Salt and Hypertension: A Dangerous Combination

The relationship between salt and hypertension is indeed a proven scientific fact. For the individuals that experience this very dangerous affliction, this means that the higher the amount of salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure will be. 

Of course, very often ingesting a high amount of salt will produce negative effects to people that have normal blood pressure as well.

Eating an excessive amount of salt can have plenty of other detrimental effects for the health, such as: 

• water retention – A huge salt intake in the body can cause swelling of hands and feet.

• osteoporosis - This is a disease that weakens the bones, can complicate the asthmatic condition of an individual.

• damage to the kidneys 

• in the most severe cases, it could even cause stomach cancer

How to avoid the salt and hypertension consequences

There is only one way to prevent from suffering the conditions related to consuming high amounts of salt and that is: to not eat salt at all or at least to eat a very small amount of it. According to the Department of Health and Food Standards (DHFSA), the optimal amount of salt an adult should consume per day should not exceed 5 or 6 grams. 

If you can lower the quantity of salt eaten, that would be incredibly beneficial for your health. Knowing the relation between salt and hypertension this would be a good way to reduce the risk of high blood pressure. 

Before making changes in your diet, you must be clear where the salt in your body comes from.

1. The main source of salt comes from the meals you eat everyday. Is very important to remember to never add salt to your food as it adds too much sodium to your intake. 
2. Processed food is very rich in salt which makes it another source to avoid. This includes fast food meals, frozen meals, etc. Is very important that you understand this: processed contains high amounts of salts so even if you don’t add extra salt after cooking it has enough for it to be quite dangerous.

Is quite complicated for people to diminish the amount of salt that they use on their meals since it affects the flavor of the food so much and that’s why reducing the hypertension is so hard. It is true that, at the beginning the food will have way less flavor but with time your sense of taste will get used to it. Soon you will see the exciting benefits of this new healthy habit.

 
Tips that would help you short circuit the salt and hypertension connection

1.  Avoid the table salt, tomato sauce, ketchup and soy sauce.

2. NEVER add salt to your already cooked food.

3. Avoid or reduce considerably stock cubes, soup packets, sausages, dried fish, processed cheese, etc.

4. Eat more fresh vegetables, fruits and diminish the amount of red meat.

 

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