Having too much sodium in your diet can lead to lots of issues: high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke and heart disease, not to mention feeling bloated.
Different health nonprofit organizations have different advice for how much salt you should get, but most people should shoot for less than 1500 mg to 2300 mg a day. If you have high blood pressure, strokes or heart disease in your family, try to get less than that amount.
Eat Fresh
The best way for you to cut down the sodium in your diet is by eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains. Not only are they naturally salt-free, but you'll also get tons of other health benefits from them. Fresh foods often have more fiber, vitamins, and minerals than processed foods. They'll also make you feel more full and satisfied so you don't reach for those salty snacks.
Cut Out Processed Foods
Some of the saltiest foods are fast foods and processed foods. So you'll be doing yourself a big favor if you can cut out some of these foods: canned or instant soups and soup mixes, pickles and other pickled foods, canned veggies, instant noodles, frozen dinners and pizzas, hot dogs and other salty/smoked meats, processed cheese, pretzels, chips, crackers, and salted nuts.
Look for easy, salt-free substitutes for snacks like unsalted peanuts, low-salt pretzels and crackers, and naturally salt-free foods, such as fruits and veggies as mentioned above.
Sodium manages to sneak into ingredient labels for foods so remember to look out for sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium citrate as well as plain ol' sodium. As much as possible, focus on the percentage of sodium in food labels and you'll soon be able to tell which foods are too high in sodium.
Don't Add Salt at the Table
People often put salt on their meals before they've even tasted them. How can they know how salty it already is? They can't and that's the danger there. First, taste your food and then add salt little by little to your meal. Otherwise, you could end up with a really salty dinner.
Don't Cook With Salt
People think that adding tons of salt means adding flavor to a meal. That's not true. There's tons of great ways to make a delicious meal without lots or even any salt. Use herbs and spices to add flavors to your meals. Some herbs and spices to try are oregano, basil, mint, lemon, ginger, thyme, and rosemary.
Another way you can cut sodium in your meals is to cut the amount of salt required in a recipe in half. Or better yet, don't add the salt until the end if it's something you're cooking rather than baking.
Now you're on your way - enjoy your healthier, less bloated life!
Amanda Maynes is an aspiring writer with a wealth of knowledge in the areas of health and fitness. She enjoys researching and writing about different topics with the aim of benefiting her readers.
To see more of Amanda's writing and to learn more about this topic, check out the following website: http://calorize.com/food-and-health/how-to-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off.html
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