By: Chelsea

In the latest issue of Cooking Light Magazine, I found an article called “Are You Salt-Smart” with a tagline that reads “Now that carb counting and fat phobia are over, cutting back on salt is the #1 nutrition priority.” At first I was a little hesitant that this article was pushing some absurd, low-sodium diet that would magically make one healthy after a few short weeks. But I kept reading and the article turned out to be quite interesting and informative.

Many people think that if they don’t add that extra dash of salt to their dinner each night they won’t be part of the statistic that claims that the average American consumes 3,400mg of sodium per day. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines say that adults should be consuming no more than 2,300mg of sodium (about 1 teaspoon) per day. But there’s a caveat here: the recommended amount for African-Americans, those with hypertension, and anyone over the age of 51 should only be consuming 1,500mg per day. In shock of what that caveat is saying, I will just quote the article here by saying, “That’s basically half the population!!”

So why is salt the bad guy anyway? While it is an important nutrient and our bodies do need sodium for certain physiological functions, too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure which causes great stress on the cardiovascular systems and is a precursor to heart disease and stroke.

Philip Rhodes, a writer for article tracked his daily intake and made sure to note all the places that he could eliminate excess salt from his diet. For breakfast he swapped his usual bran-and-raisin cereal for Frosted Mini Wheats, eliminating 245mg of sodium. For lunch he chose a roast beef and cheddar sandwich sans pickle spear over a smoked turkey and Swiss. Smoked meats contain lots of salt so he saved 810mg plus another 306mg from the pickle. When preparing dinner he used kosher instead of table salt, saving 110mg. In total Philip cut 6,999mg of sodium from his diet in just one day.

Now while I am not suggesting any of you attempt to do this (seems like way too much effort if you ask me) the bottom line is that by eliminating certain foods from your diet that you know are high in sodium you can easily reduce your daily intake to a safe and healthy level. Figuring out how much sodium a serving of food contains can easily be determined by reading the food label, that daunting white box on the back of almost all food packaging that everyone seems to hate.  The biggest proponent of high sodium foods however are processed and restaurant foods, so keep to the fresh fruits, veggies, and whole grains or buy the “reduced, less, or low sodium” versions of your favorite foods and give cooking at home a shot. Your heart will thank you later!