SHAKE YOUR SALT HABIT

When you consume too much salt, your body tries to dilute it by holding on to as much water as it can. You may notice a bloated feeling when this happens.  To help your body dilute the excess salt and decrease bloating, drink water.

The amount of water you need depends on how active you are.   If you are sedentary or a light exerciser, you will excrete most salt in urine and only need about 72 ounces per day.  If you are very active and exercise vigorously, much of the salt is purged through your sweat and you should aim for at least 100 ounces per day. The average person loses about 1/2 teaspoon of salt through sweat for each hour of exercise.   

Some people's bodies are more sensitive to the effects of sodium than are others. If you're sodium sensitive, you retain sodium more easily, leading to fluid retention and increased blood pressure.  If this becomes chronic, you will have hypertension, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and congestive heart failure.  If you have very strong cravings for salt, you may be dehydrated or lacking one of the minerals in table salt.  An extreme salt craving can be a symptom of Addison's disease (a hormonal disorder) or Barter's syndrome (a rare kidney disorder). 

Experts agree we should limit sodium to less than 2,300 mg a day (about one teaspoon) —1,200 mg if you have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease, are over age 51, black, or sensitive to the effects of sodium.  The average adult consumes 3,000–4,000 mg of sodium daily!!    

You should also be consuming 4700 mg of potassium per day, to help the kidneys to excrete more sodium.  If you eat a banana with breakfast (422 mg), a salad with tomatoes, beans and spinach for lunch and cooked halibut or tuna with a baked potato at dinner (600 +mg), you give your body all the potassium it needs for the day, countering your sodium intake. 

Many processed and prepared foods contain lots of sodium — and it's these foods that contribute the most sodium to our diets.  Salt is used to preserve food by drawing out moisture and keeping out bacteria.

STAY AWAY FROM

Frozen meals, Canned Soup, Prepackaged convenience food
Fast food and Prepared dinners  
Deli Cold cuts, Bacon & Cheese
Marinades and condiments – 1 tablespoon soy sauce = 1,000 mg
Bread and Grains be diligent and look at labels: a  4-inch oat-bran bagel has 532 mg of sodium!

Read labels for the amount of sodium in each serving and look for these ingredients:

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Baking soda
Baking powder
Disodium phosphate
Sodium alginate
Sodium nitrate or nitrite

Your taste for salt is acquired, so you can learn to enjoy less.  Decrease your use of salt gradually and your taste buds will adjust. After a few weeks of cutting back on salt, you won't miss it, and some foods will taste too salty. Start by using no more than 1/4 teaspoon of salt daily — at the table and in cooking. Then throw away the salt shaker and enjoy the taste of the food itself.

 
TIPS TO CUT BACK

·         Eat fresh foods.  Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium. Also, fresh meat is lower in sodium than are luncheon meat, bacon, hot dogs, sausage and ham. Buy poultry or meat that hasn't been injected with a sodium-containing solution.
·         Buy plain whole-grain rice and pasta instead of ones that have added seasonings.
·         Make your own soups from scratch.
·         Opt for low-sodium products. If you do buy processed foods, choose those that are labeled "low sodium."
·         Remove salt from recipes whenever possible. You can leave out the salt in many recipes, except when baking - leaving out the salt could affect the quality and taste.
·         Limit use of sodium-laden condiments. Soy sauce, salad dressings, sauces, dips, ketchup, mustard and relish all contain sodium.
·         Use herbs, spices and other flavorings to enhance foods. Use fresh or dried herbs, spices, zest from citrus fruit, and fruit juices to jazz up your meals.
·         Sea salt has about the same amount of sodium as table salt.
·         Use salt substitutes wisely. Some salt substitutes or light salts contain a mixture of table salt and other compounds. To achieve that familiar salty taste, you may use too much of the substitute — and get too much sodium. Also, many salt substitutes contain potassium chloride.

 

Deciphering the sodium-related terms on packaging
·         Sodium-free or salt-free. Each serving in this product contains less than 5 mg of sodium.
·         Very low sodium. Each serving contains 35 mg of sodium or less.
·         Low sodium. Each serving contains 140 mg of sodium or less.
·         Reduced or less sodium. The product contains at least 25 percent less sodium than the regular version. Check the label to see how much sodium is in a serving.
·         Lite or light in sodium. The sodium content has been reduced by at least 50 percent from the regular version.  Check the label to see how much sodium is in a serving.
·         Unsalted or no salt added. No salt is added during processing of a food that normally contains salt. However, some foods with these labels may still be high in sodium because some of the ingredients may be high in sodium.
·         But watch out — foods labeled "reduced sodium" or "light in sodium" may still contain a lot of salt. For example, regular canned chicken noodle soup contains about 1,100 mg of sodium per cup, so a product with 25 percent less sodium still has a whopping 820 mg of sodium per cup. The same holds true for "lite" or "light in sodium" varieties.
·         Try to avoid products with more than 200 mg of sodium per serving. And check the Nutrition Facts label closely for the serving size — and consider how many servings you actually eat.