In the last 5 days I have eaten 2 one-pound bags of chips - and I don't even like chips. I'm just craving the salt. This has never happened to me before so I don't know what to do. If I keep eating chips at this rate, I'm going to resemble a very large house. Can someone tell me what is happening to me and how to fix it? Thank you.

The lectures this weekend will be focused on hydration so your timing is perfect! One related topic is the condition called hyponatremia, or low sodium, which can be induced by excessive perspiration. It's possible your body is responding to an increase in exercise, or that your body's trying to get you to drink more water by making you want salt-laden food.

One of the speakers this weekend will be a naturalpath who has knowledge in this area so you may want to bring up this question directly with him.

I'm no medical professional so not sure what to tell you, but perhaps you should try to find sources of salt that don't have the nutritional liabilities of potato chips.

- While running and maybe even before running, try consuming a rehydration drink like Gatorade/Powerade. These contain some sodium.

- Consider a recovery drink for after your difficult workouts. An example of a recovery drink is Endurox but there are several others.

- Have some good, nutritional food on hand for after your workouts, such as a Clif bar. This way you won't be as tempted to eat chips or other nutritionally poor snacks.

Keep in mind that you have really just started this program so changes should be gradual. You don't want to be eating 2 lbs of chips a day (or more) when we increase mileage further.

One other note ... we encourage sodium replacement but there are health conditions like high blood pressure that are aggravated by increased salt consumption, so make sure you don't have any complicating conditions like that before you start ramping up your sodium intake.

Coach Eric gave you some good suggestions! I hope that you benefitted from the speaker on Saturday. Salt cravings are most commonly due to insufficient electorlyte intake during and after the run. however it can also be due to changes in adrenal hormone function, especially aldosterone. so if you tried the GatoraidePowerade and the recovery drinks and you are still having strong salt cravings, investigate further with your doctor or a Naturopathic physician. I would be happy to answer any additional questions you may have.

-Dr. Arianna