If you’re like me, you probably read your food labels fairly often. Sure, I have my go-to foods that I know and love, but I rarely purchase anything new without flipping it over to check out the Nutrition Facts, like calories, fat (saturated and trans), protein and fiber. But I honestly don’t usually consider sodium.
I generally try to limit the salt I add to food I make at home and I try not to add salt to pre-packaged foods, but it turns out, that’s not enough. According to the American Heart Association, more than 75% of sodium in our diet comes from processed foods – and only 25% comes from adding salt to our food.
An article from CNN.com provides a good summary of ways to limit salt intake at home. For example, homemade broth or sauces usually have a lot less sodium than store brands and using marinades helps limit the amount of salt needed to season food. (The article has a bunch of other good tips, too.)
When you’re at the store purchasing the processed foods, the key is to check the label. Previously, our resident Ignite nutritionist, Rebecca, recommended we look for foods that have <5% Daily Value of sodium. If you consider the recommended daily sodium intake of 2,300 mg, that means we should be aiming for servings that have less than 115 mg of sodium. (Note that the 2,300 mg recommendation is for healthy people, not for those who should be limiting sodium, such individuals with high blood pressure.)
Recently I had a can of soup and a green salad for dinner. The soup (Progresso Light Homestyle Vegetable and Rice soup) was a 2-serving can with 120 calories, 1 gram of fat (no saturated or trans fat), 8 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein. Overall, it seems pretty healthy. However I just took a look at the label again and the can has 1,400 mg of sodium (700 mg per serving). That’s more than 60% of my recommended daily intake! Fortunately, the same brand makes a reduced sodium line which has 40-50% less sodium.
So it looks like I have some changes I need to make when I check out food labels. But the good news it, the CNN article cited a study that found that you crave less salt when you eat it less salt.
Kerry
