Foods

So, I remember WHY I don't eat canned beans!

What do I do? I've been drinking lemon water and regular water all day and I'm scared I'll end up bloating like a balloon or wind up getting super-high blood pressure and what not. Is it possible to screw up your BP by getting this much sodium in one day?

If you rinse the beans first you can get rid of a lot of the sodium.

Don't forget any bloating you get from too much sodium is temporary, it's not true weight gain.  So, even if the scale does go up a bit tomorrow, don't panic, it's just lying to you. :)  Keep drinking water tomorrow and you'll flush it out.

The recommended amount of sodium a day is 2500mg, so it's not like you're that much over.  You probably won't even see it in the scale.

Your BP won't jump from one day of eating too much sodium. Keep your water level up and stay off the scale for a while and any retention will flush out. As Boston said, you can get rid of a lot of salt/sodium through rinsing - but perhaps try looking for beans in unsalted water? That's what I do, if I don't fancy buying dried and soaking them.

Whole Foods Market has a store brand of no salt added beans that are inexpensive.  Another brand is Eden, but they are very expensive. 

You can cook beans from scratch (very easy in a crockpot) and freeze them in portions.  During the winter I do a different kind each week so that I end up with a variety.  In the summer when I don't want to heat up the house, I use the no salt canned beans.

If what you are talking about is canned baked beans, then I think you need to broaden your horizons.

Unless you already have high blood pressure, a high salt day won't do you any harm, other than retaining fluid.

one day of going over 100% of your DV of sodium isn't going to do any damage. if you did it like 5 days a week, or everday, it may become a problem.. but other than that, it's fine every once in awhile.

i probably get that much sodium at least once a week :|

You have to have a very high sodium diet (and the typical UK/US person will eat 10g+ salt or 4000mg+ sodium per day) for many years before you start to affect your BP.  And a high salt diet won't do it on its own - it's just one risk factor.  If you're also obese and inactive you're at much greater risk of developing hypertension later in life.

So don't worry about one 'slightly higher than is ideal' day.  It's the long-term average that counts.  Enjoy the beans... they are not killing you.

Thanks to everyone who posted, I got on the scale this morning and it said 140! But, reading this made me feel a little better about it. Will this sodium also make my face look fatter though? I've noticed that this morning it LOOKS like I've gained, like, a few pounds overnight.

You could get a puffy face for all kinds of reasons.... fatigue, dehydration.  I'm sure that no-one else would notice any change.  Eat well today, drink plenty of water, go and do everything you'd normally do and above all... don't be scared of a little salt.