Sodium the double-edged sword!

Well I am back after a busy week of school and new sorority stuff and getting used to second semester :). Thank goodness it's getting easier, but its college its supposed to be tough right? I decided that this subject on sodium had been in my mind a lot and really played a big role in my weightloss and over all knowledge I gained while losing weight. I decided to post on it as a friend and I were talking about what to get when we went to a certain restaurant because all of there stuff was filled with sodium it was nuts!

Obviously obesity is HUGE in America and a lot of reason it is due to our portion sizes and just options we have out there, but I truly believe a lot of it has to do with sodium intake, not just fat. Another huge issue in America is heart disease and what causes swelling and pooling of liquid, and high blood pressure and cholosterol..TOO much Salt! The reason for my title is because Salt is a double edged sword when trying to lose weight and to up your exercising. It has deff. been a battle for me from the beginning. I think as Americans we don't realize just how much salt is in a typical meal that we eat, or what all they use it for to preserve all these fine frozen foods we have now, or the "convenient foods" with those LONG shelf lives! Don't feel bad too if you eat a ton or frozen stuff or like the pantry food, cause those were my FAVORITES before lol, Hot Pockets were my best friend, along with anything in a bag or a box, especially Easy Mac and Macaroni n Cheese in general! I had a HUGE problem when I first started dieting on wanting to give up all the little "pantry foods", while yes I was eating lower calorie kind and less fat ones, I was still eating them and too much of those are even a bad thing and as bad as eating the regular. I think this also happens because it's easy to stock up on all that low-fat/100 calorie stuff because in the beginning its hard to count your calories and be sure, but with those it makes you feel safe or something. For me I also found myself eating a lot of fast food in the beginning of my diet as well, even though it was "healthy" calorie counted fast food it was still fast food, so my mom and my trainer had to warn me that yes, your calories are down but your sodium is still up and that can totally affect weightloss. For instance here is the sodium count in a "old me" typical meal I would get at McDonald's and then Chili's two places I loved and went to a lot and thought I wasn't doing "too bad":
Double Cheeseburger: Sodium 1150mgs
Large Fries: 350mgs
Large Diet Coke: 45mgs (so even in my diet coke, not to mention the chemicals in that as well!)
Total:1545mgs

Chili's:
1 Platter of (just) Chicken Crispers: 3010mgs of Sodium!
1 side of French fries: 230mgs
1 side of Ranch dip: 340mgs
Total: 3580!!!

Now after seeing this know that they recommend that you have 1500-2400 milligrams of sodium.....A DAY, not a meal haha and in both of those meals especially the second I was eating at least a days worth if not two!! And here yes I knew the calories and fat were bad but honestly had NO idea about the sodium and what that was doing to me. I had always had swollen ankles in the past and puffiness in my hands but never really thought as to why, but now it makes perfect sense I was a walking salt shaker lol! The problem is though many other people eat these same meals, many fairly "healthy" and thin people, and have no idea what the sodium intake is and what that is doing to our bodies, no wonder heart disease is a top killer here in the U.S.

Now where it becomes a double edged sword for us "dieting" or eating healthy people is when you don't get enough because you cut it too much. Obviously to lose weight you must cut your sodium down quite a bit, and that just happens as you eat the wonderful healthy things God put on this earth, but not enough and too much workout and change to your body it can be bad. It was like when I went low potassium they said I needed to have more sodium to replenish all I was sweating out in the gym which makes sense. The other way sodium can be sneaky is in the "low-fat" stuff or in the healthier frozen meals and such. Although it looks like the right choice always be careful! This goes back to when my friend and I were talking about what to order, we were talking about Panera Bread and how yes they have some great options and low-fat and low-calorie things, they have a horrible time with sodium. Like there soups that are good tasting and low-fat are skyrocketing with over 1000mgs of sodium, so really in the end it almost defeats the fact it's only like 180 calories. Another example are those great  Lean Cuisines, yes they are low cal and fat but watch the sodium because it takes a lot to keep chicken good and frozen lol, or things that should be fresh. Don't get me wrong the new Spa Cuisine line they have are totally my new thing, but I just make sure the sodium is like 500mgs or less, because remember while you work out and change your body you still need some :).

Well that's it for today, hope everyone had a great week! I really would like if you guys emailed me some topics on what you think would be interesting for me to blog on, I would love your feedback and to know. Sometimes topics come easily and sometimes they don't, but any questions or topics you feel would be good feel free to let me know soon! Have a great wkend!
~Kassandra

P.S. This totally cracks me up.....

....I mean come on SERIOUSLY, just because you through some nasty not real meat in a wrap it makes it no better and no healthy lol, the tactics they come up with are great! Don't believe the "if it's in a wrap, its healthier", it's NOT lol :).