Salt This!

Sodium is very important to us to survive.  Salt and sodium are often confused as one in the same thing.  However, sodium is inside the actual salt.  In fact, sodium and chloride are found inside salt.  These two ions are also found in our bodies outside the cell membrane.  In order to maintain homeostasis we need to replace the sodium and chloride used daily.  Sodium provides us with a small electrical charge that creates electrolytes.  Sodium’s job is to regulate fluids, transport important nutrients and regulate blood pressure. 

So why the big push that sodium, i.e. SALT is bad.
Because as always the America diet has fucked it all up.   When we say, “Super-Size Me”, we are not just increasing calories but we increase the amount to sodium that is in the food.  We no longer need to use salt in the way to preserve food as the Vikings did; we have refrigerators for that now. 

When we have an excess of sodium in our bodies it will increase our blood pressure and contribute to obesity.  The average person can live on 600mg of sodium per day and the recommended daily intake is 2400mg.  If you consume greater than 3200mg, you must drink a liter of H2O in addition to what is already recommended.  (Eight, 8-ounce glasses)
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Constant over indulging of sodium wreaks havoc on your kidneys.  It is also linked to stomach cancer, ulcer and acid reflux.  However the silver lining to all this is we can control the amount of salt in our diets. We can cook whole non-processed foods.  We can use sea salt, seaweed and lemon to flavor our foods.  We can stop buying fast foods and dinners in a box.  We can drink water, exercise and treat our bodies with respect.

We also need to pay better attention to the "healthy options"  fast food restaurants are trying to sell us....take a look at the chart for some surprising sodium levels in their salads.  
 

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