Reduce salt amount to avoid heart disease

Almost every person in America consumes more than three teaspoons of salt every day. According to American Heart Association, this amount is way too large. They have reduced their latest recommendations for salt and sodium intake and now allow only one teaspoon a day (1500 mg). Though these new guidelines will make your food less delicious, payoff means a longer life and ability to avoid heart disease. Besides, 6 year study made in Finland found that if you reduce salt intake by 30 percent, you can easily decrease the danger of stroke and heart disease by 75 percent.

If you are concerned about the salt intake, pay attention to the foods considered as healthy. Packaged and processed foods, such as canned soups or seasoned rice mixes are saturated in salt and will unnoticeably lead you to three quarters of average salt intake. Besides, always choose lean, unseasoned meat instead of the processed ham (it has only 60 mg of salt while the same serving size of processed ham contains 1300 mg of it) and forget about canned vegetables. If you are using canned tuna or earlier mentioned vegetables, rinse them in a strainer before eating to remove salty water. Avoiding sauces and dressings is also highly recommended because they also exceed seasoning recommendations. It may sound quite unexpectedly but even few spoons of pasta sauce may give you a half of maximum amount of salt.

However, if you get salt together with potassium-rich foods, such as potatoes, avocado, spinach apricots, peaches or yogurt, you can neutralize its malicious effect. In addition, remember that you can try replacing salt with mustard, dill, curry powder, lemon juice, paprika, oregano, rosemary, make your own version of salt-free pasta sauce or dressing. When in the restaurant, it would be the best thing asking the sauce on the side of the dish and dipping only once or two.

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