Written by Sam
As Tim wrote in the previous post, salt intake is a growing problem within our own society and around the world. With the prevalence of processed foods, pre-packaged meals, and bagged snacks, it is so easy to rack up sodium in your diet without even knowing it. What is the effect of a high sodium diet on our body? Hypertension -commonly known as high blood pressure - is the main outcome, and it's a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and several other life altering diseases. The current recommendation for sodium intake is only 2,300 milligrams, so we have to be extra careful about what we eat and how to avoid high sodium foods. So what are some practical steps in reducing your sodium intake?
Stay away from this:
1) Canned soups - Canned chicken noodle soup might make for a nice lunch and does a great job of keeping you warm, but it most definitely isn't good for the soul. 1/2 a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup has 890 mg of sodium, and most people eat a whole can, so that brings you to 1780 mg of sodium, which is pretty close to your daily recommended intake for sodium. This goes for other soups as well, as they are all generally high in sodium. Look for low sodium soups or broths, and you can add your own vegetables or meat for added flavor and depth.
2) TV Dinners - These meals are generally covered in gravy or some sort of sauce that is laced with high amounts of salt. Not only are they high in fat and generally not filling, the majority of your sodium allowance could be used up with just one of these meals. For example, a Stouffer's Salisbury Steak and Mac and Cheese meal has 1160 mg of sodium, and it's a relatively small portion. It's not worth blowing 1/2 your sodium allowance on such a small meal. There are some healthier options that have lower sodium such as lean cuisine, but even those are relatively high, so just do your best to avoid TV Dinners at all costs.
3) Going Out to Eat - When we eat out, we aren't in control over how much sodium is in our food - the chef is. With that being said, they probably aren't conscious about how much sodium goes into the dish, but all they care about is making the food taste good. With that being said, foods you will find in restaurants are often high in sodium. To illustrate this, I stumbled upon the nutrition facts for the popular chain restaurant,Chili's. Their Cheesesteak sandwich has 4560 mg of sodium, and that's just for the sandwich -that doesn't factor in the fries or condiments that you might add. This is getting out of hand, people. If you are going out to eat, opt for steamed, roasted, or grilled dishes, as those are generally served without a high amount of added sodium.
4) Condiments - Condiments are one of the sneakiest ways to tack on extra sodium into your diet. A tablespoon of ketchup only has 190 mg of sodium, so it seems pretty harmless! But, when you slather it all over your burgers and fries, it can add up very quickly. The same goes for dipping your sushi in soy sauce, adding relish to hot dogs, or just eating a pickle spear with your sandwich. Okay not gonna lie, ketchup is awesome and I use it for a lot of things, but just be careful with how much you are actually eating. From experience, burgers and fries can still taste good if we use 1/2 the amount of ketchup that we actually use.
Try this out:
1) Cooking from home - When cooking at home, you are in control of everything - freshness and quality of ingredients, amount of salt and fat that goes into the dish, etc. Nobody wants to eat bland food, so feel free to add some seasonings and sauces to make things taste good. But, just monitor how much you add and do your best to measure our sauces/seasonings so you don't accidentally over-season your food. A helpful tip when cooking at home is to use more fruits and vegetables because they contain natural sweetness, so the need to add extra seasoning isn't really there. Not only that, it just helps you appreciate the ingredient more and often times, the natural flavor is a lot tastier compared to what it would taste like with added ingredients. Another cool tip I've learned from friends and family is to make your own salad dressings. The dressing bought in the store is overly processed and is often high in sodium. At home, you can mix some olive oil, vinegar and herbs to make tasty, low sodium dressing. There are also some salt free seasoning blends that are pretty good at adding extra flavor, so give those a shot as well!
2) Look at the Labels - No salt added, reduced sodium, low sodium - All good things to see! This may seem like such a small step, but it is crucial in the gradual reduction of your overall sodium intake. Whenever you have the chance to cut out the unnecessary sodium and still maintain the overall taste, you gotta take it! The other day, I had reduced sodium crackers and they literally tasted the same as the original, and I actually thought it tasted better. You may only save a few hundred milligrams of sodium at most, but every little bit counts.
3) Add a Finishing Touch - A lot of times when we cook, we just add salt as an automated response - we salt the water before we boil pasta, salt our potatoes before roasting, etc. A helpful tip would be to add the salt at the end, but use a specialty salt because it brings the most impact. For example, a fine grind sea salt has the same sodium content as your standard iodized salt (table salt), but the flavors and colors are unique. It not only adds a different depth of flavor, but it sets the mind up to enjoy what you are eating. At home, we have Pink Himalayan sea salt that adds a buttery flavor when added to meats, and we found that we don't have to add as much of it to get just as much, if not more, satisfaction from eating our food. These salts are more expensive, but I would gladly pay an extra dollar or two if it's going to help out my overall health.
Sources:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00062
http://beautyangleshop.com/Article/UploadFiles/201107/the-relationship-between-salt-and-heart-disease.jpg
http://www.campbellsoup.com/Products/Condensed/All/2292
http://www.stouffers.com/products/detail.aspx?id=10838&c=47#
http://www.chilis.com/EN/LocationSpecificPDF/MenuPDF/001.005.0000/Chilis%20Nutrition%20Menu%20Generic.pdf?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
http://www.cookinglight.com/healthy-living/healthy-habits/reduce-sodium-00412000072725/page12.html
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