Improve Your Diet -- Reduce Your Sodium Intake

Updated August 06, 2015.

Welcome to my Six-Week Diet Turnaround. There are six lessons. I think it's best to take one week at a time, but you can choose a pace that's comfortable for you -- take longer or go faster. If you'd like a weekly reminder, sign up here: Six Weeks To a Healthy Diet

Did you miss the first lesson? No problem, it's right here: Start With the Stats

This is the final week of the Six Weeks to a Healthier Diet e-course.

In this lesson, I'll explain why you may want to watch your salt and sodium intake, plus I'll leave you with a few tips to help you live with less sodium.

Lesson Six - Shake the Salt Habit

Salt has been used to flavor and preserve foods for thousands of years and even had a great impact on the economy of empires. Today, you probably have a shaker of salt on your table and maybe some sea salt in the kitchen cabinet.

So what's the deal with salt and sodium?

The problem with salt is that it contains sodium and eating too much sodium may contribute to increased blood pressure, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Decreasing the amount of sodium in your diet may help to keep your blood pressure at a healthy level. Eating lots of sodium may also lead to fluid retention and bloating.

While salt is a major source of sodium, many processed foods are high in sodium too. Canned foods, frozen meals, cured meats and many snack foods contain outrageous amounts of sodium. So to keep your sodium levels in check, you need to put down your salt shaker and read Nutrition Facts labels when you shop.

The recommendation for a healthy person is to keep sodium intake below 2,400 milligrams (2.4 grams) per day. Persons with high blood pressure may need to stay below 1,500 milligrams (1.5 grams). One teaspoon of salt has about 2,300 milligrams sodium. Just one-quarter teaspoon has 580 milligrams and a dash of salt has around 150 milligrams.

You'll find sodium in most butter or margarine, milk, bread and other staple foods. Heavily processed foods and cured meats often have even higher amounts of sodium. Look for these ingredients on the label:

Monosodium glutamate
Baking soda
Baking powder
Disodium phosphate
Sodium alginate
Sodium nitrate or nitrite

Frozen dinners usually have more than 500 milligrams sodium, but frozen vegetables have less than 5 milligrams sodium -- if they don't contain any sauce.

Soy sauce is also high in sodium - one tablespoon has over 900 milligrams. Be sure to read the food labels when you shop.