We take sodium each and every day which is a very good thing. This is essential for our body to keep the water, mineral balances and the blood volume at check. But, even taking this is more than required quantity can give negative effects on the health like high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. We all get the required intake of the sodium for each day that meets our body needs. It is recommends by the Experts that an adult must consume 1 teaspoon of salt daily to meet the needs.
Sodium is a which can be obtained from the foods that we consume each day like meats, cheese, nuts, grains, the dairy. We often get confused with the Salt and sodium being the same things, but that’s not true! Salt is prepared from sodium and eve chloride. Sodium is often found in many processed foods that come in the form of salt.
Reducing the intake of sodium is necessary to lower the risk related to the hypertension and other related complications. Thus, today in this article we have listed few tips to lower the intake of sodium.
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Tips To Lower The Intake of Sodium.
1. Add Additional Flavour:
You can do this with the foods by adding many other tasty herbs and even spices such as garlic, basil, pepper, thyme and sesame. They help to add a good flavour without adding any more sodium. If your recipe needs salt, cut down the amount to its half by adding few other tastes.
2. Healthy Choices At Grocery Store:
Act smart by not buying the processed foods that have high sodium content. They use this to preserve the foods fir longer duration and increase its flavour. Keep in mind to read the labels for any foods you are buying. Also read the sodium content mentioned on the nutrition facts label on ingredients list.
3. “Low-Fat” Or “Low-Calorie” S Different:
These don’t assure you that you are buying the best healthy product. Some diet foods have high sodium content as the manufacturers add them as a flavour-enhancer to get the flavour back that can be missed for removing fat and the various other higher-calorie ingredients. This rule also applies for the frozen dinners that are filled with extra salt.
4. Select Low Or No Sodium:
Such sodium content can also be taken care of in the soups, meals, canned foods, and even snacks. There is also some butter that is available with no added salt!
5. Select Fresh Or Frozen Veggies:
You can select these and not the canned varieties, as that contain good amount of salt to increase its shelf life. If you don’t get sodium-free canned vegetables, then you can rinse the content of the cans in the colander under the running water just before cooking. This process is useful to take off the excess salt.
6. Reduce High-Sodium Foods:
High-sodium foods lie Olives, tuna, pickles and many other items packed that you get in the brine are very well saturated in the salt. Thus, you must limit the intake of the high-sodium foods which can be substituted with the lower-sodium ones.
7. Reduce The Intake of Fast Foods:
Fast foods are not just high in the fat content, but also in many other things. These include packed meals, wafers and fries that have sodium more than the daily recommended requirement in 1 serving.
8. Eat Smart:
You can always do smart swaps with the food that you eat and enjoy. Like you can eat 2 scrambled eggs instead of A McDonald’s Egg McMuffin that will help you lower the intake of sodium that you consume.
9. Avoid Instant Foods:
It is very necessary to avoid instant foods like pasta, magi, soups that has salt content.
Chart of Salty Foods:
| Food | Portion | Sodium |
| Baking soda | 1 tsp | 1,259 mg |
| Mini pretzels | 10 minis | 1,029 mg |
| Soy sauce | 1 Tbsp | 902 mg |
| Frozen pepperoni pizza | 1 serving | 902 mg |
| Dill pickle | 1 medium | 883 mg |
| Frozen chicken pot pie | 1 serving | 857 mg |
| Shredded cheddar cheese | 1 cup | 702 mg |
| Baking powder | 1 tsp | 488 mg |
| Hamburger | 1 sandwich | 474 mg |
| Sauerkraut | 1/2 cup | 469 mg |
| Canned peas | 1 cup | 428 mg |
| Ham | 1 slice | 373 mg |
| Biscuit | 1 whole | 304 mg |
| Bacon | 1 slice | 303 mg |
| Salted mixed nuts | 1/4 cup | 205 mg |
| Ketchup | 1 Tbsp | 190 mg |
| Hard salami | 1 slice | 186 mg |
| White bread | 1 slice | 170 mg |
| Mustard | 1 Tbsp | 168 mg |
| Potato chips | 1 ounce | 168 mg |
| Saltine crackers | 5 crackers | 161 mg |
| Tortilla chips | 1 ounce | 150 mg |
| Italian salad dressing | 1 Tbsp | 116 mg |
| Salted butter | 1 Tbsp | 82 mg |
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