Natural Choices — Health Food, Organic Produce, Gluten Free, Vitamins, Supplements — Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana

You may be like me, looking to limit sodium in your diet. Actually, I don’t think that much about sodium–because I limit it automatically. How? By not eating a lot of highly processed foods. That’s the key.

If you are into “health food” as I am, you know that such foods provide all the flavor and nutrition you need and crave without (on average) a lot of fat, calories, and salt. “That’s what makes it ‘health food,’ right?” someone may say. True, if a food is manifestly bad for you, then no one will label it “health food,” no matter what its source. But the fact remains that natural, minimally processed foods tend to have these beneficial qualities.

Let’s take a look at sodium. First off, sodium isn’t just good for you, it’s one of the most important minerals we take into our bodies. In fact, we need regular intake of sodium. It’s no coincidence that salt tastes so good to us and that we sometimes crave salty food.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about sodium:

Sodium cations are important in neuron (brain and nerve) function, and in influencing osmotic balance between cells and the interstitial fluid, with their distribution mediated in all animals (but not in all plants) by the so-called Na+/K+-ATPase pump. Sodium is the chief cation in fluid residing outside cells in the mammalian body (the so-called extracellular compartment), with relatively little sodium residing inside cells. The volume of extracellular fluid is typically 15 liters in a 70 kg human, and the 50 grams of sodium it contains is about 90% of the body’s total sodium content.

The most common sodium salt, sodium chloride (‘table salt’ or ‘common salt’), is used for seasoning and warm-climate food preservation, such as pickling and making jerky (the high osmotic content of salt inhibits bacterial and fungal growth). The human requirement for sodium in the diet is about 500 mg per day, which is typically less than a tenth as much as many diets “seasoned to taste.” Most people consume far more sodium than is physiologically needed. For certain people with salt-sensitive blood pressure, this extra intake may cause a harmful effect on health. However, low sodium intake may lead to sodium deficiency (hyponatremia).

So, there is no such thing as a “no-sodium diet,” obviously, and we actually need 500 mg per day–or thereabouts. In modern times, a lot of our excessive sodium intake comes from processed foods. Here is what the American Heart Association website has to say about salt intake:

Sodium can come from natural sources or be added to foods. Most foods in their natural state contain some sodium. However, the majority (up to 75 percent) of sodium that Americans consume comes from sodium added to processed foods by manufacturers. While some of this sodium is added to foods for safety reasons – the amount of salt added to processed foods is clearly above and beyond what is required for safety and function of the food supply.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of companies put way more salt in their products than is required for good taste. If you come into Natural Choices, however, we can guide you to a wide variety of foods that are delicious without being overly salty!

–Matt