A perhaps related question:

I have had severe reactions to MSG in Chinese food [restaurant, not homemade!] and a modest water retention problem with salt. [My wife is salt-limited due to HBP, but no effect on me in that area.]

I have noticed some additional water retention as I get older; I was advised that exercise should get rid of it. So far, vigorous walking avg 1 mile/day is not changing it; no worse, no better, although I do work up a bit of a sweat. A short-term fix is caffeine and overdrinking of water [both diuretic] but unless I curtail NaCL some water retention will return. [I normally avoid the caffeine as it REALLY buzzes me; my wife is a regular long-term decaf coffee drinker and apparently gets no real buzz from the stuff.] If exercise should relieve water retention, what is a reasonable time frame to see some effect? [Again, I may be short-circuiting the process with additional salt; I don't cut it off completely, just use arguably about 1/3 of what would predictably cause the problem in the first place.]

Any recommendations on Calcium and Magnesium supplements that might help this?

cjl

ps: The exercise is doing something useful: It's enhancing that warm feeling afterwards for hours that's nice, and thus need less fat to get about the same effect. I'm willing to eat the fat and exercise too if that helps. I'm certain I also have to be using more carb avoidance than ever while exercising; I don't want the return of hypogylcemic episodes and cold sweats, etc. Clearly, the exercise is "shaking up" something inside of me, for good or for bad!

Clasys,

There is a book called "Excitotoxins - the taste that kills" by dr Ray Blaylock; its all about how to thwart MSG and other things like it. I bought it, read it 3 times and it really changed my life. He advises mega doses of supplements; magnesium calcium being at the top of the list, A, C, E, also. He claims magnesium and glucose are the two biggest things that save you from an MSG. (personally I dont go for mega doses of anything, I use Slow-mag and nothing else.)

I've switched to whole unrefined, not ground Celtic Sea Salt - and never use table salt; been using sea salt for years now. I have minor bloating only very rarely now, when I eat things that I shouldnt & dont eat enough sea salt. Once I read about how the companies stripped our table salt of all its vital nutrients and why table salt is the basically the worst thing you can eat I was very shocked that no one seems to know this stuff. If you are like me, you have to read about it, become informed; before you make a desicion. I believe there have been reports lately that low salt diet is no longer recommended for HBP; I think one of those was posted in the news parts of this forum.

(Unrefined, unground) Celtic Sea salt contains about 80 mineral elements that the body needs; the only brand on the market compatible to the seawater-like composition of the body. Some of these elements are needed in trace amounts. (Ordinary table salt that is bought in the super markets has been stripped of its companion elements and contains additive elements such as aluminum silicate to keep it powdery and porous.) Our bodies are like the ocean and need sea salt for every function. Its so easy and simple and so often overlooked. I was very surprised that when I switched I was able to tolerate heat; I thought the reason I couldnt take the heat of a hot summer day anymore was my age. Real sea salt fixed that. The trace amounts of lithium in too are vitally needed. I've read that 2 cents worth of real sea salt could help with a lot of depression and that it is needed also to combat MSG.

If you are interested, here is a link to the celtic sea salt site: http://www.celticseasalt.com/About_...Salt__W48C3.cfm - that is the only salt I would ever recommend to anyone. (The light grey whole unground variety - I bought a mini mortar and pestle to grind it; you grind it right before use or you lose half the nutrients) This brand is usually available at health food stores, I buy it by the 5 lb bag online and use it liberally everyday.

Link about sea salt : http://www.curezone.com/foods/saltpage.html
there is a lot of good info on that site about why sea salt is vital/comparing it against table salt.

Personally, after studying all the info, I also avoid mined sea salt, since the composition is different from seawater salt and the key is balance of the nutrients.

this thread was very helpful.

As so often, ItsTheWooo nails it. Coming up on the classic combo of HIGH fat, "moderate" protein, and very low carb works for me like it's the fuel I should have been running on all long.