Do You Know How Much Sodium You Get in a Day?

Have you ever thought about the amount of sodium you eat? It’s not something people usually think about, especially when they are not controlling anything in their diet yet (usually the doctor prescribes a low-sodium diet for people who need to control their blood pressure or for those with kidney disease, among others). But contrary to what is usual, I think it’s wise to check on sodium consumption because of the general way we live these days.

The truth—and this is probably true for many diets out there—is that the way we live makes salt so easy to consume. Our palates are so used to the presence of salt in food (from packaged goods to restaurant food) that we notice quickly when there is too little salt, or none at all. And that isn’t considering the “hidden salt” in food—sodium in other chemical combinations that make it untraceable by taste: think of muffins, breakfast cereal, pancakes, sauces (like ketchup), or misua noodles.

How did we start eating salt?

According to the book, Healing Foods for Special Diets (2000), “Salt [is] crucial to the successful functioning of human society for two main reasons. The first is that it is vital to the healthy functioning of the body, although the amount needed to make the body function efficiently is tiny compared to the amount that most of us actually eat, and the second is that, until recent times, salting was one of the very few ways in which food could be successfully preserved.”

At some point in our history, we started using salt because it is for survival. (There is a very long tradition of salt mining and sea salt harvesting techniques—the oldest salt mines are from the Neolithic period.) Today, salt is used in many processed foods, even in the unexpected ones. The challenge is not anymore surviving but of going back to consuming just the amount we actually need. I quote the book again below:

“Thanks to massive advances in food technology since World War II, the vast majority of what the average person eats and drinks today in the Western World has already been processed. Even food that we see as relatively ‘natural,’ such as fruit juices, has been processed in some way to preserve it or make it taste ‘better.’

“There is no doubt that many of the techniques used involve a liberal use of salt. This means that whether or not we add extra salt to the food we eat, we still often consume large quantities of it every day.”-Healing Foods for Special Diets, 2000.

But what is ‘just right’?

In 2000, when the book was written, people “in the Western World” consume 10,000-15,0000 mg of salt (4000-6000 mg of sodium) a day, “five to ten times more than they need.” Today, it seems the amount has lowered: according to the CDC, Americans consume 3,300 mg of sodium a day; according to the WHO, Filipinos consume 4,113 mg of sodium a day. Still too much, but not as much as the recorded consumption 26 years ago.

Pay attention to sodium

Because on average we take in more sodium than we need, it’s wise to start noticing it in what we eat so that we can make better food choices accordingly. For instance, did you know that a packet of instant noodles (instant ramen) for one person is 1,300-1,800 mg of sodium? That’s more than half of a person’s sodium requirement for the day in one meal.

Too much sodium on a regular basis increases one’s risk of high blood pressure, stroke, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, and cancer (such as stomach or colon cancer). There are many reasons to try not to consume too much sodium, especially since it’s so easy to get in any food we buy or cook. How do we keep an eye on our sodium intake?

1. Read nutrition labels. Whether it is packaged food meant for a single meal or an ingredient in your recipe, it’s good to read the label at the back to know how much sodium you are consuming. If you used one tablespoon of a certain seasoning sauce in a dish that serves four, how much sodium did you add? How much sodium would that be for one person? Then consider the ingredients you use: from high-salt foods like preserved meats, smoked fish, cheese, to canned foods like sardines, baby corn, or mushrooms. You need to see how much you are adding to the final dish, then divide it by how many servings. Compare this amount to the daily requirement to see if it’s still within what you need, given the other meals you still have to eat (or have already eaten) that day. Be aware of how much you are getting in a meal, and it helps paint an overall picture of what you might be getting in a day.

2. Cook food at home. When you cook at home, you know just how much sodium you put in the dish. You can measure out the seasonings and read the label of the packaged food (say, olives) that you add to the cooking, and you can have a good idea of the sodium content of the food. Pairing different dishes allows you to balance out saltier options (say, sausages) with food that have less sodium. Recently, we posted a recipe for Tatsoi and Turmeric, to demonstrate other ways of making a dish flavorful without salt—and this is great to pair with, say, the family recipe for menudo or barbecue.

3. When eating out, be mindful. Eating out is fun! I love eating out with my family. But when eating out, it’s good to be mindful of what and how much you are ordering. In general, many restaurants are generous with the salt because salt makes food taste better. Perhaps a way help lessen the salt/sodium intake in a restaurant date is to split one order with someone. Another is to request that the sauce is served separately from the dish. For example, when you order a broccoli stir-fry in a Chinese restaurant, you can ask them to separate the stir-fry sauce and serve it on the side; our kids enjoyed dipping their broccoli in the sauce, and in the end, they only finished a third of the sauce. In the same vein, you can also request that the dressing of salad to be served separately. And while we are on sauces, minimize using the provided dipping sauces, except maybe plain vinegar. Lastly, only order what you can eat so that, at home, you can have your homecooked meal. Enjoy the restaurant food at the restaurant! That’s their food in its most delicious state, anyway.

Let’s be sodium-aware

By understanding sodium, we can change our attitude from one of not giving a hoot to being more aware of the contents of the food we eat. Awareness can help us lower our sodium intake to the recommended 2,000 mg a day (instead of the usual 4,113 mg!) and treat our body better.

"Too much sodium on a regular basis increases one’s risk of high blood pressure, stroke, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, and cancer (such as stomach or colon cancer). There are many reasons to try not to consume too much sodium, especially since it’s so easy to get in any food we buy or cook. How do we keep an eye on our sodium intake?"