Are You Salt Savvy?
By Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that most of us are consuming nearly twice the recommended amount of sodium in our daily diet. While the daily sodium recommendation for healthy people is 2300 mg, nearly 90% of Americans (including toddlers and children) struggle to stay under that number. And for those at risk, the recommended intake is even lower: 1500 mg daily. For most people, the term “cutting back on salt” is interpreted as a major drop in flavor. That doesn’t need to be the case. In fact, only about 10% of the sodium we eat daily comes from the salt shaker! The use of spices and sodium-free herb blends can wake up natural flavors in foods. Nearly 80% of our daily sodium is “hidden” in processed foods – bagged, boxed, and canned – and in restaurant meals. Here’s where the taste test fails: Foods don’t have to taste very salty to be loaded with sodium. So stick with label-reading. And look...