Can you believe it’s August already? I bet you were not aware that Aug. 29 is More Herbs, Less Salt Day. I tell you, there is a day for almost everything. This is a great day, though, and should not be limited to just one day. We like to use the salt shaker and we eat a lot of prepackaged foods, which are very high in hidden sodium. Add it all together and the end result is, we have too much sodium in our diets.
There is a difference between salt and sodium; they are not the same. When I use the term salt, I’m referring to table salt that you pour from your shakers. Sodium is what is used to make salt, composed of sodium and chloride.
The Role of Sodium
Sodium works with potassium to manage fluid balance at the cellular level. An excess of sodium can cause fluid retention, or edema, because sodium holds fluid in body tissue. Sodium also carries nutrients into our cells, regulates blood pressure and fluid volume and adjusts the pressure balance within the blood vessels. A low sodium intake has been shown to decrease blood pressure, which may decrease extra cellular fluid or edema. Sodium also works with nerve contractions and prevents heat stroke by assisting with the regulation of bodily fluids.
Too Much Sodium
Many large studies have been conducted on sodium and its effects on blood pressure. Most of these studies conclude that the higher the sodium intake, the higher the risk of high blood pressure, or hypertension. High blood pressure can put you at higher risk for a heart attack, stroke or kidney disease. There are also ongoing studies that suggest that a high-sodium diet might contribute to gastric cancer, kidney stones and osteoporosis, as well as increase symptoms of asthma. Even though a few smaller studies suggest that sodium may not be as detrimental on blood pressure as suggested by most larger studies, you cannot determine how sodium affects your blood pressure unless you cut back. Cutting back will only help you since we consume a lot more than we need anyway.
The average American consumes about 6,000 milligrams of sodium per day. The recommended upper limit of sodium intake per day is about 2,400 milligrams per day, but there is a concern that this should be lowered to 1,800 milligrams per day. So, how in the world do we reach 6,000 milligrams per day? It’s easy when you salt your food and eat processed or prepackaged foods. One measured teaspoon of salt equals about 2,400 milligrams of sodium. That’s a whole day’s worth of sodium. There is no doubt that you need sodium in order to live, but you need only about 500 milligrams of sodium per day. So, in order to meet the recommended limit of 2,400 milligrams per day, you need to give up the salt shaker as a minimum. Even if you do that, there may still be a lot of hidden sodium that you consume from the packaged foods you eat.
In order to help with the stress of shopping and reading the food labels, let’s put the numbers in perspective. If you are trying to limit your sodium to 2,400 milligrams per day and you eat three meals per day, that means that you can have 800 milligrams per meal, but let’s save 200 milligrams for snacks between meals. That limits your intake of sodium to about 600 milligrams per meal, as a general guideline. For example, if you are choosing a Stouffer’s frozen entree and the label reads 1,200 milligrams of sodium for the entire entree, that is above our guideline of 600 milligrams. If you chose Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine, which is lower in fat and sodium, the label indicates about 360-450 milligrams of sodium, a better choice. Even though this is still a large number, it is well within our guidelines for an acceptable sodium amount for a meal.
Shake the Salt Habit
Are you someone who salts his or her food before tasting it? We are so conditioned to eating salty tasting foods that we do not taste the food as much as the salt that’s on it. Try cutting back on the salt shaker – better yet, eliminating it – for most of your foods. The first week will be hard, but you will get used to the flavor of the foods and not the salt on them. You will find that many of the foods you used to eat are now far too salty tasting. We are creatures of habit and we adjust.
There are also lots of spices other than salt that are available to flavor your foods. Use pepper, herbal blends, onion and garlic powders, paprika and chili powder. Mrs. Dash has many sodium-free spice blends. A sprinkle of lemon juice in recipes or on your prepared foods works great to replace the salty flavor. You can also use vinegar or liquid smoke to add flavor. Just remember that liquid smoke is very concentrated, so a little goes a long way.
