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Now for the salty

Posted by Trish Milburn Jan 11 2011, 12:01 am in bad habits, eating healthy, food, Trish Milburn

I’ve mentioned several times how big of a sweet tooth I have, but I also have to admit that I love salty stuff as well. Chips are evil. I think the people who make them know you can’t eat just one…or two…or three. They’re banking on us suddenly looking down and noticing in horror that we’ve eaten half a bag. I will admit that I’ve been guilty of salting food, particularly potatoes, before I ever took a bite. Not good.

According to this article from Prevention, salt harbors more dangers than just the commonly acknowledged high blood pressure. Add these to the list: osteoporosis, cancer, and dementia. Not to mention it can just make you fat despite the fact it has no calories. Based on the results of new research, the U.S. government is revising its guidelines to say that adults shouldn’t have no more than 1,500 mg of salt per day. That’s 2/3 of a teaspoon. Now you might think, I don’t use that much salt. But are you counting all the salt that is in prepared foods like crackers, cans of soup, fast food, etc.? What’s scary is that we’re often consuming more than double the recommended amount of daily salt.

Eating salty foods releases dopamine in our brains, which makes us feel good. And guess what. It just makes us want more. That’s where the half-eaten bag of chips comes in. Even diet sodas are filled with sodium, so it’s important to be very conscious of your salt intake, even from items you don’t think of as being salty. Take a day and track how much salt you’re consuming. It might be as shocking as that moment you realize you’ve scarfed half a bag of chips.

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Today’s article: 7 Habits that Make You Fat

7 Comments

Comments

7 Responses to “Now for the salty”

Michelle Butler says:

January 11, 2011 at 9:11 am

Kessler in his book the end of overeating does a really great job describing how addicting sugar, fat and salt can be. It literally makes you want to eat more, and this effect increases when you combine two or all three of the elements.

I think the “you look down and are horrified to realize you’ve eaten half a bag of chips” can be addressed by learning to be mindful/aware of what you are eating. This is why eating while watching tv can be so deadly. most of your concentration is on what’s on tv and you’re stuffing your face with chips without being aware of what you are doing.

There are more studies now (I’ve tweeted some of them) that people who eat while distracted don’t feel as full as those who eat without distractions and will eat more later because they don’t feel or remember how much they’ve already eaten. Interesting stuff. It’s one of the reasons I’m really working hard to follow Geneen Roth’s eating rules – particularly the one to not eat with lots of distractions.

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- Trish Milburn says:
  
  January 11, 2011 at 3:47 pm
  
  I can totally see how we’d eat more while being distracted. I have that Roth book that I plan to read soon.
  
  Reply
Cara Bristol says:

January 11, 2011 at 9:39 am

It’s true…there’s salt in nearly everything. One good way to cut back is to not rely so much on processed and packaged foods (which also tend to have a lot of sugar, also!). Read labels and choose the low sodium versions when available.

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- Trish Milburn says:
  
  January 11, 2011 at 3:47 pm
  
  You’re right, Cara. This is why I want to eat more fresh stuff, because anything that’s preserved to last is going to have lots of bad stuff in it.
  
  Reply
Sally says:

January 11, 2011 at 10:54 am

Fascinating. I have to say that I LOVE my Trader Joe’s sea salt. I don’t have to use much at all to get the flavor. Also, I’ve bought the Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb and Southwest Chipotle based on the Biggest Loser Cookbook recommendations. I really like those and notice that a lot of the BL recipes use hot spices to offset salt, a trade I can willingly make!

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- Trish Milburn says:
  
  January 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm
  
  I need to get a lot better at using seasonings other than salt. I do use a fair amount of black pepper and have actually traded out salt for that in some instances, like on eggs and potatoes.
  
  Reply
Anna Sugden says:

January 12, 2011 at 8:10 am

I must admit, I’m more of a savoury person than sweet. I’d take potato chips or some other savoury snack over a dessert or sweet treat most of the time.

That said, I don’t tend to use much salt in cooking at all – only in the cooking water for veg and potatoes or pasta and rice. I find the other herbs or spices I use mean less need for salt for flavour.

Oh and there’s a reason why salty snacks are given away in bars! *g*.

BTW I’m a terrible one for eating while distracted – I’m always doing something else!

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