Salt: No fat. No calories. Not to mention it's delicious! What's not to love? Well, as most of us know, too much salt can be a major contributor to high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease, stroke, or kidney disorders. But our bodies also need a certain amount of salt every day, because it's required by all cells to maintain fluid balance and it's vital for proper nerve and muscle function. And because salt is excreted mainly through urine and sweat, the most intense exercisers need even more of it to maintain a proper balance. So how much salt should we be consuming? Read on to find out how much salt you should consume, plus where extra salt gets hidden in food, and some tips on how you can reduce your sodium consumption.

How much salt do we need?

While how much salt we need on a daily basis varies with each person, depending on age, size, activity level, etc., it's generally agreed that our bodies each need about 500 milligrams of sodium a day to function properly. That's about a quarter of a teaspoon of table salt (sodium chloride, the most typical source of sodium). The federal government recommends a daily maximum of 2,400 milligrams of sodium. Most of us average about 5,000 milligrams of sodium per day—10 times as much as our bodies require and more than twice the recommended maximum. So unless you're working out a lot and excreting excess sodium, you may be getting way more than you need, which can lead to the myriad health problems associated with high blood pressure. The American Medical Association has estimated that a 50 percent reduction in sodium usage in processed and restaurant food could save 150,000 lives every year. But even if you don't believe in or care about the medical repercussions of excess salt consumption, how about this little tidbit? It's estimated that most of us are carrying around an extra 5 pounds of water weight, retained simply because of the excess salt in our bodies. Drop 5 pounds of water weight just by passing up the salt shaker? Sounds like a good deal to me!

Where salt hides . . .

But passing up the salt shaker may not be enough. Almost all processed foods contain high levels of sodium. For example, that Quarter Pounder^® with Cheese at McDonald's^® will pump you full of almost 1,200 milligrams of sodium, more than twice what your body needs and half of the government's daily recommended maximum. But even if you eschew the burger for its fat and calories, there's salt in other places, too. One cup of Cheerios^® contains 200 milligrams of salt, so you're kicking off your day with 8 percent of your recommended sodium allotment.

Why so much salt? Salt has been used as a preservative for centuries to cure meats and pickle vegetables, among other uses. And while we've developed new preservatives over the years, salt has other advantages as a food additive. It can thicken soups and sauces. It can make breads, cookies, and crackers more moist. It can enhance certain flavors (like sweet and sour) and mask other tastes, like the chemical additives in soft drinks. So even if you're steering clear of salty treats like pretzels, pickles, and popcorn, if you check your labels carefully you may find you're getting a fair amount of sodium from food items that don't even taste salty.

Also, if you tend to purchase a lot of foods labeled "diet" or "light," you may find that they have pretty high sodium levels. Adding extra salt can make food taste better while still allowing them to be advertised as low-calorie, low-fat products. Manufacturers can also sneak extra salt into the ingredient list under different names, like monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium caseinate, trisodium phosphate, sodium ascorbate, or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). So even if salt isn't in the ingredient list or is spread out throughout the ingredient list under different names, it's worth checking the overall sodium content on the nutrition label to determine the total sodium content. And don't forget to take the serving size into account. Many food manufacturers will say that their product contains several tiny servings of salt instead of a couple of regular servings to minimize the less savory elements of the product's nutritional profile.

More on salt tomorrow....I get this great info and tips from my team beachbody newsletter. I love tha they keep me so informed!

Push play today and have a great Sunday!
Shayna