Archive for the ‘sodium’ Category
Less Sodium , More Potassium
Results from a recent survey have shown that those who consumed less sodium had a 25% less chance of dying from cardiovascular disease in later life, that those who ate more.
Many nutritionists claim that we should eat more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, and consume less junk and processed foods. Eating fruit and vegetables is a great way to boost potassium levels, which is thought to be beneficial to our health, and eating less processed food is a great way to cut down sodium intake as much of this type of food is laced with an abundance of regular salt and monosodium glutamate.
Yet another reason to cut out the junk for lunch and eat something fresh and wholesome instead.
Alternatives To Using Salt
We need three times as much potassium as sodium so we can use lo-salt substitutes that contain potassium chloride instead of the sodium chloride that regular salt is made of. However, there’s still a limit to how much of that one should consume, and to be frank, many people do not like the taste.
To reduce your salt intake you need to watch labels closely. I recently picked up a can of soup, which was advertised as being top of the line, and when I read the label I was shocked to see that this one small can (it was about a mugful) contained over 800mg of salt. That’s about half of our daily requirement.
Watch out with some dairy food, and also bread, and canned vegetables. There are a number of low or no-salt varieties of canned vegetables out there now.
When cooking at home, try using herbs and spices instead. Some god substitutes for salt, are ginger, herbs, garlic, onions, and lemon juice.
Things can seem a little different at first, but, much like cutting down on the amount of sugar in your tea or coffee, your palate can and will adjust over time, if you have a little patience. Personally, I used to take two heaped teaspoonfuls of sugar in my coffee, and now, not only do I not take any, but I simply can’t drink it sweetened anymore; it takes horrible to me now.
How Much Salt Is Too Much?
We all need some salt. It’s not poison. However, it will effectively slowly posion you if you consume it in the levels that many people on the average salt-laden Western diet do.
We need about a minimum of 500 mg a day. That’s about 1/4 of one teaspoon. There is not an official maximum daily limit, but and most people would be wise to take around 1,500 mg. and it’s recommended not to consume more than about 2,300 mg a day.
Many people eat twice that amount.
About 25% of Americans suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure) and about another 25% are pre-hypertensive, and are on their way to developing the full-blown condition if they continue with a high-salt diet.
We really have no control over the amount of salt in processed, restuarant or fast foods, so it’s really a good idea to limit ones intake of these, and prepare simple meals at home where possible, where we can add less salt when cooking, or simply add a little at the table, if none is added at the cooking stage.
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