# Add sodium to prevent kidney stones Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/add-sodium-to-prevent-kidney-stones/ Published: 2026-01-06 Author: Jill Harris, LPN, CHC --- [Embedded content](https://www.youtube.com/embed/yUi2YYvCV8k?feature=oembed) In this conversation, Jeff Sarris and Jill Harris discuss the importance of sodium intake in the kidney stone diet, emphasizing that while reducing sodium is crucial, it should not be excessively low. They highlight common misconceptions about dietary recommendations and the need for specific guidance from healthcare professionals. The discussion also touches on the balance of nutrients, portion control, and the implications of various dietary choices on health, particularly for those prone to kidney stones. ## Takeaways - Lowering sodium too much can lead to health issues. - Specific dietary guidelines are essential for kidney stone prevention. - Patients often misinterpret dietary advice from healthcare providers. - Sodium is necessary for bodily functions; too little can cause dizziness. - Dietary recommendations should be tailored to individual health needs. - Overeating healthy foods like almonds can still lead to problems. - Consulting with a doctor about dietary needs is crucial. - Portion control is key in maintaining a healthy diet. - Added sugars can be minimized without negative effects on health. - Balance in nutrient intake is vital for overall well-being. 00:00 Understanding Sodium in the Kidney Stone Diet\ 07:30 The Balance of Nutrients and Portion Control **Jeff Sarris (00:00)**\ So you’ve cut sodium from your diet, great, but maybe a little too much. Obviously one of the goals for the [Kidney Stone Diet](https://kidneystonediet.com) is to reduce sodium into the right window of sodium consumption, but you’ve mentioned that sometimes maybe we take things a little too far and there are some consequences. Unfortunately when we do. **Jill (00:25)**\ I’m so happy we’re doing this video, which tells me I really need to get a life and get out more. But I’m tickled. I’m tickled we’re doing it because I’ve talked about this in other videos. It’s so very common. Many people got kidney stones because they over ate things like spinach and almonds because spinach and almonds. I mean, every dietitian will say you want a snack, have almonds. And what we as, no shade against dietitians, almonds can be very healthy, but that directive and how patients interpret it is two different things. Meaning, when a dietitian, when a nurse, when a doctor says, do this, if they’re not specific, patients just take that directive and just make stuff up. Meaning, if you’re diabetic and you were told to have almonds as snacks, you went to Costco, you got the unsalted bag of almonds, and you’re eating them like there’s no tomorrow. Almonds, almonds, almonds, almonds, almonds, almonds, almonds. And also spinach. Overeating, overeating, overeating. So when a doctor says lower your sodium, a patient can do, say they’re eating 10,000 milligrams a day, they lowered it to 8,000, they lowered quote unquote their sodium. So we as healthcare people have got, we’ve got to be a little bit more specific and the kidney stone diet goals, if nothing else, are really specific. And in the kidney stone diet goals, one of them is to lower sodium and we’re asking you to lower sodium because too much sodium increases urine calcium and decreases urine volume, which means you’ll pee less if you’re eating too much salt and too much calcium gets pulled out of the bone and dumped into the urine when you eat too much salt for a lot of stone formers. And so we will say the goal of the kidney stone diet found at kidneystonediet.com, there’s six goals. And one of the goals is to get your sodium to 1,500. I have had many patients in the past, they do the urine collection. I go over the urine collection results with them. They ate 5,000 milligrams of sodium that day. Their doctor told them to lower sodium and I too will say you must lower your sodium. We want it to be around 1,500 milligrams a day. And I’ll talk more about that later. And patient says, okay. They do the follow-up test. Their sodium for that day on their [24-hour urine collection](https://kidneystonediet.com/24-hour-urine-analysis/) follow-up test is 400. That’s how much sodium they ate that day. The doctor screams at them. I scream at them. What happens? The patient said, well, I lowered it. And I would say, well, remember I said the goal is 1,500. I know, Jill, but I thought less would be even better because I never want to get a stone again. But you know what else, Jill? I’ve been real dizzy. Well, I guess you have, Connie. You will be dizzy. You will have symptoms of hyponatremia, which is low sodium in your blood. You need sodium, folks. It makes your body work a heck of a lot better. Your heart, everybody, you need sodium. So don’t decrease your sodium less than that goal unless your doctor has said that’s okay for you. But 1,500 is already pretty low. As most of you know, we have a hard time getting to that. This is such a common thing that when I talk