Let's talk sodium.

Numerous studies over the past 30 years have linked overconsumption of sodium to high blood pressure. And high blood pressure can lead to heart disease, which, as the number one killer of women in America, claims more lives than all cancers combined. Experts estimate that excess sodium kills 150,000 people yearly,

To fight this dietary epidemic, the American Heart Association recommends that we keep our sodium consumption below 2,300 milligrams per day, equivalent to about 1 teaspoon of salt.

Cutting down on sodium isn't as easy as it sounds. That's because years and years of scarfing salty foods has left our taste buds dulled yet dependent—dulled so that we can't explicitly taste sodium, but dependent enough that it often defines flavor. We know the instant it's not there.

At first, these dietary changes will make the food you're eating seem bland. But according to Graham MacGregor, a professor of cardiovascular medicine and director of the Blood Pressure Unit at St. George's University of London, that's just your taste buds shaking off the cobwebs. Before long—usually within 3 weeks—they'll recover, he says, and you'll be enjoying the true taste of food.

"If you reduce your salt intake, the salt taste receptors regain their sensitivity," says MacGregor. "High-salt foods taste unpleasant, and you appreciate the real, natural flavors of food."

Clearly the first step in curbing your salt intake involves awareness.

Rosemary Yurczyk, MS, RD, CDE, dietitian and diabetes educator at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento gives foods these designations:

Low-sodium food: less than 140 milligrams per serving
Moderate-sodium food: less than 400 milligrams per serving
High-sodium food: more than 400 milligrams per serving

Your homework is to rate the following foods
(without looking them up ) as L, M, or H based on Yurczyk’s designations.

Panera's Greek Salad, with dressing
A grande Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino
a 24-ounce bottle of Propel Fitness Water
One cup of canned creamed-style corn
1 cup of canned green beans
Dehydrated onion soup mix (1 packet)
Seasoned bread crumbs (1 cup)
Spaghetti sauce (1 cup)
Canned chicken noodle soup (1 cup)
Frozen turkey and gravy (5 ounces)
Canned cream-style corn (1 cup)
Teriyaki sauce (1 tablespoon)
Vegetable juice cocktail (1 cup)
Beef or pork salami (2 slices)
Canned jalapeno peppers (1/4 cup, solids and liquids)
One cup seedless raisins,
A piece of angel food cake
a croissant
one slice of whole-wheat bread
Fast food:
biscuit with egg and sausage
6-inch submarine sandwich with cold cuts

Below is a information on the low-salt DASH diet.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf

It includes good information/tips on salt reduction.

Oh, don't worry about it. No worries! Thanks!

Peg

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:
Judy,
Would you mind posting your source for the first part of your post? I would like to refer a friend to it but don't want to share my healthy eating 'safe place' with them right now. Thanks!

Peg

I think it came from Spark People. I cut and pasted several articles into a word document a year or two ago. I can e-mail you the file (I have your address on the Christmas List). It is too long to post the whole thing here.

I can also send it to anybody else who might be interested.

Judy,
Would you mind posting your source for the first part of your post? I would like to refer a friend to it but don't want to share my healthy eating 'safe place' with them right now. Thanks!

Peg

The only dietary thing I don't have to worry about is sodium-a least in terms of blood pressure! My blood pressure is excellent to borderline-low.

I'm conscious of salt when I eat out mainly because too much will leave me bloated. But I don't worry about it at home.

H-Panera's Greek Salad, with dressing
L-A grande Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino
M-a 24-ounce bottle of Propel Fitness Water
H-One cup of canned creamed-style corn
H-1 cup of canned green beans
H-Dehydrated onion soup mix (1 packet)
H-Seasoned bread crumbs (1 cup)
M-Spaghetti sauce (1 cup)
H-Canned chicken noodle soup (1 cup)
H-Frozen turkey and gravy (5 ounces)
H-Canned cream-style corn (1 cup)
M-Teriyaki sauce (1 tablespoon)
M-Vegetable juice cocktail (1 cup)
H-Beef or pork salami (2 slices)
M-Canned jalapeno peppers (1/4 cup, solids and liquids)
L-One cup seedless raisins,
L-A piece of angel food cake
M-a croissant
M-one slice of whole-wheat bread

Fast food:
H-biscuit with egg and sausage
H-6-inch submarine sandwich with cold cuts

alli

Cathy, I'm just curious...

are frozen veggies & fruit more reasonably priced than the fresh in your neck of the woods?

They would my choice over canned, but I'm not sure what you would have available to you.

WE live in the midwest, upper South Dakota to be exact, we don't get a lot of fresh things during the winter months....so we are force more or less to eat canned, processed things. Not healthiest, but good food most of the time. Sometimes you just don't get a choice. Fruits are apples, oranges, now I am seeing grapefruits, and kiwi, but not much else. Grapes were $2.89 a pound yesterday when I was at the store. A small head of lettuce is $1.79, and bagged is over $2.00. Carrots are over $2.00 per bunch or bag. Most lower/mid income people can't do that very often. Canned are much less and easier to store and keep.

Yes, we read labels, rinse canned things, but the problem is still there, and due to where we live it's not getting any better.

Sometimes there just aren't choices that are best...you settle for doing the best you can with what you have.

I'd love to see KD do a cookbook with at least one of the ingredients be a regular/normal canned ingredient for people in our income level.

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
If it's in a can, jar, packet or pre-made by someone else it potentially is very high in sodium. Label reading is REQUIRED as there are huge variations in anything from canned soups to tomato paste.


In general I try to make everything from scratch

I read labels too.

Plus, I generally avoid processed foods and generally cook from scratch.

A month or so ago, I had veggie buffalo wings on salad. The sodium was way high and I ended up bloated. I tend to be very salt sensitive and do much better with homecooked meals.

If it's in a can, jar, packet or pre-made by someone else it potentially is very high in sodium. Label reading is REQUIRED as there are huge variations in anything from canned soups to tomato paste.

Deli and cured meats (salami, sausage, even turkey) that are prepared with nitrates (most of them) are also super high in sodium and actually have been linked to some digestive cancers. Thankfully it's getting easier to find nitrate-free products.

I don't drink coffee or any kind of enhanced water so I've never read labels or looked up nutrition info on that.

I can tell you that my ww bread is low sodium but I bet there is a huge descrepency even with that.

Raisins should be on the lower side and angel food cake.

In general I try to make everything from scratch as dh has had high blood pressure since high school (hereditary condition) so we go as low sodium as possible at home.