Here are some of the foods suffering from sodium overload:

• Burger King cheeseburger and small fries have 1,360 milligrams sodium.  Recommended alternative – chicken tenders and apple fries at 805 mg sodium and almost half the calories.
• Pizza Hut Supreme Pan Pizza has 1,780milligrams sodium  in just 2 slices.  I’m thinking a lot of people eat more than two slices, so add another 890 milligrams of sodium for every slice.  To drop the amount of sodium drastically, go for 2 slices of the Natural Veggie Lovers Pizza without olives for only 760 milligrams sodium.  In case you didn’t notice, that’s less than half of the Supreme!
• Arby’s Large Mozzarella Sticks has 2,047 milligrams sodium.  That’s a lot of sodium for a side or snack.

Even foods you think of as sweet can put too much salt in your diet.  For instance, Bob Evans Stacks & Stuffed Caramel Banana Pecan Hotcakes packs a hefty 2,259 milligrams sodium.  Other breakfast food with too much sodium is McDonald’s Deluxe Breakfast with Margarine and Syrup considering the 2,335milligrams sodium.  Better try an Egg McMuffin with 820 mg sodium instead.

It’s no surprise that something like Dairy Queen Chili Cheese Fries have a bunch of sodium, at 2,550 milligrams.  Better off to eat the regular fries, since they have a lesser 640 mg sodium.

And don’t let Subway’s commercials fool you into believing all their food is extra healthy.  Their Footlong Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki has a whooping 2,290milligrams sodium.  Better for your health to stick with the a 6″ size Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast, which has only 880 mg sodium in comparison.  But they’re not alone with subs full of salt!  Go to Blimpie’s and you might think  you’re eating healthy when you order a 12″ Special Vegetarian Sub because you’re eating vegetarian… but you’d be soooo wrong!  It has a surprising 3,532 milligrams sodium!  Eating the 6-inch size of their Veggie Max would lower that by about a third.

Seafood isn’t exempt either.  The Red Lobster Maui Lau Shrimp and Salmon with Rice Pilaf and Broccoli meal has a whopping 3,000milligrams sodium!  Switching to the Blackened Mahi Mahi with Fresh Asparagus brings that way down to only 715 mg sodium.

But if you think that was bad, how about Olive Garden’s Grilled Shrimp Caprese at a mind-blowing 3,490milligrams sodium?  If you want Italian seafood without a salt overload, better go for the Parmesan Crusted Tilapia since it has much less sodium with 910 mg.

How about salty soup?  I mean REALLY SALTY soup!  P.F. Chang’s Hot and Sour Soup Bowl has an unbelievable 6,878 milligrams sodium.   That sounds like a heart attack in a bowl to me! 

P.F. Chang’s also has the dubious honor of having probably the saltiest food found at a restaurant, with their Wok Charred Beef weighing in with a mind blowing . . .

10,045 milligrams sodium.

That’s like eating 28 orders of McDonald’s large French fries when it comes to the amount of sodium in foods.

What all this comes down to is that  you have to pay attention to what you’re eating!  It’s obvously  much easier to control your salt intake when you are cooking your own meals, but I know most people don’t want to give up eating out altogether.   The sooner all restaurants have to put nutrition facts on their menus, the easier it will be for us, the consumers to really have a clear idea of how much salt, fat, sugar and calories we’re consuming when we eat out.

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Watch The Salt In Diet When Eating Out

But did you know that eating too much salt is even worse than all of those?  That’s because a high salt intake is the major cause of hypertension, which boosts your risk of dying of a heart attack or stroke more than high cholesterol, obesity, smoking, or any other risk factor does.

Cutting back on salt not only lowers your blood pressure, but it lowers the risk for heart attacks and strokes.  Consider that high blood pressure was responsible for one death out of every six in 2005, and it’s clear it’s time we all wake up and consider our salt intake!

Even if you don’t have high blood pressure now, odds are great that sooner or later you will.  Blood pressure tends to drift upward as people age and they have a long-term exposure to sodium.  And even if you don’t have a blood pressure at or over the 140 over 90 predominantly used to classify hypertension, many people have what is known as “pre-hypertension.”  Though technically not high, it’s above normal, and worse, the damage is being done.

