People food for thought Part XIV; Sodium in the food
Now and then, when I dine in at restaurants, I find that some of the dishes served at some restaurants are quite salty. Because of the quite salty flavor in the dish, I had some occasions that I could not eat most of the stuff in the plate and only thing I could eat was very small sides such as roasted sweet potatoes,sauteed spinach in the plate. If the dish was not that salty, the dish would have been superb flavor with impressive look. It was a little disappointment.
Not only restaurant but also sandwiches served at some sandwich stores tend to be salty side. For example, at one place, their Parmesan oregano bread is quite salty, and some of the filling for the sandwich such as deli meat, meatballs,which probably not made daily at their sandwich shop are salty and they make high sodium sandwich even though they advertise their subs are "fresh".
As I have written in the previous entry titled "People food for thought VII; Cold cut meat",the sandwich in the states seems to use a lot of cold cut meat or Deli meat such as Ham, Salami, Pastrami, Corned beef,Bologna,Bacon along with slice of cheese but, according to Tara Parker-Pope from New York Times, the processed cold cut meats contains 4 times more sodium and 50% more nitrate preservatives than unprocessed red meat.
To recap the entry on cold cut meat,some of the cold cut meats contains chemicals and preservatives to keep the appearance of the products attractive to customers or to have longer shelf life.
To read the full article by Tara Parker-Pope at New York Times website, please click here .
I came across a news paper article written by Jennifer Motl on salt, and I thought it was interesting article with useful tips and I thought I would share it with you.
Dietary guideline for salt..
Every 5 years, the agriculture and Health and Human services department issue the sodium guideline.
According to Fox news article, for those who are at risk for high blood pressure, those who are over 51 years old,those who suffer from diabetes or kidney disease, sodium intake guideline amount is 1/2 tsp a day (1,500mg).
Everyone else is 1 tsp a day,which is equivalent to 2,300 mg.
When you think about reducing/limiting sodium intake, you would think that limiting the amount of salt you would sprinkle during the cooking process at home, but in reality, many processed food are already high in salt, canned food is high in salt, and you may not think much about this but some poultry is enhanced with saline (salt water) etc ...
If you look around at the grocery store, many of the products may have much more salt than the guideline itself.
Not just human food, processed dog food are high in salt as well.
High sodium diet can lead to high blood pressure, stroke, and other health problems and, high sodium diet is not good for your health.
To read the full article at Fox news website, please click here.
According to the article written by Jennifer Motl, average Americans eats close to 4,000 mg or more than a gallon of salt a year.
She points out that many people misunderstand the guideline because some people can overlook the fact that most food contains some sodium naturally.
For example, take raw Beef bottom sirloin, tri tip. If you look the nutrition up at nutritiondata.com, 1 oz of raw beef bottom sirloin, tri tip contains about 15 mg. This means that if you buy 1 lb of raw beef bottom sirloin, tri tip without it being cooked, natural sodium in the meat is at present with the amount of 240mg.
Jennifer also points out that a cup of milk has about 150 mg natural sodium in them as does a slice of bread or one serving of cold cereal.And she points out that one ounce of chicken,fish naturally have about 60 mg of natural sodium in them.
So, if you grill the beef bottom sirloin, tri tip steak, you would season it with salt and pepper before it going onto the grill,and even without any sauce for the steak, you can see that if the steak was half pound steak, it has about 120mg of sodium in them naturally plus you will be sprinkling more than tea spoon of salt over the steak so, you know that you maybe eating the meal that can go over the guideline amount.
Jennifer writes lowest sodium foods are produce and grains, and half cup of following foods have less than 10mg of sodium in them; fresh fruits,vegetables,dry beans, rice,oatmeal, pasta, unsalted nuts.
I think that Japanese typical dishes/meal maybe quite low in sodium amount because our diet is based around rice and often times, mothers serve their family 3-5 kinds of side dishes and each family members eat this side dish,that side dish etc.. along with rice served for them.
I always encourage people to cook with fresh ingredients from scratch, not processed food, but I think that sodium factor is also the good reason why you are better off cooking with fresh ingredients at home,not processed food, and limit the number of dining at the restaurant.
Ways to watch out for sodium intake..
Jennifer suggests some ideas as to what to look at,and what you can do to bump up the flavor with less salt in the dish.
** Buy fresh food,and cook with fresh ingredients
** Avoid high sodium processed food
Canned food, canned soups,salad dressing, pickles etc..
** Buy frozen vegetables,but avoid the one with added sauce
** Read the nutrition label on back of the package
** Food considered low sodium is the one that contains less than 140mg per serving
** If you buy cheese,which naturally high in sodium, Swiss and part skim mozzarella cheese are naturally low in sodium
Ways to bump up the flavor with less salt..
