Where’s the Sodium?
by Betty Mitchell RN BSN
Parish Nurse, Emmanuel Bethel Church, Royal Oak, Michigan
As we share our lives together in the church through fellowship and breaking of bread together, we need to encourage one another in all aspects of our lives. Living a healthy lifestyle can be promoted by encouraging nutritious foods and making better choices of the foods we eat.
Increased blood pressure often contributes to heart disease and stroke. Lowering your sodium intake is often suggested as a way to lower blood pressure.
Most of the sodium people ingest is from the processed foods they eat, rather than the salt shaker when preparing foods or during a meal. It comes from packaged, processed, store-bought or restaurant foods. Frozen meals, snack foods and cookies are considered processed foods and contain sodium. Reading labels will help determine the best choice for you. Even different brands of the same product may vary considerably in the amount of sodium used.
More than 40% of the sodium we eat comes from bread and rolls and snack foods. Become a label reader. When checking for caloric content, vitamins, minerals and fiber, be sure also to look for lower sodium content when shopping for your groceries.
Even though a particular food item may be low in sodium, if you eat it often during the day, your daily sodium may be quite high. When you purchase processed foods high in sodium, remember that it cannot be removed from the product.
As you shop for groceries try to purchase as many fresh vegetables and meats as possible. Cooking at home with fresh ingredients will help decrease the amount of sodium you consume. Reducing the portion sizes will also help decrease the amount of sodium consumed and help lower not only your blood pressure but your weight, too.
Protect your heart health by discovering ways to lower your daily sodium intake.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/salt/food.htm; http://www.cdc.gov/salt/pdfs/Sources_of_Sodium.pdf
I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)
