Finding salt in our diet

Health Care -IT is very important to note and remember that too little or too much salt in your diet can be bad for your body.

Salt is sodium plus chloride and both are minerals. Salt is made up of 40 per cent sodium and 60 per cent chloride. It's that 40 per cent that causes so much concern among health professionals today.

Surprisingly, the use of the salt shaker is not the main cause of too much sodium in your diet. In fact, about 75 per cent of dietary sodium comes from eating foods prepared outside the home. Only a small portion comes from salt added to food when cooking or eating. Even though sodium is already in many foods when you purchase them, there are still some steps you can follow to lower your daily sodium intake.

Read your labels

Packaged food items can contain high levels of sodium, whether or not they taste salty. That's why it's important to use the nutrition facts label to check the sodium content.

Understand the Daily Value

The daily values are the amounts of nutrients recommended per day. The daily value (DV) for sodium is less than 2,400 milligrams (mg) per day.

The %DV tells you how much of a nutrient is in one serving of a food. The %DV is based on 100 per cent of the daily value for sodium. When comparing and choosing foods, pick the food with a lower %DV of sodium.

As a general rule: 5% DV or less of sodium per serving is low and 20% DV or more of sodium per serving is high.

Pay attention to serving sizes. The %DV listed is for one serving, but one package may contain more than one serving. Be sure to look at the serving size to determine how many servings you are actually consuming.

How can we eat to prevent obesity and reduce our risks of cardiovascular disease? The DASH diet is the best way to go.

While the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension)diet was originally developed as an eating style to help lower blood pressure, it has been found to be an amazing food guide plan for weight loss which, in turn, will reduce our risks of many chronic diseases. It is based on an eating plan rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grain foods, fish, poultry and nuts. It is a high fibre, low to moderate fat diet that is rich in potassium, calcium, and magnesium. It is low in total fat, sweets and sugary drinks.

Madelaine Terrier-Schnoor is a licensed dietitian at the Heart Foundation of Jamaica.

Source: www.jamaicaobserver.com