Welcome to Day 11 of the challenge! During this lesson you’ll learn how to find and reduce salt and sugar in your diet. You’re going to kick them to the curb and be glad you did!
There are plenty of ways to reduce salt and sugar every single day
Packaged and prepared food is tricky. The key to cutting salt and sugar is to learn how to determine which products have those hidden ingredients in them and which ones don’t.
Why does it matter if you’re getting too much sugar or salt? Sugar will add pounds to your waist line. No one wants to be adding pounds when they don’t even realize that it is happening. You’re also at risk of getting diabetes if you eat too much.
Salt is just as bad or worse. Too much salt can lead to high cholesterol, heart problems, risk of stroke and other health related issues. Getting your salt under control is one of the best ways to become healthier. Eliminate as much as you can to have the best life possible.
Here’s just a short list of foods that likely contain far more salt and sugar than you may realize.
- Salad dressings
- Sauces like spaghetti, barbecue, and tomato
- Yogurt with fruit
- Frozen food like pizza, French fries, and meals
- Granola bars
- Breakfast cereals like instant oatmeal and cold varieties
- Bread
- Canned soups and fruits
- Dried fruit
- Drinks such as juice, soda, energy drinks, tea
- Condiments such as ketchup and mayonnaise
Photo: momentscaptured1 on Flickr
Reduce salt and sugar in your family’s diet by reading labels
Scan ingredients
Whenever you buy processed and packaged food you will get more salt and sugar than you bargained for. The companies have to use these two if they want to put them on the shelves. You can help your family by knowing what to look for when you are looking for these ingredients on the food labels.
Brands often mislead consumers when they give their messages about the health food on the market. The ingredients might be healthy, but then they add extra sugar to products to make them taste good or salt to keep them fresh longer. This can be detrimental to your health.
Make sure that you are reading all labels. Compare different brands to see which one has the least amount of sugar and salt in their labels.
The American Heart Association has a program called the Heart Check which is an easy way to see if certain foods pass their guidelines. Look on the package and see if there stamp is on it. It will say American Heart Association and then at the bottom is a red heart with a white check mark going through it.
4 things to be aware when you are reading labels
- Amounts are based on per serving, not total in the package
- Products with the words sodium-free or low-sodium will help you reduce your salt
- Check ingredients when looking for sugar. Any words that have -ose at the end contain hidden sugar.
- Sugar-free on the package will have substitutes in them which may not help you with your sweet craving and actually send a message to the brain to keep eating.
Know your recommended daily amount
Not knowing your recommend daily amount for sugar or salt will hurt you more than help. Learn what the recommended amounts are per day and then try to keep within them. It’s hard when you start, but by making healthier choices today than yesterday you can slowly eliminate excess amounts.
Making healthy changes
Help your taste buds slowly adjust.
They’re accustomed to a certain way things should taste and they will protest loudly when you start to switch. Completely taking sugar and salt out of your diet will put your taste buds in shock and everything will taste plain. Go slow and take a little bit out at a time. Soon you’ll hardly notice that you added a dash of salt instead of three teaspoons (or more).
Learn to use herbs.
Most people use more salt then necessary because they never learned how to cook with these essential ingredients correctly. They are packed with health benefits and should be slowly introduced into your recipes. Trial and error work or find a cookbook that will help you learn which type of recipes will taste best with each spice or herb. Lemon juice is also a way to add tons of flavor to your meals.
Fresh food is always better.
Unfortunately it is not always the easiest if you are taking the kids to dance and soccer practice and don’t have the time. Find a few recipes that are half an hour or less during these days or make freezer meals ahead of time and use those.
Once you’ve worked on your other goals for the day you’re done. So that includes drinking water, exercising in little bursts today, and making healthier decisions than you did yesterday.
P.S. Tomorrow is going to help you become prepared for success by organizing your pantry and fridge!
