Hidden Salt: The Number One Reason You Can’t Lose Weight

Hidden Salt: The Number One Reason You Can’t Lose Weight

If you’re like me, and 40 million other Americans, you’ve tried all the fad diets without success. You’ve tried upping your vegetable intake, dropping the carbs, starving with meal replacements, and working out until you drop. A low-sodium diet is almost universally recommended by fad programs and nutritionists alike for fast weight loss. What you may not know is that you’re probably getting too much salt anyway, no matter how carefully you read the labels.

Before you answer the question of how much sodium you’re really getting, you need to answer the question of how much you should be getting to lose weight. Though there are standardized guidelines, each person requires a different amount of salt in their diet (and yes, you do need salt. It maintains blood volume and pressure). Most adults require a minimum of 500 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day. A low-sodium diet can harm you if you are an athlete, or if you work outside, since you lose sodium through sweat.

For a low-sodium diet, most health organizations recommend that you stay under 2,400 mg per day if you’re in otherwise good shape. However, I’ve found that you need to cut back your sodium intake even more, so you’re closer to the minimum requirements of 500 mg. You have to know how much salt is in the food you’re eating, because your daily sodium intake doesn’t just come from the salt shaker. The majority of Americans eat too much salt.

Food labels can be misleading. In addition to “salt”, watch for the following ingredients and/or warnings on your food:

• Sodium anything: this can encompass sodium nitrate, benzoate, phosphate, casienate, and saccharine.

• Monosodium glutamate, which not only contains salt, but is hazardous to your health in other ways.

• Low sodium: This designation is reserved for food items that contain less than 140 mg of sodium per serving.

• Reduced sodium: This means a food item’s sodium content has been reduced 75 percent, as compared to “regular” items of the same type.

Another problem many people have in determining sodium content is the little words “per serving” above the nutrition information box. Always keep in mind, when making sure what you’re going to eat doesn’t have too much salt, to find out how many servings are in the container.

You can experience fast weight loss and stay healthy with a low-sodium diet, as long as you pay attention to the labels and watch out for hidden salt. In fact, the less sodium you get from your food, the better. Instead, I recommend sea salt tablets in order to maintain the proper sodium level for a healthy, effective diet. (Note: Be sure your vitamins have iodine, since sea salt is iodine-free, and your body needs iodine daily.)