Most Americans eat way too much salt in their daily diets. This may not be for the reason you think. I first thought about this a few years ago when Brad started dealing with high blood pressure problems and his doctor recommended food change. My initial response was, "we don't eat a lot of salt because we rarely add it at the table from the shaker". Also, our food didn't taste salty so the conclusion is that there isn't too much salt in it. BUT we were eating mostly processed foods. Add that to eating out occasionally and that amounts to HIGH SALT INTAKE!! Take a look at what you ate today. Check out the mg of salt you took in. The recommended daily allowance is something around 2200-2300 mg or more reasonably 1500 mg. I would bet money that you took in almost double that recommended amount. Processed food has a long shelf life because it contains preservatives which include salt. So a few years back after this realization, we cut down on eating processed foods. That still left me with a lingering question of, "why doesn't our food taste salty"? Answer-because we have become desensitized to the large amounts of salt we consume. As we ate less and less processed foods (I also eliminated cooking with it), we noticed when we had a meal someone else cooked or a meal at a restaurant was salty. We effectively re-trained our taste buds to recognize when the food was too salty!! The moral of this story is, eliminating processed food has many positive effects one of which is decreased salt intake. Put down that salt shaker and taste the food the way God intended it!
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AuthorI am an ordinary person just like you who thanks to my husband and a good friend realized I needed to change my eating habits or my habits were going to eat me! I am in no way an authority on anything I post and make no claims on your health. I do not have a medical degree or am a registered dietitian. I am however, a consumer who has chosen to understand more about the foods we eat and how they affect us. My mission is simple. To inspire others to take the necessary steps to feel as great as I do by taking control of their eating! Archives
January 2014
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