Is Salt the Enemy ??

I have a few clients that are watching what they eat very well, but are stumped. 

Why is the weight-loss plateauing at times? 

Why do they seem to have lower energy on days when they express having received enough sleep?

Last September the Department of Health and Human Services announced its own national campaign against heart attacks (and indirectly sodium intake) called Million Hearts. This national initiative has set the ambitious goal to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.

But is Salt Really The Problem?

Yes and No  

Eating Less Sodium can be a challenge...
Salt can be included in foods in surprising ways. In fact, foods that otherwise seem healthy may have high levels of sodium (e.g., cottage cheese and turkey breast luncheon meat). Some foods that you eat several times a day, such as bread, add up to a lot of sodium even though each serving is not high in sodium. There are steps that you can take, however, to reduce sodium in your diet.

Salt consumed at the recommended serving size of 2300 mg a day is fine for seventy percent of the population who are not considered sodium sensitive.  The problem is that on average Americans consume two to three times the recommended serving size…every day.  
Many of us are completely unaware that we are sodium offenders.  According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about ninety percent of Americans eat more than the recommended amount of salt.  We think we are eating right by counting calories, bringing our own lunches to work, and refraining from sprinkling salt on the more bland foods we consume.  

Important to Understand: You can remove calories without removing salt.  

Dining Out: If you dined out for even just one meal today, it’s possible you’ve already reached or exceeded your sodium allotment for the day!

The good news is that you can easily take control of your sodium intake.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified the ten offending food types responsible for nearly half of the sodium we consume; those foods include: breads, cold cuts and deli meats, pizza, fresh and processed poultry, soups, sandwiches, cheese, pasta dishes, meat mixed dishes such as meat loaf with tomato sauce, and snacks such as chips, pretzels, and popcorn. That doesn’t mean that you can never eat these foods, but that you should be on the lookout for sodium information when you do.  As part of the National Salt Reduction Initiative, many companies are reducing the sodium they put in their products. On the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website, you will find a nice list of companies committed to reducing the amount of sodium in their food products.  The list is a good one and includes pre-packaged food products you can buy at the grocery store as well as commercial restaurants.

Another great way to track your salt intake is with your smart phone.  There are lots of apps out there that provide a free and easy way to record what you eat by scanning the barcodes on food packaging, counting your calories for you,  or even evaluating your personal sodium consumption.

I hope you have found this useful and I wish you the best health and success in implementing these tools to your new low-sodium nutritional strategy !
In Health, 

Zeke Samples - IFA, - IDEA Personal Trainer

Fitness and Wellness Author

Surrealbody@gmail.com

Understanding a Nutritional Label. The 3 vital E's!

Understanding HOW to read a Nutritional Label 

is VITAL to meeting your Nutritional and Exercise Goals

During a consultation, I will cover the nutrition label and what each category represents.  Fats, Carbohydrates, Protein, and Sodium amounts are all listed on the nutrition label, as well as the serving size and servings per container.  These initial numbers can be tricky because if the servings per container is 2 (as seen in this photo), then all the numbers are doubled!

By FDA Law, ingredients are listed by greatest to least, so this allows you to see what are the most dominant ingredients in what you are consuming.  In an M&M's package, for example, you will not find "blue food coloring" as the first listed ingredient.  You will find: Chocolate, Peanuts, Milk, etc.. and the food colorings will be listed near the end because the amount of the food coloring would not be more than the peanuts or chocolate.  Similarly, for chicken noodle soup, the first few ingredients would have to be chicken, pasta, chicken stock, etc.

Here is a quick label outlined for your reference. Use this to understand what is going into your body and how much; use it when you shop for groceries this weekend.  This is another great tool for learning how to eat healthier, while educating yourself at the same time.

Educate! Engage! Entertain!

In Health, 

Zeke Samples - IFA, - IDEA

Contributing author for www.FitAphrodite.com

surrealbody@gmail.com