Sodium Recommendations

I have had an interest in nutrition for almost as long as I can remember. My interest wasn’t always as strong as it is now but I have been fascinated by nutrition for decades. About 20 years ago I remember my internist mentioning to me that the optimal sodium intake was 2,200mg. That number stuck in my head and wouldn’t shake loose.

I was surprised last week when watching the 2009 videos of the Nutritional & Health conference one of doctors mentioned the IOM (Institute of Medicine) target of 1,500mg of sodium daily. Now I knew Doc Fuhrman recommended lower levels of sodium but I always thought the official target was still in the low 2,000’s. Of course I did a little research to find out exactly what the IOM had written. They published a paper recently on reducing sodium intake. Apparently American’s on average consume 3,400mg per day of sodium which exceeds the maximum of 2,300mg. Also the target established for most Americans is 1,500mg. Here is exactly what was written:

SODIUM AND POTASSIUM

Key Recommendations

• Consume less than 2,300 mg (approximately 1 tsp of salt) of sodium per day.

• Choose and prepare foods with little salt. At the same time, consume potassium-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables.

Key Recommendations for Specific Population Groups

• Individuals with hypertension, blacks, and middle-aged and older adults. Aim to consume no more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day, and meet the potassium recommendation (4,700 mg/day) with food.

For those of you that don’t know the proportion of sodium consumed in relation to potassium is important. This is why eating a lot of processed food (high in sodium and low in potassium) and little produce (low in sodium and high in potassium) isn’t a good idea.

One the things I learned in the last Cornell class in relation to sodium was when you are buying processed food the milligrams of sodium should not exceed the calories. For example if the food has 100 calories per serving than the sodium should not exceed 100 milligrams. While we don’t buy a lot of processed food this seemed like a good rule of thumb to me. I hope you find it useful when you are grocery shopping.

Additionally it is useful to keep in mind when you are adding salt to food that each teaspoon of salt contains approximately 2,300mg of sodium. Sea salt and kosher salt are a little lower in sodium at approximately 1,880mg per teaspoon.

We find that liquid aminos is where we get a lot of our sodium. Even though it is lower in sodium than low sodium soy sauce it still tends to add up. For those are you that are going to try for 1,500mg of sodium per day it isn’t easy. We make it most days now but initially food tasted very bland. I found that using a lot of herbs and peppers was very helpful in adding flavor to food that didn’t have salt.

Unrelated note:

Sorry I wasn’t around much yesterday. We had some appointments out of the house. Once those were finished Dan wanted to shop for a new TV for the family room. It was delivered this morning. My hubby loves his technology. This television seems more like a computer to me. It can be connected wirelessly to the internet and comes with 3D capability. Not that I can imagine why we need a 3D TV, but I guess this will make watching sci fi more fun for my hubby. Boys do like their toys no matter how old the boy becomes.

While we were out I ran by Marshalls just to see if I could find a couple shirts. I found 6 summer shirts which I liked and they were very reasonably priced. I picked up the cutest Ralph Lauren shirt in a nautical white with thin blue horizontal stripes marked down to $16.99 with a boat neck and gold buttons. I love, love, love a good deal. LOL! I had to pick up a pair of white pants to wear with this shirt of course.

Since it was right there we ran into Costco to replenish our supply of veggies and fruit to juice. It is amazing how quickly we go through veggies for juice. Costco had Capri yoga pants in stock so I picked up 4 more pair. Can you have too many workout clothes? I don’t think so. ;-)

By the time we got home it was late and I was exhausted. This is what happens when you “have to” wear cute sandals with an enormous heel (because I am vertically challenged after all). For dinner we had a leftover quinoa that I had stashed in the refrigerator which I stirred salsa into, wilted spinach and a veggie burger from the freezer. We also had a big glass of veggie and fruit juice. Nothing exciting to eat last night for dinner, just healthy food fast because I didn’t really feel like standing on my feet.   Gee I wonder why, LOL.

Since I was gone most of the day yesterday I have a lot to do today to get caught up on my “to do list”. One thing I need to do is spend some time in the kitchen. I feel like I need a little therapeutic cooking today. I will be back with at least one recipe if not more. Talk to you all soon.