Today, Americans consume an average of 3,400 mg per day—almost 50% more than is generally recommended. While sodium is an important nutrient that is needed to function properly in everyday life, too much of it can lead to serious health complications. One of these complications is high blood pressure- which if left untreated could lead to developing major heart disease. Here are 10 easy ways to reduce your sodium intake:
- Eat less packaged and prepared food: According to a study, about 75% of our dietary sodium comes from packaged and prepared foods. Packaged food is defined as “any food other than a raw agricultural commodity and includes any raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to processing, such as canning, cooking, freezing, dehydration, or milling”. Processed foods include sodium containing additives which makes them unhealthy. By cutting some of these items out of your diet, it could reduce your sodium intake drastically!
- Use alternative spices: While cooking try to use different seasonings including garlic, citrus juice, dressing, vinegar or other sodium-free seasonings. A study was conducted and found that incorporating herbs and spices into reduced-salt food items is a feasible strategy for achieving a 50% reduction in salt consumption.
- Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet: The average Americans sodium intake is 75% from packaged and prepared foods. By adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet, it can help to reduce the overall amount of sodium intake. Eating more fruits and veggies is part of a balanced diet, too!
- Read labels: A particular study found that when people calculted the sodium they ate from packaged food, they lowered their intake. By following recommendation from the American Heart Association, try to choose foods that equal less than 2,300mg or 1 teaspoon a day.
- Ask for less sodium foods when eating out: When dining out, ask for your meals to be made “salt-free” and request that sauces and salad dressings be served “on the side”. By doing this, you have more control on how much sodium is added to your meal. According to a study with these recommendations resulted in a reduction of up to 31% in sodium per serving.
- Rinse canned food before eating: Canned foods are known to have a great amount of sodium in their preservatives. Research done by the USDA concluded that rinsing and draining canned foods can reduce the sodium content between 9-23%.
- Substitute high sodium snacks: Instead of eating chips or other snacks known to have high amounts of salt, swap them for low sodium or no sodium nuts, seeds, and other snack products. Also you can try fresh options like carrots and celery.
- Switch up your condiments: Small changes can make a difference- choose light or reduced sodium condiments, add oil and vinegar to salads instead of bottled dressing, and use small amounts of flavoring packets instead of the whole thing. Bonus- s study discovered that consumption of olive oil was linked to a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Try to avoid the “salty six”: The salty six are known as the six popular foods that can add high levels of sodium in your diet. These foods are bread and rolls, pizza, sandwiches, cold cuts and cured meats, soup, burritos and tacos. By cutting out these well known foods that are high in sodium could be an conscious way of cutting out excess sodium from your diet.
- Cook rice, pasta and hot cereals without salt: According to a study, withholding added salt from these food items is a quick strategy to reduce sodium in someone’s diet.
