Encouraging a low sodium diet

If you have high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension or kidney disease, your doctor will likely recommend a low sodium diet.  But if you think it's relatively easy to follow this advice, think again.

In our world of processed foods, staying on a low sodium diet can be a very difficult thing to do. That's because sodium is found in salt, and many snacks and other foods available at supermarkets and grocery stores are often loaded with salt, which acts as a preservative. Salt, I've learned, is used not only for taste, but also to draw moisture away from food to keep harmful bacteria away.

If you have too much sodium in your diet,  you will notice a tendency to retain water in your extremities.  It also causes a constricting of your arteries at the same time as it increases blood volume, and this is not a good thing, especially for people who have circulatory diseases, heart disease or high blood pressure.

While in some countries low sodium food is readily available, in others it's not so easy to find. My friend Ben Viccari, past president of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association,  says Canada is lagging behind in offering consumers less salty foods.  

Ben  has launched a new website to lobby for more low sodium and sodium-free options in Canada.  It's called "losode.com -- a non-profit information exchange for low sodium dieters" and it's worth a good look, even if you're one of the lucky people who may not need to be on a sodium-reduced diet at the moment.  It's a healthy practice to follow, regardless.  Sooner or later, high sodium intake will catch up with all of us.

Click here to go to losode.com

(Thanks, Ben, for the information.)

Photo courtesy of the stock.xchng

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