Salt

I listened to a podcast yesterday on Hypertension (high blood pressure).  One of the greatest things implicated in high blood pressure is salt.  This I knew, and I know that salt is ubiquitous in so much of what we eat.

I looked at my sodium intake, and to my horror, realized just how much is in what we eat!

In breakfast alone, I discovered the following:
2 slices toast - 440 mg sodium
2 tbsp pb - 110 mg
1 serving yogurt - 95 mg
1 serving granola - 50 mg

Grand total of 700 mg of sodium just in breakfast alone!  Granted, that's a big breakfast, but I thought I was doing pretty well!

And for dessert after dinner (pizza with friends), I had a slice of pecan pie - again, over 400 mg sodium in one slice!!  Ahh! Didn't even check to see how much sodium was in the pizza - a lot!

Fortunately I did a little better with lunch, given I had a salad.  Balsamic vinegar has fairly little sodium in it.

Today I picked up a dried bean soup package at the market, and that has no sodium or msg in it.  The makers of it are trying to cut sodium out of all their products.  Obviously we need some salt content in what we eat, but I don't think we'll ever be lacking on that.

Sodium (half of what is in salt) is in just about everything we eat - tomato sauce, canned beans, definitely canned soups/stews, bread, desserts even...  I have found good alternatives with low sodium tomato-based products/beans, etc.  We need to offer more options with less sodium.

If one eats less than 2300 mg sodium in a day, that is where it can have an impact on lowering blood pressure.  Most of us have around 3500 mg per day... it's no wonder.