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- MedlinePlus: Low-Salt Diet
- National Institutes of Health: Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with Dash
- National Institutes of Health: Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with Dash
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: Quick Facts on Salt
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: Quick Facts on Salt
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: Healthier Eating with DASH
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: Healthier Eating with DASH
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: A Week With the Dash Eating Plan
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: A Week With the Dash Eating Plan
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A Low-Sodium Meal Plan
Adopting a healthy, low-sodium meal plan can help lower blood pressure and lead to improved cardiovascular health. A balanced low-sodium meal plan allows for foods from every food group, while limiting processed foods and calling for healthier alternatives to salt, MSG and other high-sodium condiments and ingredients. For maximum health benefits, supplement your healthy eating plan with regular exercise.
Identification
The goal of a low-sodium diet is to reduce sodium intake to a heart-healthy level. Sodium, in appropriate levels, plays an important role in regulating blood sugar and blood volume, as well as in muscle and nerve health. A low-sodium diet provides a maximum of 2,300mg daily. However, the American Heart Association recommends that your diet contain no more than 1,500mg per day 2.
- The goal of a low-sodium diet is to reduce sodium intake to a heart-healthy level.
- However, the American Heart Association recommends that your diet contain no more than 1,500mg per day 2.
Factors
A Low Sodium 1800-Calorie Diet
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Sodium occurs naturally in small amounts in foods, and most dietary sodium is added to foods during processing, according to the National Institutes of Health. Most of the sodium in your diet comes from salt.
Components
The DASH diet limits sweets such as jelly, candy and sweetened beverages to five servings per week. Opt for unsalted margarine, low-sodium cheese varieties and other low-sodium condiments, rinse canned foods prior to cooking and season foods with spices rather than salt when cooking, advises NHLBI.
Samples
The Sodium Content of Canned Tuna
Learn More
The NHLBI provides one week's worth of low-sodium menus online with exchanges for 2,300mg or 1,500mg total sodium content. The menus are based on a 2,000-calorie DASH diet. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 also lists serving recommendations for the DASH diet at various caloric levels, starting with a 1,600-calorie meal plan.
- The NHLBI provides one week's worth of low-sodium menus online with exchanges for 2,300mg or 1,500mg total sodium content.
- The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 also lists serving recommendations for the DASH diet at various caloric levels, starting with a 1,600-calorie meal plan.
Considerations
The American Heart Association reports that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S 2. Lowering your sodium intake is an important factor in improving cardiovascular health. Dietary recommendations endorsed by the American Heart Association align with those included in the DASH plan at the 1,500mg level 2.
Related Articles
References
- MedlinePlus: Low-Salt Diet
- American Heart Association: Healthy Diet Goals
- Ndahimana D, Choi YJ, Park JH, Ju MJ, Kim EK. Validity of predictive equations for resting energy expenditure in Korean non-obese adults. Nutr Res Pract.2018;12(4):283-290. doi:10.4162/nrp.2018.12.4.283
- Meghan B. Azad, et al. Nonnutritive sweeteners and cardiometabolic health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2017; 189 (28): E929 doi:10.1503/cmaj.161390
- DASH Eating Plan. Tips to Reduce Salt and Sodium. National Institutes of Health.
- Azad MB, Abou-Setta AM, Chauhan BF, et al. Nonnutritive sweeteners and cardiometabolic health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies. CMAJ. 2017;189(28):E929-E939. doi:10.1503/cmaj.161390.
- National Institutes of Health. DASH Eating Plan: Tips to Reduce Salt and Sodium.
- Ndahimana D, Choi YJ, Park JH, Ju MJ, Kim EK. Validity of predictive equations for resting energy expenditure in Korean non-obese adults. Nutr Res Pract. 2018;12(4):283-290. doi:10.4162/nrp.2018.12.4.283
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Writer Bio
Pam Murphy is a writer specializing in fitness, childcare and business-related topics. She is a member of the National Association for Family Child Care and contributes to various websites. Murphy is a licensed childcare professional and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of West Georgia.