Do Unto Salt as You Would Sugar

This post was written by CHC member Sandhya Devaraj.

Series: Nutrition   

Sandhya serves with Smart Health Centers as a Health Navigator.

America's love of sugar is well documented and highly visible--just take a walk downtown and glance at the passersby or peer into our vending machines. Agribusiness, obesity and diabetes epidemics, high-fructose this, carb-heavy that. However,  my Achilles heel isn't another sip of sugary sweetness. I crave salt.

Table salt contains the essential ion sodium that we need to regulate basic bodily functions like filtering urine or having a sense of touch. While sodium is  essential, the excess amounts we are taking in slowly increase our blood pressure over the years, resulting in hypertension. It makes our heart pump harder and our kidneys filter more forcefully. The end result is that these vital organs start to wear and tear earlier in our lives. Just as high levels of sugar have found their way into benign foods such as breads and juices, sodium is over-saturating our diet. Just the other day, I bought some seemingly healthy multi-grain tortillas. But lo and behold, one tortilla had 13% of my recommended daily serving of sodium... sneaky!

The numbers for kidney failure and heart disease are just as foreboding as diabetes. 47 of the 50 states are experiencing an incidence of hypertension greater than 25% for their adult population. 28.2% of Illinois adults have hypertension. Controlling sodium intake requires the same diligence as monitoring sugar intake and it comes with its own tricks:

•Avoid frozen or canned foods with high levels of sodium. Many of these foods have a lot of added salt to enhance their shelf life. Look for low-sodium and no sodium added canned and frozen food options.

• Restrict the amount of dressing and condiments you use since mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and soy sauce have concentrated quantities of sodium. Some condiments, such as soy sauce and ketchup have low sodium versions.

• Avoid processed meats; they are salted to stay fresh.

• When cooking, use lemons or vinegar to produce the same tangy taste that salt does.

• When deciding on a snack, read the nutrition label... be an educated consumer!