If you like to eat snacks such as spicy plum strips, there is actually a serious problem

Among the daily necessities of life, salt is indispensable to our life.

But eating too much salt will not only harm our health, but also make us ugly.

The dangers of a high-salt diet

① Harm to physical health: Reduce the body's ability to absorb calcium and greatly increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases (including coronary heart disease, stroke), etc.

② Make us gradually uglier: Excessive sodium intake can cause edema in the body and may also cause dehydration of the skin, indirectly making the skin dry and dull. Once the skin is dry, wrinkles, sagging and other skin problems will follow.

The most direct way to avoid the above problems is to eat less salt.

The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2016" recommends that adults should not consume more than 6g of salt per day, which is about the amount of a beer bottle cap.

But in addition to eating less salt, we also have to be wary of "hidden salt".

What is "invisible salt"?

The main component of salt is sodium. Invisible salt, as the name suggests, is sodium that you cannot taste with your tongue.

Some foods may seem to have nothing to do with salt, but they are actually high-sodium foods. If we eat too much of these foods, we will unknowingly consume a lot of "invisible salt".

1. Preserved Fruit

Although plums are sweet and sour, they are truly high-salt foods.

A handful of preserved plums (18g) contains 1148mg of sodium, which is equivalent to 2.8g of salt, accounting for 46.7% of the recommended daily intake.

And the drier the candied fruit, the higher the salt content. When buying candied fruit, be especially careful of those that look dry.

2. Noodles

Although noodles are synonymous with lightness, the salt content is quite high.

In order to increase the toughness, most noodles will add extra salt. A small handful of noodles (100g) contains 900mg of sodium, which is equivalent to 2.25g of salt, accounting for 37.5% of the recommended daily intake.

This does not include the sodium content of additional seasonings. If you are a heavy eater, you may exceed the limit in one meal.

3. Fried dough sticks

Although youtiao doesn’t have much salt, it still needs baking powder to make it fluffy. Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, which also increases the sodium content of youtiao.

The sodium content of 2 fried dough sticks (90g) is approximately 527mg, which is equivalent to 1.3g of salt, accounting for 21.7% of the recommended daily intake.

4. Spicy Noodles

The salt content of spicy strips may be higher than you think. A pack of spicy strips (106g) contains 2904mg of sodium, which is equivalent to 7.3g of salt.

After eating this packet, I will definitely exceed my daily sodium intake.

5. Eating out

In 2018, we reviewed 14 of the more common fast food products on the market.

Most of these fast foods already account for half of the daily salt intake, and if you eat one more meal, you will exceed the limit. Two fast foods even exceed the upper limit of daily salt intake.

If we include heavy-flavored foods such as hot pot, malatang, malatang, and malatang, the sodium content will probably be even higher.

6. Others

In addition, there is a lot of invisible salt in many condiments, such as: bean paste, soy sauce, chicken essence, MSG, oyster sauce, ketchup, etc.

How to prevent excessive intake of hidden salt?

1. Look at the nutrition facts table

A simpler method is to look directly at the NRV% value of sodium on the food packaging. If its NRV% is over 30%, it means that the salt content is relatively high, so try to eat less.

2. Be careful with sweet and sour things

Not only candied fruits, but also many sweet and sour foods have high sodium content, such as plums, ketchup, pickles, and shredded figs.

This is because the salty taste is not prominent enough under the cover of sourness and sweetness, which causes many people to be unable to taste the saltiness of the food. If you encounter such food, there is no other way but to read the nutrition label more.

3. Change your cooking habits

If you cook at home, you can try more steamed and blanched dishes. Adding salt later and using less seasonings when cooking can also reduce salt intake.

4. Reduce the frequency of eating out

If circumstances permit, we recommend that you reduce the frequency of eating out. If you really can't reduce the frequency of eating out, you can order an extra bowl of soup and eat it with it.

Not only will a low-sodium diet make you healthier, it will also improve your overall skin condition.

So my friends, instead of buying all kinds of health and beauty products, it is better to change your eating habits.

It only takes 28 days to develop a good habit, but its impact on your body lasts a lifetime.

References:

[1] Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2016

[2] “Report on the Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)” Press Conference

[3] Dong Yanghong, Shi Zhiyu. Research progress on sodium salt intake in hypertension[J]. Advances in Cardiovascular Diseases, 2018, 039(002):190-194.