** If you need tomato sauce, consider making your own by mixing equal amount of tomato paste and water
** Add something tangy such as balsamic vinegar,lemon,lemon juice
** Marinade meat in orange/pineapple juice
** Use low sodium soy sauce
** Use small amount of hot sauce
** Using curry powder,or other herbs,spice can enhance the flavor
To read full article by Jennifer Motl on sodium, please click here.
Not only restaurant but also sandwiches served at some sandwich stores tend to be salty side. For example, at one place, their Parmesan oregano bread is quite salty, and some of the filling for the sandwich such as deli meat, meatballs,which probably not made daily at their sandwich shop are salty and they make high sodium sandwich even though they advertise their subs are "fresh".
As I have written in the previous entry titled "People food for thought VII; Cold cut meat",the sandwich in the states seems to use a lot of cold cut meat or Deli meat such as Ham, Salami, Pastrami, Corned beef,Bologna,Bacon along with slice of cheese but, according to Tara Parker-Pope from New York Times, the processed cold cut meats contains 4 times more sodium and 50% more nitrate preservatives than unprocessed red meat.
To recap the entry on cold cut meat,some of the cold cut meats contains chemicals and preservatives to keep the appearance of the products attractive to customers or to have longer shelf life.
To read the full article by Tara Parker-Pope at New York Times website, please click here .
I came across a news paper article written by Jennifer Motl on salt, and I thought it was interesting article with useful tips and I thought I would share it with you.
Dietary guideline for salt..
Every 5 years, the agriculture and Health and Human services department issue the sodium guideline.
According to Fox news article, for those who are at risk for high blood pressure, those who are over 51 years old,those who suffer from diabetes or kidney disease, sodium intake guideline amount is 1/2 tsp a day (1,500mg).
Everyone else is 1 tsp a day,which is equivalent to 2,300 mg.
When you think about reducing/limiting sodium intake, you would think that limiting the amount of salt you would sprinkle during the cooking process at home, but in reality, many processed food are already high in salt, canned food is high in salt, and you may not think much about this but some poultry is enhanced with saline (salt water) etc ...
If you look around at the grocery store, many of the products may have much more salt than the guideline itself.
Not just human food, processed dog food are high in salt as well.
High sodium diet can lead to high blood pressure, stroke, and other health problems and, high sodium diet is not good for your health.
To read the full article at Fox news website, please click here.
According to the article written by Jennifer Motl, average Americans eats close to 4,000 mg or more than a gallon of salt a year.
She points out that many people misunderstand the guideline because some people can overlook the fact that most food contains some sodium naturally.
For example, take raw Beef bottom sirloin, tri tip. If you look the nutrition up at nutritiondata.com, 1 oz of raw beef bottom sirloin, tri tip contains about 15 mg. This means that if you buy 1 lb of raw beef bottom sirloin, tri tip without it being cooked, natural sodium in the meat is at present with the amount of 240mg.
Jennifer also points out that a cup of milk has about 150 mg natural sodium in them as does a slice of bread or one serving of cold cereal.And she points out that one ounce of chicken,fish naturally have about 60 mg of natural sodium in them.
So, if you grill the beef bottom sirloin, tri tip steak, you would season it with salt and pepper before it going onto the grill,and even without any sauce for the steak, you can see that if the steak was half pound steak, it has about 120mg of sodium in them naturally plus you will be sprinkling more than tea spoon of salt over the steak so, you know that you maybe eating the meal that can go over the guideline amount.
Jennifer writes lowest sodium foods are produce and grains, and half cup of following foods have less than 10mg of sodium in them; fresh fruits,vegetables,dry beans, rice,oatmeal, pasta, unsalted nuts.
I think that Japanese typical dishes/meal maybe quite low in sodium amount because our diet is based around rice and often times, mothers serve their family 3-5 kinds of side dishes and each family members eat this side dish,that side dish etc.. along with rice served for them.
I always encourage people to cook with fresh ingredients from scratch, not processed food, but I think that sodium factor is also the good reason why you are better off cooking with fresh ingredients at home,not processed food, and limit the number of dining at the restaurant.
Ways to watch out for sodium intake..
Jennifer suggests some ideas as to what to look at,and what you can do to bump up the flavor with less salt in the dish.
** Buy fresh food,and cook with fresh ingredients
** Avoid high sodium processed food
Canned food, canned soups,salad dressing, pickles etc..
** Buy frozen vegetables,but avoid the one with added sauce
** Read the nutrition label on back of the package
** Food considered low sodium is the one that contains less than 140mg per serving
** If you buy cheese,which naturally high in sodium, Swiss and part skim mozzarella cheese are naturally low in sodium
Ways to bump up the flavor with less salt..
** If you need tomato sauce, consider making your own by mixing equal amount of tomato paste and water
** Add something tangy such as balsamic vinegar,lemon,lemon juice
** Marinade meat in orange/pineapple juice
** Use low sodium soy sauce
** Use small amount of hot sauce
** Using curry powder,or other herbs,spice can enhance the flavor
To read full article by Jennifer Motl on sodium, please click here.
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