salt

More important than considering the salt is thinking about the sodium. The body needs some sodium to contract and relax muscles, conduct nerve impulses and maintain water balance. The body gets sodium from food. There is sodium in most foods including in fruits like bananas. That is not a bad thing.

The problem is that people are eating too much sodium, close to 6,000 mg of sodium per day and eating too much sodium can be associated with high blood pressure and fluid retention. Many people need to work on cutting back the amount of sodium they are taking in to somewhere closer to 2,000 and 3,000 grams per day and even more if you have high blood pressure or heart failure. That can be done by cutting out processed foods and removing the saltshaker from the kitchen table. Eating out is another big source for sodium. To give you an idea of how much salt people are eating, a teaspoon of salt has 2000 mg of sodium in it. People develop a taste for lots of salt and it takes time for those people to realize that food is quite delicious with a whole lot less salt. At the same time, most of the time, it is not necessary to have no salt. If you eat natural, whole foods and add a little salt to your family cooking, you are going to be in good shape.