Can salt make you fat? Prevention 1 hr ago By Ishi Khosla Salt/sodium is crucial for your health. We need salt to transport nutrients,transmit nerve impulses and contract muscles, including our heart. Sodium alsomaintains the fluid, electrolyte and pH balance in the body. But excess saltconsumption increases the risk of insulin resistance, high BP, stroke and waterretention that translates into extra kilos on the scale. Excess Salt and Lifestyle Conditions While high salt intake has been clearly implicated for high BP and stomachcancer, its role in the development of insulin resistance and obesity isrelatively new. According to some studies, excessive salt can worseninsulin resistance and the evidence suggests that there is an interdependentrelationship between insulin sensitivity and sodium. So, as you watch yourcalories, fat and sugar intake, dont forget to count salt. An animal studydone in Japan, published in the Journal of Hypertension, explored the linkbetween insulin resistance and high salt intake in rats. It indicated thatthere was a significant increase in blood glucose and insulin levels in rats,fed on a high sodium-diet. High School Online aiuhs.org Your Daily Allowance On an average, most people consume more salt than they need. While therecommendations are 2400 mg sodium a day, most of us tend to have around3500-4300 mg. According to WHO, those with high blood pressure should limittheir intake to 1600 mg salt per day. However, those withlow blood pressure or sportspeople (they sweat too much) may have a slightlyhigher requirement than the recommended dosage. Sodium Alert Begin with reading nutrition labels to compare and pick foods low on salt.Youll be surprised to find that even foods in the same category have differentamounts of sodium. Look out for foods with monosodium glutamate (better knownas MSG and found in many Chinese foods), baking soda, baking powder, disodiumphosphate, sodium alginate, sodium nitrate, or any other compound that hassodium or Na (its chemical name) as that is likely to add excesssodium. Smart Swaps Reduce the salt content in your daily diet. Substitutewith pure herbs and spices. For example, buy garlic powder instead of garlicsalt. At the table, use a salt-shaker with small holes, or cover all but onehole. Better still, ditch the salt shaker. Also, both common salt and rock saltcontain similar amounts of sodium chloride (NaCl).Create your own herb and spice blend, and put it in your salt-shaker. To makethe dishes flavourful, add fresh lemon juice insteadof salt in pulses, fish and veggies. Choose fresh or frozen unprocessed foodpreparations over those that are canned, cured, smoked or processed. A fewcommercial sauces like hot pepper sauce, angostura and Tabasco are fine to use. Restrict These Minimise use of commercial pickles,papads, salty chutneys, processed namkeenand churans. Ditto for cold cuts like sausages, ham andbacon, because these are particularly high in salt. Canned or bottled saucessuch as barbecue, soy, steak, chilli, tomato, saladdressings and teriyaki, too, should be used sparingly. A single tablespoon ofsoya sauce can give you over 900 mg of sodium (about 40% of your daily sodiumintake). Bakery products prepared with baking soda also contain extra salt.Limit your intake of fast foods, most of them are toosalty. When eating out request the eatery to prepare your order with minimum salt.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 10:53:26 +0000
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