Low sodium diet is important because it's been the key factor to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and that's related to the association between low sodium and the reduction of the blood pressure, which treat the high blood pressure problem.
So, generally speaking we always advise the patient to consider low sodium, even if you are healthy. And the reason is, on the long term, there is a higher chance of developing high blood pressure. And actually with the recent guidelines, believe it or not, one third of the population of the United States are, by definition, hypertension. So, I think considering not to add a lot of salt to your daily food is a good habit and definitely for those with heart disease, stroke or high blood pressure. That's, I think, a must because that will reduce the risk of having farther cardiovascular events.
Low sodium diet can reverse the problem of hypertension and high blood pressure. And the reason how that happens is reducing the salt will reduce the blood pressure reading then you're reducing your high blood pressure and that's the definition of hypertension.
The magic number, just to make it easier on the patient is less than two gram of salt. Which is basically one teaspoon of salt a day. That's what we suggest for patients with cardiovascular disease.
So, that will be 2000 milligram if you want to take it in that context because the one thousand gram is basically a thousand milligram. So, the rule is 2000 milligram just to make it easier or one teaspoon.
Symptoms that indicate that the patient is taking too much salt may include noticing that there is more swelling in the legs than usual, having shortness of breath or just feeling tired and discomfort and when the patient checks their blood pressure they found that their blood pressure is elevated.
Foods like vegetables, foods like grains and green food, that definitely has less salt than meaty food and the food that we buy from fast food places where there's a lot of salt already have a place in that. Canned food also contains a lot of salt in general and the reason is they use the salt to prevent the bacteria to grow. So, the concentration of the salt is generally higher in the canned food.
I would say that good resources to go with a low sodium diet, to have a variety of a lot of green and boiled meat instead of fried meat that have a lot of salt in general. At the same time, consider greenery, broccoli and food that tastes good. One of the advice that I give to my patients, 'cause every patient looks for a taste and I would say put a little bit of garlic powder instead of salt. It will give you that taste without making your blood pressure go as high, but make sure your garlic is not the garlic mixed with salt. Pick the one that's pure garlic. A little bit of it, on your broccoli for example, can give you the taste that you're looking for without getting your blood pressure elevated.
A good source for a list of low so diet can be find on United States Department of Health and Human Services. Which have a nice list of what you need to consider when you're buying low salt food and they divided them by vegetables and season, others, and that, I would suggest patients to go on, look into, for that reason.
