Salt Tips #9

If you are eating out, check out the content of sodium in foods online. Most of the chains can be found on line. I know we always pick on McDonald's, but here are some sodium facts about their foods, Big Mac contains 1010 milligrams of sodium. Here's one that may surprise you, McDonald's Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich contains 1690 milligrams of sodium.

Burger King and Wendy's are comparable in their sodium content. So let's look at chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken regular recipe breast contains 1147 milligrams.

What you can see is that when you eat out the sodium mounts up quickly. When I said a few days ago to shoot for 1000 milligrams, I meant for the whole day not just one meal.

Salt Tips #9

One of the ways that you can reduce salt in home cooked meals is to rinse canned beans and vegetables with water. Salt is often used in the preservation of food, so rinsing it will at least remove some of that. Better yet is to cook fresh vegetables rather than canned ones.

Salt Tips #8

Be aware that labels that say less sodium or reduced sodium only mean that there is less than the regular bran by this manufacturer. There is no set amount about how much it should be reduced by. Often times the label is supposed to infer that there is 26% less salt than the regular version of the product. While this can be good, it can still mean that there is way too much salt in the item.

Again. READ those labels!

Salt Tips #7

Here's something to watch for. If you see sodium free on the label, all it means is that there is less than 5 milligrams per serving. So if the serving size is one small thing and you know that you usually eat a couple of dozen of whatever it is, you have gone from 5 milligrams to 120 milligrams in a handful of whatever it is. Bottom line is be aware of the serving size as well as the sodium content.

Salt Tips #6

If you are seeing a label that says low sodium, look to see what the sodium content per serving is. Low sodium means that a single serving should contain no more than 140 milligrams of sodium. If the label says very low sodium, there should be no more than 35 milligrams of sodium in a single serving.

Salt Tips #5

If you are really going to limit salt, look for foods that are labeled as salt-free. However, you still need to look at the label to see what is in the food. Other forms of sodium salts are sodium citrate and sodium bicarbonate.

Salt Tips #4

To add flavor to something like vegetables or pasta, use some salty foods very sparingly. In other words don't drown the food in these. But put a small amount of salty cheese, brined olives, or a splash of soy sauce added to vegetables or pasta can really give it some flavor without overdoing it. Now when I say a splash of soy sauce, I don't mean a cannon ball splash worth!

Be careful about how much you add. A little can go a long way and really enhance the food without giving you a lot of extra sodium.

Salt Tips #2

Start eating in. That does mean to order take out and bring it in. But start cooking at home. Home cooked meals will contain much less salt than restaurant food or processed foods. Cook fresh meats, fish, vegetables. Use fruit as a dessert.

Read those boxes for the amount of salt they contain. Only pick boxed foods that contain less than 600 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Salt Tips #1

The first way to decrease the salt intake in your diet is to eat more whole foods. What I mean here is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store for the fresh foods. Minimize or better yet stop buying the prepackaged foods.

Think about your grocery store - what foods are on the perimeter - fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, fresh fish - these are the things on the perimeter.

Salt

Most Americans who don't read food labels and keep the salt shaker handy consume upwards of 4,000 milligrams of salt a day. So how much salt should we be getting. According to the American Heart Association dietary guidelines, adults should be getting about 2,300n milligrams a day. This is about a teaspoon of salt.

Just because you can't taste the salt doesn't mean that it is not there. Read that package label and see just how much salt is in those packaged foods. You'll be amazed.

Studies indicate that if you can keep you salt intake to about 1,000 milligrams a day, there is less heart disease and less high blood pressure. Obviously eating more fresh fruits and vegetables also helps in decreasing heart disease and keeping the blood pressure lower.

Over the next few days I'll be giving you some tips on lowering salt intake in your diet.