1. We all get sodium in our diets the following ways:
- 5% add while cooking
- 6% add while eating
- 12% from natural resources
- 77% from processed and prepared food
- Sodium is essential in small amounts since our bodies use it to function properly. Sodium helps us to maintain a balance of fluids, transmit nerve impulses, and influences the contraction and relaxation of muscles. It’s through our kidneys that our body controls the amount of sodium we get on a daily basis. The kidney holds onto sodium when levels are low, however, if our body has too much sodium the kidney excretes the extra sodium generally through urine. If your kidneys don’t eliminate the sodium then it accumulates within the blood stream ultimately increasing your blood volume. Through increasing the blood volume it forces your heart to work harder to move the fluid through the veins within your body creating a pressure on the arteries.
- The difference between Reduced or less sodium and Lite or light in sodium since a reduced or less sodium product has 25% less than the regular version while a lite or light product has 50% of the regular product.
- According to the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans a person of color shouldn’t exceed 1,500 mg a day.
- Sodium accumulates from 3 main sources within a daily diet. Primarily processed and prepare foods these effect 77% of individuals. Processed and prepared foods such as processed cheeses. Secondly, natural sources these effect 12% of individuals commonly coming from milk, meat, or shellfish. The last main source of sodium effects 11% of individuals is in the kitchen and at the table. People commonly use salt while preparing food in the kitchen and then when sitting down at the table to eat.
