Tips to Reduce Your Salt Intake

Excess salt is a major cause of high blood pressure.  And believe it or not, high blood pressure puts you at greater risk of dying of a heart attack or stroke than smoking, high cholesterol or obesity does!

Besides causing high blood pressure, salt can also damage your heart, kidneys and other organs.

The average American woman consumes 3,000 mg of sodium a day. The average man consumes more than 4,000 mg. Recommended levels are less than 2300 mg a day for most people! However, even modest reductions in sodium results in a lower risk of heart attacks, strokes, heart disease & death.

80% of the sodium we consume comes from packaged foods and restaurant food, so cooking your own fresh foods will make the biggest impact on salt reduction

Here are more tips:

1. Limit the number of meals you eat out.

2. Use mostly fresh foods in your cooking.

3. Use frozen vegetables and fruit, as long they are not packaged with salt or sauces.

4. If you buy food in cans, always look for "No salt added" or "Low sodium" versions.

5. When preparing a packaged or canned food, add plenty of fresh vegetables to lower the sodium concentration per serving.

6. Read food labels and check the sodium content.

7. Track your sodium intake for a few days to see how close you are to the recommended levels. The best way to do this is with a nutrition tracking website or app such as MyFitnessPal.com

8. Stock up on spice blends that do not contain salt: many curry, fajita seasoning and poultry seasoning blends do not contain salt.

9. Experiment with different herbs & spices to flavor your food in place of salt.