Shake the Habit: Easy Ways to Lower Your Sodium Intake

How Much Sodium Is Too Much?

Sodium plays a critical role for several bodily functions, and has a great impact when consumed on healthy doses. For example, it helps maintain fluid balance in and around your cells, facilitates the transmission of electrical signals among nerves, enables muscle contractions, and supports healthy blood flow.

But here’s the salty truth: you are probably consuming more sodium than you should and haven’t realized. Adults should be consuming less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium everyday, but it is estimated that the average American ingests around 3,592 mg a day.

You might be thinking: “but I don’t add that much salt to my food when cooking”—and while that’s a great place to start, the truth is that over 70% of dietary sodium comes from processed foods.

When consumed in excess, sodium can actually have contrary effects and make you more likely to suffer from different health problems.

Sodium Overload: Know Your Risks

How exactly does sodium affect your body? There are several risk areas, but the most common are:

• Heart problems, as high sodium levels can lead to elevated blood pressure and increase your risks of suffering from heart disease or stroke
• Kidney function, since sodium can strain your kidneys and lead to kidney stones, kidney disease, and similar complications
• Bloating and swelling, because sodium attracts and retains water, which leads to fluid buildup
• Bone health, as sodium can contribute to calcium loss and weaken your bones over the years and make you more prone to suffering from fractures or osteoporosis

Benefits of Lowering Your Sodium Intake

You might have heard hundreds of times that reducing sodium in your diet will be beneficial for your body… but why? We focus on the 5 main changes you will enjoy:

1. Less water retention, and therefore reduced bloating
2. More energy and less risks of various chronic diseases
3. Lower blood pressure and improved cardiovascular health
4. Better kidney function and lower risk of kidney stones
5. Enhanced bone health

4 Ways for Lowering Your Sodium Intake

Shop Smarter

There are several small changes you can make into your shopping routine that will allow you to reduce sodium in your purchases. First of all, start learning about fresh alternatives for your meals over processed foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, and lean proteins over canned or packaged options, as they tend to add sodium to their ingredients to enhance their flavor and preserve their life.

You can also read food labels more carefully and choose products that are marked as low or reduced sodium, or no added salt. However, keep in mind that there can also be high “hidden” sodium levels in products we might not suspect, such as condiments, processed beverages, some types of breads, and savory snacks.

At the beginning this might feel a little bit more overwhelming than normal, but sooner than later you will get quicker into identifying the best options for your menu.

Nourish Your Home Meals

By preparing your meals at home, you will have more control over their sodium levels. You can try flavoring your food with different herbs and spices like garlic, lemon, basil, oregano, and similar seasonings. If you are using canned items like beans, fish, vegetables, etc, rinse them before cooking and you will remove excess sodium.

Not only will this make your diet healthier, but also step-up your cooking game!

Dine Out Differently

While ideally you should aim to eat out as little as possible, the whole point of making durable changes in your diet is to be able to maintain them and integrate them into your routine. So, when you do go out to eat, try making these adjustments:

• Ask for no added salt
• Order smaller portions
• Request sauces and dressing on the side and do not use them all
• Opt for grilled or steamed options over fried meals

Take Baby Steps

The biggest advice we can give you when trying to adjust to a healthier diet is to make big changes gradually. Specifically when talking about sodium intake, it’s important you give time to your taste buds to adapt to the new flavors. You can also start replacing certain items for their low-sodium alternatives, like butter, broth, snacks, and salad dressings.