to people on the phone, I actually say 1,500 to 2,000 is the goal. And I will say, I’d rather you go a little higher than way under. Less is not better. Just like more spinach is not better for stone formers, right? When you’re trying to figure out your diet. So no spinach for stone formers. But you know what I mean. All right. There are actually some disease states where you all need maybe more. And this is where you need to talk to your doctor. People who have POTS. P as in Peter O-T-S. POTS. That’s a disease and we want people to retain water in their blood vessels, okay? Which elevates blood pressure to normal levels because these people can have really low blood pressure. So if they go down to the 1,500, that may be a problem for them, okay? People who have cystic fibrosis, those people can sweat a lot. They will lose a lot of salt in their sweat. They may need a little bit more. Talk to your doctor. People who are training athletes, you’re really, really, really sweating all the time. You may need more sodium than that to keep your salt levels because you’re losing so much sodium through sweat. People who have Addison’s disease. This is an adrenal insufficiency. And it’s where the adrenal glands don’t produce enough cortisol and aldosterone, and that can cause your body to lose salt. So that’s really important. Talk to your doctor. And then there’s this thing called Bartter syndrome, and that’s a group of inherited kidney diseases, and that can lead to excessive loss of chloride, potassium, and sodium. So you people may need, you patients may need more sodium than that. If you have any of those disease states, you should talk to your doctor about how much sodium you need to prevent those disease states from getting worse. You would not adhere perhaps maybe to the kidney stone diet goals. People who have eating disorders and are vomiting a lot because they’re binge eating or using laxatives, again, to get rid of excess calories. You may be losing too much sodium. You may need to get more sodium, but if you’re not eating that much, that’s just the problem in and of itself, and I would tell you to increase calories, but that’s a whole thing because you have an eating disorder. You need a counselor, a licensed therapist dealing with eating disorders. There are certain medications like diuretics that are frequently used in kidney stone prevention to help lower urine calcium. So diuretics can have you lose too much sodium. Talk to your doctor, okay? Because diuretics, otherwise known as water pills, can make you pee, pee, pee, pee more and then more salt is lost. So you may need a little bit more. So discussing your salt needs with your doctor specifically. Some of you will still be just fine with the 1,500. Some of you may need more. Consult with your doctor. That’s the point of this. Basically, Jeff, that’s it. **Jeff Sarris (07:41)**\ Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And that is the thing. Just, I mean, you said it earlier, but how more health, more healthful things doesn’t make you healthier. And whether it’s almonds, whether it’s cutting out sodium, whether it’s the myriad things that we know are good for us, it still comes down to portion. And what we’re looking at is just because X is good for us doesn’t mean we need X times a thousand. We need X to the degree that it is still healthy for us. **Jill (08:12)**\ Exactly and here’s some other great examples like bodybuilders they need 500 grams of [protein](https://kidneystonediet.com/protein/) a day. Eventually at some point the effect of all that protein wears off and now you’re just eating extra calories unless you’re an extreme bodybuilder there’s that. The other thing is added sugar you can go as low as you want on that folks as a matter of fact I’ll be your biggest proponent of that. Added sugar great 25 grams of added sugar for women, 37.5, I just give them the extra five and say 38 grams of added sugar, added is put in a candy bar, not fruit. And so you can go as low as you want with that, not a problem. Your body will thank you. But all the other ones, we want you to be where we are. Just like some people will say, she said two and a half to three liters of output, I’m gonna pee five liters. And then they have very low salt in their body. They’re dizzy, they’re, you know, so basically follow the goals of the kidney stone diet except the sugar. The added sugar goes as low as you want without people. No problem. **Jeff Sarris (09:15)**\ Yeah. And again, added. That doesn’t mean fruit. We’re talking about sugar, sugar shaker is what I was going to say, but you know what I mean? But yeah. So with that, I think we’ll wrap. You can find everything Kidney Stone Diet related at kidneystonediet.com, private consultations with Jill, the urine analysis where she goes over your 24-hour urine collection to help you understand exactly what those results are and everything else. Meal plans, the prevention course. All of that is right at kidneystonediet.com. So I think with that we’ll wrap and we’ll see you next week. **Jill (09:46)**\ Everybody have a great week. Bye.