Post by Steve on Dec 23, 2017 7:30:44 GMT -8
Sodium chloride is a remarkable mineral. So common, so vital to life, so tasty, and so easy to over do it with the salt shaker.c
I thought I was pretty well aware of the effects of salt in and on my food. The RDA is only 3/4 of a teaspoon! Your total for the day! This includes the sodium in all your food, from your morning eggs to a can of chili for lunch to spaghetti at dinner. Three-quarters of a tespoon is 3,750 mg. Hard to visualize, but easy to compare with the sodium content list on labels. Canned chili has 1020.00 mg of sodium in a cup. It adds up fast.
A conversation with my doctor was an eye-opener when he described how salt affects our bodies. Yes, particularly in older people. I'm not pointing, but you know who you are.
As I can best repeat his lesson, it goes like this: Blood flow down to the legs is not a problem. Gravity helps the heart get that done. But when it's time to get the blood back to the heart, the uphill climb has to fight gravity, and the body is prepared to help keep the blood from slipping back on a heart pulse. There are venous valves that are one-way gates for blood flow, helped by flexing muscles pushing blood up these veins. Neat, huh? Well set that side for the moment. Now back to sodium...
The salt you ingest gets into the blood and attracts water. The increase in fluid creates peripheral edema --swelling*-- of the legs. The edema reduces the ability of the small blood vessels to serve the skin, and that leaves the skin suseptable to ulcers (in this case, an ulcer is an open wound.)
So too much salt can result in wounds of the skin, and one way to counter the effects of this edema is to go out and go for a walk! To move around to keep the legs flexing. The bending of the leg muscles act as an auxilliary pumping mechanism to push blood back up to the heart. The lack of leg activity (sitting all day) means no help in pushing blood up, that leaves edema to do its damage as fluids collect.
So don't shake the salt, shake the habit. Try as you might, you will not keep salt out of your diet. It is, after all, a necessary part of a healthy life. But skip adding more to your food. Try one of the versions of salt substitute on the grocery shelf.
Compression Socks fo counter edema? Here they are are on Amazon. A great price!
I thought I was pretty well aware of the effects of salt in and on my food. The RDA is only 3/4 of a teaspoon! Your total for the day! This includes the sodium in all your food, from your morning eggs to a can of chili for lunch to spaghetti at dinner. Three-quarters of a tespoon is 3,750 mg. Hard to visualize, but easy to compare with the sodium content list on labels. Canned chili has 1020.00 mg of sodium in a cup. It adds up fast.
A conversation with my doctor was an eye-opener when he described how salt affects our bodies. Yes, particularly in older people. I'm not pointing, but you know who you are.
As I can best repeat his lesson, it goes like this: Blood flow down to the legs is not a problem. Gravity helps the heart get that done. But when it's time to get the blood back to the heart, the uphill climb has to fight gravity, and the body is prepared to help keep the blood from slipping back on a heart pulse. There are venous valves that are one-way gates for blood flow, helped by flexing muscles pushing blood up these veins. Neat, huh? Well set that side for the moment. Now back to sodium...
The salt you ingest gets into the blood and attracts water. The increase in fluid creates peripheral edema --swelling*-- of the legs. The edema reduces the ability of the small blood vessels to serve the skin, and that leaves the skin suseptable to ulcers (in this case, an ulcer is an open wound.)
So too much salt can result in wounds of the skin, and one way to counter the effects of this edema is to go out and go for a walk! To move around to keep the legs flexing. The bending of the leg muscles act as an auxilliary pumping mechanism to push blood back up to the heart. The lack of leg activity (sitting all day) means no help in pushing blood up, that leaves edema to do its damage as fluids collect.
So don't shake the salt, shake the habit. Try as you might, you will not keep salt out of your diet. It is, after all, a necessary part of a healthy life. But skip adding more to your food. Try one of the versions of salt substitute on the grocery shelf.
Compression Socks fo counter edema? Here they are are on Amazon. A great price!