What is Your Salt IQ?

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Which contains more sodium? A loaded Burger King steak house burger or a king size order of onion rings? It's the steakhouse burger with 2,190 milligrams of sodium (all the sodium you need for an entire day) as compared to the onion rings which contain 720 milligrams. Surprised? Many times you don't taste the sodium added to the product the way you do the salt on the outside. OK, you might be thinking, what are milligrams, how many of those do I need and how do I know how much sodium is in my food?

Table salt is sodium chloride which means that it's made up of part sodium and part chloride. But there are many other types of sodium or sodium products in food, particularly processed foods. You will see terms such as the preservative sodium benzoate, or sodium bicarbonate which is baking soda, monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer or sodium nitrate/nitrite which are used as curing agents in deli meats. It's the total amount of sodium that you take in every day from both salt and all the other forms of sodium that affects your body.

You need some sodium as it's found in all body fluids such as blood and sweat. Sodium and other minerals such as potassium and chloride work as electrolytes in the body to maintain proper fluid balance by moving fluids which carry nutrients in and out of cells. You've probably heard someone say they were dehydrated and needed electrolytes. Your kidneys regulate the body's sodium level and the volume of water circulating in the body. You lose sodium thru the urine and sweat. If you have excess sodium in your diet, the kidneys release more water which increases blood volume and ultimately blood pressure. Excess sodium in the body can negatively affect the flexibility of your artery walls which affects your blood pressure by increasing it. The heart has to work harder to send blood thru the blood vessels which can increase your risk for heart attack and stroke. Cutting sodium in the diet now and over time helps lower blood pressure but also slashes heart disease risk by 25-30% according to a study from the British Medical Journal.

So how much total sodium do you need daily in order for sodium to do its job along with the other electrolytes? And how much sodium is too much and will potentially push up your blood pressure? And can cutting back on salt and sodium lower your blood pressure if it's elevated? Adults need about 1500 milligrams of sodium with a tolerable upper limit of 2300 milligrams which is about one teaspoon of salt from the shaker. How much sodium do you think most Americans consume each day? If you guessed 3400-3500 milligrams per day and up, you're right. Can this amount of sodium push up blood pressure? Potentially and especially so in people who are salt sensitive. By reducing salt and sodium in your diet, it will help lower your blood pressure.

Where does all the sodium in the diet come from? It's not the salt shaker. It's processed foods. Sixty to eighty percent of the sodium in our diets comes from sodium products added during processing. Label sleuths.get out your magnifying glasses; it's time to read the fine print! Reading labels for sodium content is key to finding all the hidden sodium.

Look for the 'reduced sodium' alternatives:

• Soups
• Soy sauce
• Ketchup
• Frozen and canned veggies
• Chips and pretzels
• Deli meats
• Frozen dinners

Because salt adds flavor to food, you might be wondering whether you're going to miss all that added sodium. Here's some great news. Your taste buds will adapt after about 6-8 weeks of gradually cutting back on the amount of sodium that you consume.

More tips to cut the sodium in your diet:

• Switch to kosher salt. The crystal size is larger and more coarse so a teaspoon of kosher salt contains almost 25% less sodium than regular table salt.
• Eat smaller portions of high sodium foods; offset a high sodium food with low sodium ones or whole, fresh foods without sodium.
• Choose whole, unprocessed foods.
• If you like to cook, cooking from scratch is a great way to control the salt and sodium you add.
• Remove or decrease salt from recipes. Most main dishes won't miss the salt but baked goods need it. Try cutting the amount in half.
• Increase fruit and veggie consumption as potassium has a lowering effect on blood pressure.
• Use more lemon, lime and citrus for flavor along with fresh herbs and spices and a variety of vinegars. It's fun to grow herbs to use in your dishes too.
• In packaged mixes for soups, rice and pasta use only half of the seasoning packet and kick up the flavor with herbs and spices.
• Rinse tuna, bean and canned veggies to lower the sodium content.

Ke eping a watch on how much salt and sodium you consume now can have big payoffs for your health both now and later. Your taste buds will adapt and you won't miss it.