If your like me, you probably don’t pay attention to how much salt your using on a daily basis.
So, you did good and opted for a salad for lunch, but you still feel bloated and heavy after eating it. Did you add salt? Or check the sodium levels in your Light salad dressing? Most of the time the more “diet friendly,” the label, the higher the sodium levels go.
What about your delicious sushi roll that you dipped in “Low Sodium,” soy sauce? What exactly does low sodium mean in the soy sauce market?
Normal: 960mg
Low: 575mg
Organic: 1006mg
Serving sizes one tablespoon. That’s all we ever use any way right? No.
According to dietary guidelines, our daily-recommended sodium intake should be less than 2,300 mg per day. That’s ONE teaspoon of salt. So, why do most packaged foods exceed the healthy amount of sodium?
Here are some common sodium stocked foods:
Cereal, rice, crackers, chips, cottage cheese, veggie juice, canned soup and veggies, packaged meats and cold cuts, salted nuts. It’s even in your medicine cabinet! Many medications, including Aleve (200mg) contain sodium.
Here’s how to find it. All of these mean salt:
Sodium alginate
sodium ascorbate
sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
sodium benzoate
sodium caseinate
sodium chloride
sodium citrate
sodium hydroxide
sodium saccharin
sodium stearoyl lactylate
sodium sulfite
disodium phosphate
monosodium glutamate (MSG)
trisodium phosphate
Na
So just how bad is sodium for you?
Yes, our bodies need sodium to function properly, but most of us have over done it on the recommended daily intake.
Pass the Electrolyte Imbalance?
Here are SOME health risks from too much sodium.
Hypertension
Abnormal heart rate
Osteoporosis
Kidney disorders
Dehydration and swelling
Electrolyte and hormone imbalance
Digestive diseases
A few Statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention:
90 % of Americans consume too much salt.
44 % of salt comes from only 10 foods: breads and rolls, cold cuts and cured meats, pizza, poultry, soups, sandwiches, cheese, pasta dishes, meat dishes, and snacks.
65 % from retail processed foods.
25 % served at restaurants.
10 % salt added during meals.
10 % naturally in foods.
Cost of salt-related chronic disease:
You need to assess your own levels. The food industry is probably not going to loose money changing recipes, resulting in what they call "less tasty foods," so we can live healthier. I hope I didn't bore you this week, but there are so many loop holes to staying healthy and sodium is a BIG one.
