How can I stop eating salt? (READ PARAGRAPH BEFORE ANSWERING)

Contact your doctor. You may need some blood tests to find out if you have a nutrient deficiency that is causing this.

Welcome to Fluther, @zicron. Taper it off slowly. It takes willpower, but less than going into withdrawal symptoms does. You should also check with your doctor. There may be some imbalance causing your craving.

@YARNLADY i have talked to my doctor, he says there is no deficiency or medical condition.

@zicron Well, that’s good news. To fight any craving, the tapering off method usually works better than stopping cold turkey.

See if EFT works for you. There is little proof that the theories are valid, but the therapy does work for some people.

Too much salt isn’t good for you and you don’t need to add any salt to food as there is enough salt there already, especially in processed food. Taking a lot of salt is a bad habit and leads to high blood pressure. I don’t add salt to any food now and I don’t miss it. I use pepper instead. I didn’t stop gradually I stopped at once and now I find I don’t miss salt at all.

Well, if you have talked to your doctor and he checked your electrolytes, it seems your body is able to balance your salts. Some health conditions people crave salt, I think Addison’s disease is one of them, I think Bartter’s is another (but low potassium likely would have shown up in preliminary blood tests for Bartter and I think that is usually discivered in early childhood? Not sure). A general doctor would probably not assess you for Addison’s, and as I said Bartter would be unlikely I think to become symptomatic all of a sudden. Again, not sure, I am not a doctor, just going on what little I know about each.

If you want to lower your salt intake eating less will eventually have you craving less. I once tried to cut my salt, because my mom said I was eating too much and my next blood test showed my sodium as too low, which can be dangerous. It is the only time in my life my electrolytes have been off, so I don’t worry about cutting my salt too much. But, everyone is an individual when it comes to health. Count up how much sodium you are actually consuming for a couple of days. My husband says he doesn’t eat a lot of salt, because he doesn’t add it to food. That’s ridiculous because I cook his food and I add a lot of salt in my cooking. He is basically clueless about his salt intake.

You need to see your doctor according to this article it could mean a few different things one is a sign of addison’s disease. I would go get checked out it could be something simple as low salt because you are sweating alot or drinking mass amounts of water but without getting checked out you don’t know.

I too would tackle the doctor again. A craving such as you have is not normal. Ask the doctor (see an endocrinologist) to rule out Addison’s disease.

I actually do have a sodium deficiency and have had it bottom out so severely I ended up in a coma. I now take a sodium tablet everyday to keep me balanced, but I believe that’s why, for so many years, I just craved salt and would salt everything!

I don’t think I ever just sprinkled some out of the shaker into my hand to eat it, though.

I meant to add that low sodium can cause nausea, so it is possible your body is struggling to keep the salt levels up. @marinelife is right that an endocrinologist would help diagnose Addison’s. A rheumatologist is also a specialist who might be helpful since I believe Addison’s falls under the autoimmune disease umbrella.

Do you have any other symptoms? Muscle pain? Joint pain? Hair falling out? Dry eyes? Dry skin? Needing excessive amounts of sleep? Not sleeping much at all?

Doesn’t your body usually crave something it’s lacking? Maybe you just need more sodium in your body…Like everyone else said, talk to your doctor.