Sodium and Sugar
The trouble with salt and sugar is that they are so abundant, inexpensive and have the potential to rescue any kinds o a meal. The average American consumes nearly twice the recommended maximum of sodium and nearly 460 nutritionally empty calories of added sugar every day.
We have all heard about the studies about a high-sodium diet not increasing the risk of high blood pressure , kidney disease, and stroke and more. Sugar intake is definitely a cause of obesity and there are studies linking it to other bad news.
The problem with both salt and sugar is that unless we are preparing everything that we eat from scratch, they are abundantly in our diets.
Most adults, healthy without blood pressure issues, should get no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day--the amount, roughly, in one teaspoon of table salt. This may seem like a large number that you can in no way reach on an average day. However, start taking a peek at the labels of things that you consume. You'll be in for a shock. Even soda can contain between 35-50mg or more per serving.
Products labeled "sodium free" contain 5 mg of sodium or less per serving.
A "very low sodium" product has 35 mg or less, and a "low sodium" item contains 140 mg or less.
But be careful: Products labeled "reduced sodium" or "less sodium" need only have 25 percent less sodium than a standard version of the food. So a cup of reduced-sodium chicken-noodle soup may still serve up a hefty 660 mg, about 28 percent of your daily allotment.
What has a lot of "hidden" sodium?
Cured meats, such as bacon, ham, and hot dogs; sardines and smoked salmon; and brined foods, like pickles, sauerkraut, and olives. Go easy on ketchup, salt-based seasonings, and barbecue and steak sauces. Anything canned or preserved probably is loaded with sodium.
Americans today consume 15 percent more added sugars than they did 25 or so years ago. Over that same time, the percentage of overweight or obese adults has grown from 47 to 66 percent.
Be smart about where to find your sugars. Some that contain natural sugars, such as fresh fruit and milk, also provide essential nutrients. But many foods and beverages with high levels of added sugars have little or no nutritional value--and diets high in added sugars tend to be low in important vitamins and minerals.
Read your food labels. Look for added sugars--such as brown sugar, corn sweetener, dextrose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, and sucrose--which are listed by order of weight.
Choose sweets that contain some needed nutrients.
Watch what you drink. While soft drinks account for almost half of the added sugars in the American diet, many ready-to-drink teas and juice drinks are also loaded with sugar.
We have all heard about the studies about a high-sodium diet not increasing the risk of high blood pressure , kidney disease, and stroke and more. Sugar intake is definitely a cause of obesity and there are studies linking it to other bad news.
The problem with both salt and sugar is that unless we are preparing everything that we eat from scratch, they are abundantly in our diets.
Most adults, healthy without blood pressure issues, should get no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day--the amount, roughly, in one teaspoon of table salt. This may seem like a large number that you can in no way reach on an average day. However, start taking a peek at the labels of things that you consume. You'll be in for a shock. Even soda can contain between 35-50mg or more per serving.
Products labeled "sodium free" contain 5 mg of sodium or less per serving.
A "very low sodium" product has 35 mg or less, and a "low sodium" item contains 140 mg or less.
But be careful: Products labeled "reduced sodium" or "less sodium" need only have 25 percent less sodium than a standard version of the food. So a cup of reduced-sodium chicken-noodle soup may still serve up a hefty 660 mg, about 28 percent of your daily allotment.
What has a lot of "hidden" sodium?
Cured meats, such as bacon, ham, and hot dogs; sardines and smoked salmon; and brined foods, like pickles, sauerkraut, and olives. Go easy on ketchup, salt-based seasonings, and barbecue and steak sauces. Anything canned or preserved probably is loaded with sodium.
Americans today consume 15 percent more added sugars than they did 25 or so years ago. Over that same time, the percentage of overweight or obese adults has grown from 47 to 66 percent.
Be smart about where to find your sugars. Some that contain natural sugars, such as fresh fruit and milk, also provide essential nutrients. But many foods and beverages with high levels of added sugars have little or no nutritional value--and diets high in added sugars tend to be low in important vitamins and minerals.
Read your food labels. Look for added sugars--such as brown sugar, corn sweetener, dextrose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, and sucrose--which are listed by order of weight.
Choose sweets that contain some needed nutrients.
Watch what you drink. While soft drinks account for almost half of the added sugars in the American diet, many ready-to-drink teas and juice drinks are also loaded with sugar.
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