You may think it makes little or no difference but in fact, consistently eating too much salt can have drastic effects on health. We all need salt for water balance but taking in too much salt causes the body to retain water. This extra water puts increased strain on the blood vessels, in other words increases our blood pressure. Sustained high blood pressure (around 140/90) damages the lining of arteries, thickens the heart muscle and paves the way for heart disease.
Here's the interesting part, most of the salt that we eat - 65-70% is added to foods during the manufacturing process. Meaning that we don't always realise that we are eating it. This is usually the case with highly processed foods or ready meals such as powdered soups, frozen pizzas and pot noodles. Salty meats such as posrk and bacon also contain high amounts of salt.
So how can we decrease our salt intake? Cutting down on processed foods is a great start! Where possible, choose fresh meat, vegatables and fruits. Add less salt when cooking and at the table. Cut down on salty meats, such as prok, gammon and bacon. Try using herbs, garlic and freshly ground black pepper to flavour your food instead of salt! Sauces and gravy often contain a lot of salt so ask for these on the side when you are eating out. Always taste your food before you add salt, more often than not you won't actually need to add any!
Take these steps gradually over a period of six weeks. Your taste buds will adjust and you will actually get used to less salty foods. You will even begin to appreciate the other flavours of food even more!
If you think that you may need to get your salt intake under control, try calculating how much salt there is in some of the products you eat. To do this look at the food label and check out the salt or sodium content. Often the salt content is given in terms of 'sodium'. One gram of sodium equates to 2.4g of salt. Remember you should take in no more than 6g of salt per day! Items that are low in salt will have less than or equal to 0.3g of salt per 100g (or 0.1g sodium per 100g). Products that are classified as being high in salt will have greater than or equal to 1.3g salt per 100g (0.5g sodium per 100g).
The Gym Team
