Learning to listen to your body
One of the most natural ways to help keep yourself healthy and well, is to learn how to listen to - and respond to - your own body. Modern life has everyone so stressed and busy that they barely have time to sit down and take a breath unfortunately, and it’s because of this that most people have forgotten how to actually listen to what their body is telling them.
When we’re thirsty for instance, we often think we’re hungry instead. So we stuff more junk food into our mouths as a quick fix, only to find that not only does this not help much, it also keeps packing on fat pounds too. The same things happen when we’re tired or crankier than normal, we have an upset stomach or indigestion, we have aches or pains, and so on. Instead of actually listening to what our …
Salt: Where does it come from?
Specifically, we get 77 percent of our salt from processed and prepared packaged foods, according to www.mayoclinic.com. Some 12 percent of our salt comes from what the medical experts at the clinic describe as natural sources. That leaves only 11 percent of our salt consumption originating from “the salt shaker” itself, added when we’re cooking or eating.
So how do you spot the hidden salt in food products? When you’re dining out it’s difficult. But when you go shopping, you can learn the various names that salt goes by. This helps you identify and steer clear of bringing too much of this mineral into your home. In addition to reading the labels, you can be assured that the product contains salt if the label has any of the following listed on it: monosodium glutamate (MSG), baking soda, baking powder, …
Salt: An Introduction
Within the last 20 years, salt has definitely been marketed as the bad guy. However, sodium is an essential nutrient for the proper functioning of the human body. We just couldn’t live without it literally.
Your body uses sodium to help maintain the proper balance of fluids in your body. It’s also essential to the transmission of nerve impulses throughout your system. And it also influences the contraction and relaxation of your muscles.
Your kidneys have the job of regulating the amount of sodium that stays in your body. When the levels of this mineral begin to dip, the kidneys then eliminate the salt more slowly. When the kidneys discover that your body’s sodium levels are high, then it increases the excretion of the salt through the urine.
It’s when your body can’t eliminate the sodium fast enough that the trouble begins. …
Salt: How to Reduce Your Intake
With so much salt all around us where do we even begin to cut down on salt? And is it really worth it, if it’s everywhere anyway?
Of course, it’s worth trying to lower your salt intake. Your very health perhaps even your life depends on it. And how do you start? You begin with what is within your control.
Start with the salt shaker. Don’t use it! Don’t even put it on the kitchen table when you eat. That’s right. Use any of the many other types of seasonings that you can easily find in the spices section of your grocery store.
Once you buy them, don’t stuff them in the back of the kitchen cabinet. Make sure they’re available to you and your family. In fact, bring them home and “advertise” them. Make sure …
Salt: How much is too much?
Currently, the average American consumes between nine to fifteen grams of salt daily. And this is the major contributing factor to high blood pressure, WHO explains. If we could only reduce our salt consumption by even six grams, it would reduce deaths from strokes by nearly 25 percent. This level of reduction would also reduce heart disease by nearly 20 percent. This reduction would translate into nearly 2.5 million lives being saved every year worldwide.
Health disease, though, isn’t only the disease which worsens in the presence of salt. Excessive salt intake is also associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis, asthma, obesity, and cancer of the stomach.
So how much salt should we be getting? The National Institute of Health recommends that healthy people consume no more than 2,400 grams daily. And if you have already been diagnosed with high blood …
