Shaking
the Salt Habit
Is your blood pressure
out of control? Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a health issue
for over 50 million Americans. Diet plays a big part in the onset and
progression of high blood pressure, but the good news is that there are
some really positive diet changes that you can make that can have a great
impact upon this deadly disease.
Recent diet studies, such as
the DASH diet study, have established that blood pressure is lowered when sodium (salt or sodium chloride) is reduced in the diet. Most people will
benefit by reducing salt in their diets: the positive blood pressure
lowering effect of reducing salt or sodium in the diet effects both men
and women and all the ethnic groups in these studies.
 Do you know what your
blood pressure is?
An optimal blood pressure has been
identified as a systolic of less than 120 (in mm Hg) and diastolic less
then 80 (in mm Hg), typically written as 120/80. Hypertension, or high
blood pressure, is identified as a systolic of 140 or greater OR
a diastolic of 90 or greater, but risk increases as blood pressure
increases over the normal range.
Remember, being overweight is a definite risk for high blood pressure, but the good
news is that losing the first 10-15 pounds has the greatest effect upon
risk factors like high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high blood
cholesterol.
Losing weight and shaking
the salt habit is a very smart move!
A Sea of
Salt
A typical
person who is not watching their salt intake consumes about 5,000
mg/day. That's about 2 teaspoons of salt per day, and is about twice
what is considered healthy! Of course, most people aren't shaking
that much salt on their food - about half of it is already in the
foods we eat. Here's where it gets tough. It's a pretty safe bet
that if you eat in restaurants or eat packaged foods that you're
getting way more sodium than is needed, without adding any at the
table! It's pretty hard to get the sodium of restaurant and fast
food meals - it's out of your control, but there is quite a bit that
can be done with convenience foods purchased at the grocery store.
Here are some shopping tips you can use to help you lower your sodium:
1. Take the time to read labels of convenience or packaged meals
that you buy regularly for salt content. Remember that a reasonable goal
is to keep your total sodium intake to less than 3,000 mg/day, (lower for
some people depending upon health issues).
2.
Convenience
meals (like frozen dinners) often contain HUGE amounts of sodium in a
single serving. Many of them of over 800 mg in a single serving! This is
similar to the sodium content of a fast food hamburger - both are poor
choices when it comes to sodium. Look for frozen dinners that have a lower
sodium content, closer to 500-600 mg or less.
3. Instead of buying completely prepared dinners, try making meals
from box mixes that have seasoning packets that you have to add - that's
where a lot of the sodium is. Instead of adding the entire seasoning
packet, add half. This is one easy way to continue to enjoy the
convenience of these meals without all the salt!
4. When you cook with recipes that require condensed canned soup,
but the "healthy" versions that contain less salt. Add a little
salt yourself if you have to, but you'll still be better off by starting
with the no salt or reduced salt version of these very salty products.
Reducing salt, along with eating foods that are high in potassium,
magnesium (like fresh fruits and vegetables) and calcium can really have a
positive impact on those blood pressure numbers and unlike blood pressure
medication, there are no side effects!
Finally, if you
want expert help
lowering your blood pressure, without the use of drugs, try
PersonalDiets today. See a sample of the PersonalDiets
plan & Get a FREE Diet Analysis now - just click the orange "Start
Your Plan" button below.
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