Who Else Wants to Know the Secret to Reducing Salt Intake?
Posted: November 6, 2011 Filed under: Blog Posts by Yours Truly.... | Tags: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, daily salt intake, Food, healthy salt intake, Hypertension, Potassium chloride, Salt, salt intake, salt intake and hypertension, Sodium, Sodium Chloride, too much salt, too much salt intake, United States Leave a comment
Copyright 2011, by Will Blesch
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that if you are like most Americans, you should consume less sodium. A healthy salt intake is something like 1,500 mg a day or less.
Why should you keep your salt intake down?
Because, for some people, a diet high in salt can lead to elevated blood pressure. It can also increase your risk for experiencing a heart attack or stroke.
Certain people actually are at greater risk. If you’re African American, over 40, or already have high blood pressure…your risks for developing these ailments are much higher if you also consume a lot of salt in your diet.
However, what do you do when you are like me, someone who loves salty foods? I mean, if you like potato chips, sour pickles, trail mix, and you find yourself almost always salting your food…how do you keep your daily salt intake down?
- When shopping, read the labels on the food you are thinking of buying. Look for labels that say “low sodium” etc.
- Well, first thing’s first. Don’t add salt to your food as it is cooking. Let everyone salt his or her own food at the table.
- When you reach for the saltshaker, you “could” smack your hand. “No! Bad hand! Bad!” On the other hand, you could take the saltshaker, pour out a little bit…about a pinch…and then add that to your dish.
- When dining out, make sure to ask the chef to cook your food without salt.
- Buy, and use, a salt substitute like Morton Salt Substitute, Nu-Salt, Potassium Chloride Powder etc. (Sodium Chloride can ALSO be bad in large doses…especially if you have kidney problems. So, be careful here.)
- Buy and use herbs, spices, lemon juice etc. Things with strong flavors can help decrease your yearning for salt.
- You can choose to crunch on fresh fruits and vegetables more often.
I’ve chosen to start lowering my own sodium intake. You should probably do the same! For info directly from the CDC, feel free to check out their info here:
http://www.cdc.gov/features/sodium/
Health and Wellness 