In a pickle...

Hello Richland!

In a pickle trying to think of what I wanted to blog about today, I decided to blog about just that-pickles. A personal favorite food, along with any other sodium-rich foods like canned soups and hot sauce, pickles are LOADED with sodium (or salt). What’s the big deal?

You need at least some sodium in your body to keep it going, but too much can cause some major problems. Let’s follow a pinch of salt through your body.

Without being too fancy and biological, you eat something really good and salty- a nice dill pickle, we’ll say. It enters your stomach and is broken down by your stomach acids. All the different substances contained in the pickle are separated somewhere between your stomach and intestines, and all of the vitamins and minerals (salt included) are absorbed into the blood stream. The salt from your pickle is used for three things:

• Maintaining the balance of fluids in your body
• Transmitting nerve impulses
• Contracting and relaxing your muscles

Your kidneys are responsible for balancing the amount of sodium store in your body. If you eat too much salt, your kidney will excrete it in your urine. If you don’t get enough salt, your kidneys will hold on to it. If you have WAY TOO MUCH salt, you’ve got a BIG problem.

Your kidneys can’t handle WAY TOO MUCH salt, so all the extra salt floats around in your blood stream. Because sodium attracts water (test it out- add some water to a little pile of salt and it’ll form into a nice paste- that’s essentially what’s going on in your blood stream), your blood volume increases. This means that your heart has a lot more blood to pump, so it has to work harder, so this increases your blood pressure. Over time, this will create a BIG problem for you, because your heart will keep working full-speed ahead, and you’ll develop a cardiovascular disease. This=bad news. 

So what can you do about it?

Eat less salt! The American Heart Association recommends eating less than 1500 milligrams of sodium a day. Easier said than done, huh? Here are some things to know about salt intake.

You get most of your sodium intake from the foods that you eat, so the first thing you have to do to reduce your sodium intake is watch what you eat. 

Make sure you look at the nutrition label on the box or bag of food. The sodium content of your food will be listed very obviously as “sodium”. Most of your extra salt comes from processed and preserved foods- anything pickled, any kind of condiment, anything containing MSG (monosodium glutamate), etc. 

Watch how much table salt you pour on your food! I am very, very guilty of this. Very guilty. I can’t think of one food that I don’t put salt on. Well maybe not on brownies, but that’s about it. Sodium chloride or table salt is approximately 40% sodium, according to the Mayo Clinic.

1/4 teaspoon salt = 600 mg sodium
1/2 teaspoon salt = 1,200 mg sodium
3/4 teaspoon salt = 1,800 mg sodium
1 teaspoon salt = 2,300 mg sodium

This adds up FAST, and you’re probably tripling your sodium intake by adding table salt. Try seasoning your foods with other seasonings- try herbs, spices, etc., but watch out for already-mixed marinades, salad dressings, and mixed seasonings- these often contain loads of salt as well. 

Try the low-sodium versions of your favorite foods. Campell’s carries a line of heart-healthy low-sodium soups now. 

Avoid high-sodium snacks like chips and salted nuts. Choose low-sodium crackers if you seriously need some carbs, or eat fruits and vegetables as snacks instead. 

Visit the American Heart Association’s website to check out your seasoning alternatives and some free low-sodium recipes. 

That's all for now, R.C.-ers, other than a very special Happy Birthday to my very favorite Connecticut cardiovascular disease champion! 

From my heart to yours,

Red in Richland County