Healthy eating tip 10: Watch your salt intake

Sodium is another ingredient that is frequently added to food to improve taste, even though your body needs less than one gram of sodium a day (about half a teaspoon of table salt). Eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure and lead to an increased risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, memory loss, and erectile dysfunction. It may also worsen symptoms of bipolar disorder.

• Use herbs and spices such as garlic, curry powder, cayenne or black pepper to improve the flavor of meals instead of salt.
• Be careful when eating out. Most restaurant and fast food meals are loaded with sodium. Some offer lower-sodium choices or you can ask for your meal to be made without salt.
• Buy unsalted nuts and add a little of your own salt until your taste buds are accustomed to eating them salt-free.

Related HelpGuide articles

• The Mediterranean Diet: Myths, Facts, and Health Benefits of a Mediterranean Diet
• Good Ways to Get Quality Protein: Making Protein Choices To Boost Energy and Improve Your Health
• Choosing Healthy Fats: Good Fats, Bad Fats, and the Power of Omega-3s

Resources and references

Healthy eating and mental health

Mastering the mindful meal – Describes the importance of mindful eating, along with tips on how to eat more mindfully. (Brigham & Women’s Hospital)

Diet and Mental Health – How dietary factors affect mental and emotional health. (Mental Health Foundation)

Healthy eating: fats

Omega-3 Fats: An Essential Contribution – All about health benefits of the important omega-3 fatty acids, including the best food sources in which to find them. (Harvard School of Public Health)

Clarifying the Facts on Fats: Is Butter Really Back? – Concentrating too much on eliminating “fat” from our diets has led us to replace healthy fats with simple carbohydrate foods that may actually be worse for our health. (Harvard Public Health)

The Truth About Fats – Understanding what counts as good fats, bad fats, and those in-between. (Harvard Health Publications)

Face the Fats – (PDF) Describes the complicated relationship between good fats, bad fats, and various diseases. (Nutrition Action Healthletter)

Healthy eating: sugar

Sugar exposed as deadly villain in obesity epidemic – Article about addictive sugar can be, with tips to cut down. (Guardian)

How to spot and avoid added sugar – Why sugar is so bad for you and how to spot it hidden in foods such as cereal, pasta sauce, and crackers. (Harvard Health Publications)

Healthy eating: salt

Sodium Content of Your Food – How sodium affects your body and how to cut down on dietary sodium. Included tips on reading nutrition labels, and suggestions for cooking and shopping. (University of Maine – PDF)

How to stay in the sodium safe zone – Tips to reduce your sodium intake and improve heart health. (Harvard Health Publications)