Hidden Salt and The Silent Killer - Report Exposes Dangerous Foods
Reducing hidden salt in your lower blood pressure diet - New report exposes diet blackspots So, you've banned the salt cellar from the dining table, and you're picking up reduced salt baked beans from the supermarket instead of your old variety.
You're not eating chips or french fries with every meal, and when you eat them, salt sachets are nowhere in sight.
Well done! You're definitely in the game and well on your way to lowering your blood pressure.
You probably now realise that food tastes just as good without salt...
but what if some foods were hiding the naughty white stuff from your eyes? It would like the food wasn't playing fair, right? A new report shows that 90% of people are getting far too much sodium (the major component of salt) in their diet.
Even for health conscious people, the risk of hidden sodium intake is one of the main reasons why so much salt is being taken on.
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by US agency, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 10 foods alone account for an incredible 44% of all the salt we eat.
Here is the roll call in the sodium hall of shame: · Breads and rolls · Luncheon meats such as deli ham and turkey · Pizza · Poultry · Soups · Cheeseburgers and other sandwiches · Cheese · Pasta dishes · Meat dishes · Snack foods including chips, pretzels, and popcorn Some of these foods will not surprise those who have made changes in their diet already.
But some will be a definite surprise, such as soups, poultry, meat and sandwich meats.
Breads contain very high salt levels, coming out here as the biggest culprit of hidden salts.
It's no surprise then that we should have to ban table salt from our lives, when already we are getting so much salt in our diet without our knowledge.
Armed with this new awareness, what can we do? CDC Director Thomas R.
Frieden, MD, MPH, advises that reducing the sodium intake of these 10 foods by 25% would lower the amount of sodium in our diets by 10% and could help prevent up to 28,000 deaths a year in the US.
It would be wise for us to assume that the sodium density of UK and Euro food would be very similar.
The CDC are putting pressure on food processing firms Stateside to reduce the salt they are putting in food, with some success.
But to achieve the guaranteed results we need for reducing hypertension we need to do something proactive on our own terms.
After all, Is it a good idea to wait for the food companies to reduce the salt, when we can do it ourselves? We can take charge of our own health.
Here's how.
Firstly, don't trust the cooks.
In other words, don't buy processed foods if you can avoid it.
Buy simple ingredients and make recipes from scratch where you can control the amount of salt you are putting in.
Fresh meat, unseasoned and untampered with must always be healthier than the processed variety.
And as for bread, well some loaves now list their salt content on the wrapper, much the same as modern cereal packets do.
Check these labels before you buy, so you can buy in confidence and enjoy your food with peace of mind.
Read the labels on soup tins and cartons too.
Shop around for health.
You can do this, and reduce your sodium intake far above the minimum safety reduction that CDC are seeking from manufacturers.
In battling the so-called silent killer, it is always best not to wait for to help, but to use your care and knowledge to stay in control of your own health.
.
Self management is key to maintaining personal health, whether in relation to hypertension or other conditions.
Athletes do this without complaint and over time we all have to take a similar responsibility for our health, only without the same degree of strictness.
Our end aim is not a sporting event, but a constant ease of our circulatory system.
What we choose to put in becomes an essential part of our system - we are what we eat.
With this maxim in mind, armed with the latest findings from science and medicine, we can take aim at hypertension with confidence, and defend our body from damaging substances which equal aplomb.
You're not eating chips or french fries with every meal, and when you eat them, salt sachets are nowhere in sight.
Well done! You're definitely in the game and well on your way to lowering your blood pressure.
You probably now realise that food tastes just as good without salt...
but what if some foods were hiding the naughty white stuff from your eyes? It would like the food wasn't playing fair, right? A new report shows that 90% of people are getting far too much sodium (the major component of salt) in their diet.
Even for health conscious people, the risk of hidden sodium intake is one of the main reasons why so much salt is being taken on.
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by US agency, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 10 foods alone account for an incredible 44% of all the salt we eat.
Here is the roll call in the sodium hall of shame: · Breads and rolls · Luncheon meats such as deli ham and turkey · Pizza · Poultry · Soups · Cheeseburgers and other sandwiches · Cheese · Pasta dishes · Meat dishes · Snack foods including chips, pretzels, and popcorn Some of these foods will not surprise those who have made changes in their diet already.
But some will be a definite surprise, such as soups, poultry, meat and sandwich meats.
Breads contain very high salt levels, coming out here as the biggest culprit of hidden salts.
It's no surprise then that we should have to ban table salt from our lives, when already we are getting so much salt in our diet without our knowledge.
Armed with this new awareness, what can we do? CDC Director Thomas R.
Frieden, MD, MPH, advises that reducing the sodium intake of these 10 foods by 25% would lower the amount of sodium in our diets by 10% and could help prevent up to 28,000 deaths a year in the US.
It would be wise for us to assume that the sodium density of UK and Euro food would be very similar.
The CDC are putting pressure on food processing firms Stateside to reduce the salt they are putting in food, with some success.
But to achieve the guaranteed results we need for reducing hypertension we need to do something proactive on our own terms.
After all, Is it a good idea to wait for the food companies to reduce the salt, when we can do it ourselves? We can take charge of our own health.
Here's how.
Firstly, don't trust the cooks.
In other words, don't buy processed foods if you can avoid it.
Buy simple ingredients and make recipes from scratch where you can control the amount of salt you are putting in.
Fresh meat, unseasoned and untampered with must always be healthier than the processed variety.
And as for bread, well some loaves now list their salt content on the wrapper, much the same as modern cereal packets do.
Check these labels before you buy, so you can buy in confidence and enjoy your food with peace of mind.
Read the labels on soup tins and cartons too.
Shop around for health.
You can do this, and reduce your sodium intake far above the minimum safety reduction that CDC are seeking from manufacturers.
In battling the so-called silent killer, it is always best not to wait for to help, but to use your care and knowledge to stay in control of your own health.
.
Self management is key to maintaining personal health, whether in relation to hypertension or other conditions.
Athletes do this without complaint and over time we all have to take a similar responsibility for our health, only without the same degree of strictness.
Our end aim is not a sporting event, but a constant ease of our circulatory system.
What we choose to put in becomes an essential part of our system - we are what we eat.
With this maxim in mind, armed with the latest findings from science and medicine, we can take aim at hypertension with confidence, and defend our body from damaging substances which equal aplomb.