Salt is mother nature's ultimate flavor enhancer. A dash of salt in gooey mocha brownies extracts the buttery bitterness of cocoa, a sprinkle over your morning hash intensifies the quiet flavors of bland potatoes, or maybe your attempt to replicate Mom's classic chunky meatloaf needs to be trickled with a bit of salt before you can dive in. What's my point? Well, if a cluster of the world's most prestigious and acclaimed chefs were deserted on unknown forsaken islands with one final opportunity to grab their most essential ingredients--salt will be their first choice.
Salt is a multi-faceted ingredient. It has an endless list of functions and I'm not quite sure how I could list everything it does because it is hard to convey in words. It heats, it stimulates your taste buds and salivation, but what it always does is bring out the flavor in anything you eat, although there are occasions where you may not want to use salt. Still, this is an ingredient that will make your food "pop". In case you do not know, there is not just one kind of salt. Apart from your table salt there is maldon salt, kosher salt, sea salt, smoked salt, truffle salt, vanilla salt, Japanese salt, Hawaiian salt, and etc.
So what is all this buzz about excluding salt from your everyday foods?
Too much salt contributes to hypertension. What is hypertension? High blood pressure.
Blood pressure is the pressure of your blood against the walls of your arteries, but let me briefly go into detail so you can understand why I care about this.
Blood pressure, when written on paper is expressed by two numbers. I won't haunt you by reminding you of your dreadful days when you failed fractions as a primary student, but blood pressure numbers do look like fractions. You won't need to be doing any math here. An example of someone's blood pressure may read something like 118/75. Literally, it reads "one hundred eighteen systolic over seventy-five diastolic."
Okay, so now you must be wondering...what does systolic mean, and what does diastolic mean? The top number is called systolic because it represents the pressure in your arteries when you heart is actively pumping blood. The bottom number is called diastolic because it represents the pressure you have in your arteries when your heart is relaxed. In other words, when you're sitting down slurping your cup of java and reading the newspaper--consider this relaxed.
Now, a normal blood pressure is BELOW 120/80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury, this is how it is measured, don't pay too much attention to this). To put this in more simple words, your top number (systolic) should be below 120 and your bottom number (diastolic) should be below 80.
If someone has hypertension, this means their numbers are constantly at 140/90 mm Hg or higher.
So now that you had that brief educational stint on blood pressure...why should you control your blood pressure?
Mainly to prevent heart disease, kidney disease, poor blood circulation in your legs, strokes, diminishing brain function, or even vision problems. I just want you to take away the fact that high blood pressure can lead to these diseases, it is NOT the sole factor in causing these diseases. There are people that have dedicated their lives to performing heavy amounts of research daily, and a lot of it shows that salt and blood pressure have one rocky marriage.
Truth be told, there is no exact explanation why salt increases your blood pressure. It isn't quite clear. I'm sure an intelligent physician could go into severe detail but it's probably best if it is explained in English, not medical jargon.
The studies that have been conducted are sufficient enough to conclude that salt DOES increase blood pressure. Apparently your genes have a role. Depending on genes, there are salt-sensitive people and non-sensitive salt people. Salt-sensitive people hold on to more salt in their body and this causes them to hold back a lot of fluid. Since these salt-sensitive people hold onto more fluid, their blood volume has to increase which ultimately means the pressure of the blood needs to increase too.
I know salt is fantastic when it comes to flavoring your food, but I never said you cannot have salt. Bland food is a sin. Just be aware of how much you add to your food. You're smart enough to keep track of that.
Commercially packaged products like canned foods, packaged bologna, and frozen dinners are where the most salt is. So, for canned foods, start rinsing with cold water to get rid of those salty canning juices. You can eliminate up to 40% of the amount of salt. Buy low-sodium frozen dinners, Lean Cuisine has a variety of tasty low-sodium options. Buy low-sodium whenever you can, so YOU can control how much salt goes into your food. Taste your food before you sprinkle salt on it. Don't become salt happy by raining your food with it unless you absolutely need a touch more to keep eating. When I started doing this, I couldn't tell the difference.
I hope you understand how salt can potentially increase blood pressure, and that you use this knowledge to add to a healthy life full of verve!
Do you feel smart?
Pretty cool stuff
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