You would be surprised at how much our bodies actually need salt. It’s important to have it in our daily diets, and for other reasons as well. Although it’s a fine line to walk of getting the right amount of salt to not overdoing this little element. Athletes primarily need a good amount of salt, since when the body sweats profusely that’s when it loses the most salt.
What Is Salt?
Salt is an ionic compound that naturally occurs in nature. There are abundant quantities of salt all over the globe for people to harvest and utilize. You can find it underground, on the surface of the Earth, and in the seas. China is actually the largest manufacturer of salt in the world with the United States at a close second. Deep shaft mining, solution mining, and solar evaporation are all ways to produce salt.
Salt For Dietary Consumption
There is basic table salt that you will normally have in your home in a salt and pepper shaker set, or you can grind up fancier chunks of salt for a more gourmet flavor profile. You can even get truly gourmet with salt such as Himalayan Pink Sea Salt or smoked salt that has been evaporated over smokey wood chips for a long time to produce a richer salty flavor enhanced by the smoke. Most expert recommend that the average adult gets about 6 grams of salt in your diet per day. “Sodium” is how this is referred to on nutrition guidelines on most packaged foods. This is read in milligrams. So the amount in milligrams that you should not go over per day is 2400 milligrams. Staying below that level will help you keep your salt intake where it should be. If you go over this amount often you are going to be at risk for blood pressure (hypertension), and other cardiovascular problems. Although if your doctor recommends that you should be on a low salt diet, the amount of salt they endorse will vary on your specific health issues.
A Balanced Diet Will Provide The Right Salt Intake
Eating a wide variety of foods will ultimately lead you into getting the right amount of salt in your diet. Salt natural occurs in many fruits and vegetables. Although when it’s put into processed foods this is where a high level of salt can come to be an issue. Some processed foods and cans of soup have seriously high sodium levels so it’s better to look for “low salt” varieties, or make the soup homemade so you can control the exact amount of salt you add to the recipe. Many fast foods contain extremely high amounts of sodium so it’s important to use these restaurants and drive through as occasional treats if you don’t want too much salt in your diet.
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