Two peanuts were walking down the road when one was assaulted.
Eventually the 9-year-old and 39-year-old will laugh at that joke. The 9-year-old will laugh louder than the adult would. The adult might be more worried about the salt content of the joke.
The USDA's 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans say we should get no more than 2300 mg of sodium a day, 1500 mg if we fall into a riskier category. Right now, our low range of what we do consume is higher than what we should have if we're otherwise healthy: 2395-4476 mg.
| Top 10 foods for sodium content | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | Food | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Bread and rolls | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Luncheon meats | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Pizza | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Poultry products (nuggets, patties) | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Soups | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Cheeseburgers/other sandwiches | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Cheese | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Pasta | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Meat dishes | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Snack foods (pretzels, chips, popcorn) | ||||||||||||||||
I spent part of a recent Saturday trying out new fast food items that were being handed out for free. McDonald's was pushing its Chicken McBites. Its free sample consisted of 2½ tiny pieces of breaded, deep-fried chicken. Burger King was pushing its new onion rings just after the restaurant touted its new French fries.
I foolishly tried the French fries and onion rings together along with a Burger King hamburger (the McDonald's "meal" didn't fill me up). Admittedly, I don't eat too many fast food fries, especially a regular order, and had forgotten how much salt they cake onto the fries.
When you shake a fast food French fry, you get enough white tiny pellets to fall out that it looks more like dandruff. You get the feeling that the meager wages of a fast food employee is augmented by a salting bonus, where extra money rains down (Morton Salt reference, ask your parents) if you oversalt the food.
If you salivate every time Giada DeLaurentiis oversalts the pasta water, you might have a problem with salt, unless you avoid processed food. Good luck with that.
Bread and rolls came in #1 for the most oversalted processed food, according to the Vital Signs Report from the CDC. The top 10 list accounted for 44% of our salt consumption.
How much could you improve your salt intake if you reduced your dependence on processed food? We get 65% of our sodium intake from foods from stores, more than 2½ times as much from restaurants.
We need salt, lest we die. Salt is not killing us, but too much is not doing us well. If you reduced sodium in products, and then salted to taste, you would get a win-win since everyone would enjoy food at their ideal salt level. Until then, do what you can to obtain a balance of salt in your food.
We all need salt but you are right some things have too much. My rull of thumb is read the ingredient lable and pick and choose. Many canned vegetable (also frozen) do not add salt and let you do your own spicing. Fresh is always best and reduction doesn't take that long to get used to.
Posted by: groundhog.judy | March 03, 2012 at 02:10 PM
Salt is essential for our health, but too much is not good. Better eat lesser of the food listed above.
Posted by: Kim alkigs | June 04, 2012 at 12:57 AM