bloated stomach after eating, it may be a digestive issue. It might be as simple as eating too much too fast, or you could have a food intolerance or other condition that causes gas and digestive contents to build up.
The most common reason for bloating is having a lot of gas in your gut. This can be caused by some food and drinks, such as some vegetables and fizzy drinks, or by swallowing air when you eat. It can also be caused by a problem with your digestion, such as: constipation.
Researchers have found that using lemon juice and/or zest can help people reduce their sodium intake by as much as 75 percent, since lemon is a natural enhancer that intensifies flavors. Salt is one of the oldest cooking ingredients known to man. It has been mined and consumed for perhaps 10,000 years.
At-home sodium tests are available and require either a urine or blood sample. A home sodium urine test comprises a container, a test strip, and a set of illustrated instructions. The procedure includes collecting fresh urine in the container and then briefly dipping the test strip into the urine.
Diuretics, sometimes called water pills, help rid your body of salt (sodium) and water. Most of these medicines help your kidneys release more sodium into your urine. The sodium helps remove water from your blood, decreasing the amount of fluid flowing through your veins and arteries. This reduces blood pressure.