Salt, like sugar, is everywhere. If you never touch a salt shaker but eat processed foods or enjoy a fast-food meal on occasion, you will be exceeding any recommended amounts of sodium that you need to function, and in turn doing harm to your arteries. Salt is dangerous not only because it can cause high blood pressure, but because it damages the arteries leading to the development of atherosclerosis, and subsequently cardiovascular disease as this study showed.
It appears that salt acts like a free radical, inhibiting blood flow in arteries and tiny blood vessels. Salt actually cripples the ability of the body’s enzymes to function. This study showed that reducing salt intake enhanced the bioavailability of key enzymes, therefore reducing oxidative stress. In addition to harming arteries, high salt consumption has been linked to an increased risk of stomach cancer. If you consume salt, make sure to increase the natural antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables in your diet.
Action – Even if you have normal blood pressure, if you eat a diet high in salt you are damaging your blood vessels. Typical low-salt diets still contain more than twice the salt you need to function normally. Hindered arterial function can be measured after a single meal that is high in salt. It’s important to understand how quickly the body reacts to a substance that is harmful, and salt fits that description.
Potassium, found in abundance in fruits and vegetables, softens the cells that line arteries and increases the release of nitric oxide that relaxes the arteries and allows blood to flow. Sodium, on the other hand, stiffens the lining within minutes of consumption and impairs the release of nitric oxide. One meal high in salt begins this damaging process and takes hours to return to baseline.
Steps – Recommended daily intakes vary from 1,500 mg up to 2,300 mg, but the average person consumes around 3,400 mg. One teaspoon of salt contains 2,325 mg, and one tablespoon of soy sauce has about 1000 mg. It doesn’t take much to exceed the recommended limits, especially if you eat in restaurants or eat a lot of processed foods.
The taste for salt is acquired. If you find yourself craving potato chips, processed meats like hot dogs, chicken which is usually injected with a saline solution, and you reach for the salt shaker at every meal, you have developed a salt addiction. Fill your plate with more fresh foods and begin to eliminate processed food from your diet.
Why It Makes You Feel Better – Your body needs some sodium to function properly, but a diet rich in vegetables will provide you with all that you need. The kidneys naturally balance the amount of sodium stored in your body for optimal health. When body sodium is low, your kidneys will hold on to the sodium. When sodium is high, the kidneys excrete the excess in urine.
But if your kidneys can’t eliminate enough sodium, it starts to build up in the blood. Sodium attracts and holds water, so your blood volume increases, which makes the heart work harder and will increase the pressure in your arteries. Meanwhile, damage to the arteries increases.
Example – Stop shaking salt onto your food. Begin to read the labels of any processed food that you are eating – anything that contains more than 200 mg of sodium per serving is considered to be high in salt. Limit or eliminate the amount of pickled foods that you consume, and cook and bake at home. That way you can monitor exactly what is going in your food and into your body.
One salty meal causes undue stress on blood flow and sets off a cascade of problems in the body. Work at minimizing the damage you are causing by paying more attention to what you are eating.