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By now you hopefully know that lowering your sodium chloride intake, the stuff
of table salt, is a healthy thing to do. The issue is so important that it gets
an entire chapter in the newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The
concern is that too much sodium chloride elevates blood pressure and contributes
to other chronics diseases and health problems, such as the loss of calcium
through the kidneys. So "cut the salt" is a maxim to live by -- reducing your
consumption of both sodium and chloride.
There is absolutely no reason for anyone to add salt to their food. For one
thing, it is an acquired taste largely unknown to our healthy, hunter-gatherer
ancestors. Cut the salt and you will eventually come to appreciate the tastes of
foods themselves. For another thing, there is no way to live in modern society
and not get some added salt into your diet. Food manufacturers put salt in
everything.
So it becomes important to read labels and to know how much salt is too much.
The Dietary Guidelines recommends that no one consume more than 2,300 mg
(approximately 1 tsp of salt) on a daily basis, from all sources. They note that
staying below 1,500 mg is even better for controlling hypertension. But 1,500 mg
can be found in just one can of soup or bottle of vegetable juice.
No wonder there's no reason to add salt to our food! We have to become sodium
chloride sleuths, buying no-salt added products and specifying no-salt when we
order at restaurants, if we have any hope of staying under the maximum daily
recommendation.
But the problem for heart health and other sodium-related health problems is not
just that we are taking in too much sodium. It is also that we are taking in too
little potassium. The potassium / sodium balance is even more critical than the
total quantity of either one. The Dietary Guidelines recommends 4,700 mg of
potassium per day, which is more than 3 times as much potassium as sodium.
Others say even that is not enough.
Loren Cordain notes that virtually everything our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate
-- meats, fish, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds -- contained about
five to ten times as much potassium to sodium. By staying with these healthy
whole foods, and avoiding unhealthy processed foods, we will naturally return
our bodies to the high-potassium / low-sodium diet they require.
Some of the best dietary sources of potassium include: sweet and white potatoes,
tomato products, beet greens, white beans, blackstrap molasses, prune and carrot
juice, fish, shellfish, winter squash, soybeans, bananas, and spinach. Do what
you can to increase your intake of these potassium-rich foods at the same time
as you decrease your intake of sodium-rich foods.
Coaching Inquiries: Do you know how much sodium chloride you eat everyday? Is
your ratio of potassium to sodium better than 3:1, if not 5:1 or more? How could you
stop eating unhealthy processed foods and start eating healthy whole foods?
What's on your menu tonight?
 To reply to this Pathway, use our
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Wellness Coaching programs and to arrange for a complimentary wellness coaching
session, use our Contact Form or
Email Bob.
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran
LifeTrek Coaching International
121 Will Scarlet Lane
Williamsburg, VA 23185-5043
U.S.A.
Telephone: 757-345-3452
Fax: 772-382-3258
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