The first one is about sodium. As someone who has had heart disease galore in their family tree, salt is something I should think about as I get older.
Generally, 1.5 teaspoons of salt a day is sufficient to obtain the recommended 3,000 milligrams of sodium. However, the average American ingests two to four times that much each day. Too much salt in the diet causes extra water to be drawn into the blood vessels. This increases the pressure on the artery walls, causing high blood pressure.
According to today's Express newspaper, extra salt can be hiding in foods you may not think would have much salt. Salt solutions are pumped into chicken parts to plump them up. That can add 60 mg of sodium to one chicken breast. Also, there is lots of sodium in some breakfast cereals. A big bowl of corn flakes (2 cups) has 532 mg sodium.
Another surprise for me was cottage cheese. It has 918 mg of sodium per cup! Now I'm glad I don't like the stuff.
If you eat a lot of frozen dinners, they are usually jammed full of sodium. Check labels and watch to see if the foods you eat are loaded with extra salt. Also, add salt to your food sparingly. Use more pepper or try other non-sodium seasonings that flavor foods that won't kill you in the long run (or make this one).
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