Everywhere you turn, whether it be on grocery store shelves, or any variety of restaurant, we are bombarded with high salt options more than ever before. Why do we have this obsession with this age old ingredient? We love our flavor! Ironically, the more salt we eat, the more we damage our taste buds which requires us to use even more of it over time!
The American Heart Association recently dropped their recommended daily amount of sodium intake from 2300 mg to 1500 mg. The average daily dietary intake of sodium in the U.S. today sits at more than two times that amount at about 3500 mg per day. Again, we like our taste, and the food industry is happy to fill that need, even if its to our detriment health wise.
What are the consequences of having a high sodium diet? Most notably, raising blood pressure which leads to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Americans have a 90% chance of developing high blood pressure in their lifetimes. Every year in the U.S., 780,000 people die from heart disease. Coronary heart disease causes 1 out of every 6 deaths in the U.S. every year. On average, someone dies from heart disease every 39 seconds.
To put this in perspective, the amount of annual deaths related to heart disease is the equivalent of 9-11 occurring 260 times annually. Sadly, the vast majority of those deaths are entirely preventable if people would just be willing to change their diets instead of the popular choice of using prescription medications which don't address the root cause and only treat the condition.
I am in disbelief at the number of people I hear that are having heart attacks at younger and younger ages in this country. I'm sure all of you reading this post can think of loved ones or your friend's loved ones who were lost at an early age to this, the number one cause of death in our country today. Let's take a look at how we can make sure that we and our loved ones don't fall pray to this silent killer by taking control of our diets. Here's three helpful tips to help you fight heart disease:
1. Change what you eat when eating out (especially fast food). Let's say I'm in a hurry at lunchtime and decide to swing through a Burger King drive through for a quick lunch. If I order a Whopper with cheese and a large fry, I've just taken in more than the recommended daily of sodium at over 2100 mg in one meal!
Don't think that this isn't the case at most sit down restaurants as well. You need to take control by learning what the sodium amounts are in each of the options offered by the restaurant you're going to. Let's say you're going to Olive Garden for dinner and decide to go with their Chicken Parmesan. Seems pretty harmless, right? Wrong. You just doubled your recommended daily allowance of sodium at 3380 mg! If you had gone online and Googled "Olive Garden nutrition" and pulled up their PDF listing of entrees with nutritional information, you would have known that. Instead, you may have gone with the spaghetti w/ meat sauce at 1340 mg, the Venitian apricot chicken at 1290 mg, or better yet, the herb grilled salmon at 360 mg.
This is the case with almost all dine out options. You just need to arm yourself with information before dining out. A good tip is to simply go online before dining out and Google the name of the restaurant and the word nutrition after it. Many restaurants will offer a PDF that shows the nutrition information for all of their dishes. Here's the example I used for Olive Garden:
http://www.olivegarden.com/core_content/pdfs/olive_garden_nutrition.pdf
2. Check out the labels for sodium content at the supermarket. This one seems pretty obvious, but most people just throw it in the cart if it looks good without taking the time to look at this. If you take more time to do this the next time you go shopping, I'll bet you'll be amazed at how much sodium is in some of your favorites. Look for lower sodium alternatives if you are.
3. Incorporate foods that naturally prevent cardiovascular problems and lower cholesterol. Here's a list of natural foods that significantly reduce your cholesterol and your chances for developing heart disease:
- Berries such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries
- Beans are high in soluble fiber, which reduces blood cholesterol levels
- Monosaturated fats which are also known as the "good fats". These can be found naturally in avocados, flax seeds, chia seeds, nuts, and cold water fish like salmon. These decrease inflammation, and lower saturated triglyceride levels.
- Dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, and arugula are high in fiber and loaded with antioxidants. These are natural heart disease fighters.
- Whole grains such as oats, whole wheat, brown rice, quinoa, and other unprocessed grains contain fiber, and minerals which reduce the risk of heart disease.
Other things that we can do to significantly lower our risk of heart disease:
- Lower our intake of highly salted chips and crackers
- Reduce the amount of fried foods that we eat
- Limit the amount of processed meats we eat such as sausages, hot dogs, etc.
- Make red meat such as steak and burgers a "once in a great while" aspect of our diet
- Substitute whole wheat pasta for refined pasta which is high in fat and calories
- Substitute low fat frozen yogurt over ice cream which is high in fat and sugar
- Avoid doughnuts. There is NOTHING beneficial about eating these.
The bottom line is that heart disease is the number one killer in our country and many of those deaths are preventable. A high salt diet (along with bad cholesterol and highly processed foods) is the main culprit. The average American lives on a 90% processed and 10% whole food diet. If we were all committed to making the majority of our diets whole foods, and the minority processed, high salt options, we would see the annual death toll from heart disease drop by the hundreds of thousands every year. Cut the salt, cut the cholesterol, and watch your blood pressure drop!
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