By: Julia Lott, MS, RD, LD Fresh ‘N Fit Cuisine
The average person eats more than 3,400 mg of sodium a day. However, the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends having 2,300 mg a day. According to the American Heart Association, 70% of the sodium Americans eat comes from packaged, prepared and restaurant foods, not from table salt. Excess sodium intake could lead to serious medication condition such as heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. Here are a few simple ways to low your sodium intake:
Read the Label
Packaged foods can be loaded with sodium; even foods that you would least expect to have it. Surprisingly, breakfast cereal can be loaded with sodium. Also, look for “no salt added” labels. This means that no salt was added during processing.
Spice It Up
Who says low sodium food has to taste bland? Instead ofusing salt when you prepare meals, try experimenting with herbs and spices toflavor your food. Who knows you maydiscover a spice that you’ve never tried before and like it. There’s a plethora of herbs a spices tochoose. A few of my favorites include: coriander,nutmeg, parsley, cumin, cilantro, ginger, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, bay leaf,oregano, dry mustard and dill.
Snack Foods
Snack foods like pretzels, crackers, and chips can haveseveral hundred milligrams of sodium per serving. When choosing a low sodium snack,try fresh fruit, unsalted trail mix, Greek yogurt or raw veggies.
No Salt Please
Typically restaurant food is outrageously high in sodium. Beforegoing out to eat, check out the menu and nutrition info online. This way you’llhave an idea of some good choices before you sit down. Also, you can requestfor no salt to be added to your food and sauces on the side. Even following a few simple tips on sodium, canmake a big difference when it comes to developing serious conditions likesheart disease and hypertension. Becomingknowledgeable about where the sodium is coming from and how to reduce it will greatlyimpact overall health.
Maintaining a healthy weight, being active, watching your sugar and sodium levels are all things that we would like to do more in 2019. Fresh ‘N Fit Cuisine’s chef prepared meals adhere to the healthy eating guidelines of the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association and the Academy of Nutrition& Dietetics.
Our 7 menus that include Low Carb, Paleo, Keto, Gluten Free and more. If you place your order before our 9am, Friday cutoff time, you’ll get 10% off your first order when you use promo code LOWSUGAR10 at checkout.