Frankly, the medical establishment really doesn’t know just where the line is when blood pressure is too high, and chances are if you wait to be diagnosed with high blood pressure, you can already have damage to your heart, vascular system, kidneys and brain.  High-salt diets also increase the calcium excretion in the kidneys, which may be a factor in osteoporosis.

Okay, there’s no doubt we need to watch our salt intake.  Knowing the problem is only the start of the battle however.  Cutting back on adding salt at the table is a good beginning, but the problem is that 75 to 80 per cent of the salt we consume is in prepared foods. 

Almost every processed food has sodium included, and usually far more than you would expect.  You figure on salt in savory foods, but there’s also a lot in sweet foods.  For example, consider vanilla instant pudding made from a mix.  One half-cup serving has 300mg of sodium, and how many people only eat a half-cup serving?  And even if you did stop at half a cup, that one sweet dessert has used up 1/5 to 1/8 of the recommended 1,500 to 2,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day for healthy adults.  That may not sound like much, but remember, that’s what’s in the sweet stuff.  Savory food has much more!

And packaged or ready-to-eat foods aren’t nearly as bad as the salt we ingest when we eat out.  A McDonald’s Big Mac has 1,040mg of sodium, Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ Onion and sauce has 5,510mg and Red Lobster’s Broiled Seafood Platter with broccoli has 1,810mg.  Even salads are full of sodium, like Olive Garden’s Garden-fresh Salad with Italian dressing at 1,930mg.

One meal out and you’ve shot most of your entire day’s sodium allowance, and sometimes more!

Obviously, cutting your sodium intake isn’t the easiest thing in the world to accomplish.  In times past, our ancestors mostly raised their own food, and did their own cooking.  They had total control of the salt on their food,  and wouldn’t have had near the problem with sodium.  Today, however, most people can’t take the time to cook all of their meals so they can control the amount of sodium they eat, or want to give up ever eating at a restaurant.

However, the health risks make it worthwhile to try to cut back where ever you can, lowering your salt intake as close to the recommended levels as you can manage.

After all, who wants to be the one in six to die because of problems with high blood pressure?

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Don’t Pass The Salt, PLEASE!

Well, you don’t have to be a health food nut to eat healthy, or at least healthier.  And there’s no reason you can’t enjoy your food.  Eating sticks and twigs isn’t necessary.  If you enjoy stuff like Grape Nuts, more power to you.  If you don’t, well, there’s other healthy stuff to eat that WILL taste good to you.

Change A Little or Change A Lot – Your Call!

When it comes to what you eat, every time you make a healthy food choice, that’s a plus.  While some people have what I call a ‘conversion experience’ with health food and instantly clean out every offending food from their pantries and their diet, other people just aren’t comfortable with that.  They need to make it a more gradual process, changing their diet a bite at a time.

That’s okay.  You really don’t have to be a health food nut.

Now that being said, the healthier your diet is, the better off you’ll be.  Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can eat one healthy meal, or make two or three good food choices a day, and then eat junk food the rest of the day and that’s healthy.  Be realistic.

But if you can’t live without a Twinkie now and then, fine.  Just be aware of what you’re eating.  You know it’s not a healthy food choice.   Try to make a lot more food choices that ARE healthy than those that aren’t.

Health Food or Not Health Food? That’s Not The Question!

It’s doesn’t have to be a case of all or nothing.  Sure if you can make an immediate change to eating nothing but healthy foods, that’s super.  But sometimes there’s a learning curve to know what foods to eat.  And it can be very difficult sometimes to find the right food choices, especially when eating out somewhere. 

Just start thinking more about what you’re eating, and try to make healthier choices.  By just being aware of what you’re putting in your mouth, you’re making a step in the right direction.  Be open to trying different foods.  You may discover some of the so-called “health foods” actually taste pretty good.

So if the idea of being a health food nut makes you shudder, don’t give up on a healthy diet altogether, just make smaller changes.  It’s better to make gradual improvements in your diet than to make NO changes. 

Eat a better diet.  It’s good for your health. 
But you don’t have to be a health food nut.

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I don’t want to be a health food nut!