Salt In The Wound

As I used to tell my patients, "everything in moderation". Every time a new report hits the airwaves, people panic, worry about what they are eating and then binge because they were on one of the diets that has data showing that diet doesn't work. This last few weeks has been brutal for those who slavishly follow every new report saying that something is bad for you and must be eliminated from your diet. Oops.

CBS News | Low-Salt Diet May Not Help Heart | February 22, 2006�12:34:43: "
“Some people may very well benefit from eating a low-salt diet, but there is little clinical evidence supporting a blanket recommendation that everyone needs to eat this way,” he says.

Lichtenstein agrees that it is increasingly clear that salt affects different people differently.

“There is a tremendous amount of data showing that there is a wide range of individual variation in the response to salt,” she says. “The problem is we don’t know who the hyper-responders are.”

Lichtenstein is a professor of nutrition at Tufts University and a member of the American Heart Association nutrition committee.

The AHA recommends not only restricting salt, but eating a diet that is high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products to lower cardiovascular risk.

Studies suggest that following such a diet can have a modest but potentially important impact on blood pressure.

Lichtenstein lists not smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, getting plenty of exercise, and limiting the amount of saturated and trans fats in the diet as the most important things people can do to reduce their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease."

If you make sure to eat all colours of the rainbow on a regular basis you should be able to receive the nutrition your body needs for healthy functioning. Enjoy what you eat without overeating and you should be able to enjoy your life. And your tastebuds.

If you feel the urge to splurge one day, then make it up a few days later with a sparse eating day. There is no reason to deprive yourself and then feel guilty for being unable to push yourself away from the table later. It is okay to have dessert, just not every meal and fruit does qualify as a dessert, not just a topping.

Tags: low-salt diet, restricted sodium, another health claim in flames,