Salt - Should you really bother?

This week is salt awareness week – again!

Awareness is great, but this week Getfit.com is focusing on action. This week getfitdotcom will be tweeting about the HOW TO’s of salt. We’ve leaving all the awareness raising for our blog. But while you can find a great deal of information out there (all of it important), we thought we’d focus on the interesting side of salt. So if salt awareness week does come up in a conversation, you’ll be able to impress with some of our interesting tid-bits…..

Salt – the interesting facts:

The recommended limit of salt for an adult each day is 6 grams. This is about a teaspoon.

If you’re like most people, 75% of the salt in your diet comes from processed foods like bread, sauces and ready meals etc.

The lethal dose of salt is 3.3 grams per kilo of body weight. That’s 231grams for a 70kg person.

Salt interrupts calcium in your body. Higher levels of salt influence how calcium is stored in your bones. This has been linked to the formation of KIDNEY STONES (ouch!)

Salt and blood pressure – How does it actually work?

The sodium in salt makes your body retain more water and the extra water in the blood vessels creates more pressure. If your kidneys are functioning well they should remove sodium, but some people’s kidneys may not remove the sodium as well as others. Also as we get older are kidneys are not as able to remove the sodium as effectively and so there is more problems with high blood pressure in older people. This is a good reason to start to reduce your salt intake when you are younger.

While salt does not influence weight loss, it does influence water retention. So having a good salt intake (no more than 6 grams a day) could help with your body image.

Salt and Health facts – some you know, others you might not…

Cutting down on salt reduces blood pressure – people with high blood pressure are at greater risk of heart disease and stroke.

Studies have shown high salt intake may aggravate the symptoms of asthma in sufferers of this condition - many of the people involved in these studies required less medication when they reduced their salt intake.

A diet high in salt can raise the risk osteoporosis – salt in excess can cause more calcium to be excreted in the urine, making less calcium available for bones.

Salt is one of the factors that needs to be managed with kidney disease, high salt in people with weakened kidneys will lead to quicker failure and life changing treatments like dialysis.

People who consume high levels of salt on a daily basis raise their risk of developing stomach cancer – the second most frequent cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

In the UK 1 in 4 adults in middle age has high blood pressure:

Here is the plan that getfit.com works into your existing diet and lifestyle.

HEALTHY EATING and physical activity is the basis of a health plan for reducing risk of developing high blood pressure or achieving good management of this condition. These are the factors that are particularly important to consider in achieving your HEALTH goal.

• Sodium (salt) – In excess raises blood pressure by making the body retain excess water in the blood vessels (more fluid means more pressure).

• Fruit – Is a rich source of potassium, which has the opposite effect to sodium - by helping prevent the build-up of excess water in blood vessels.

• Vegetables – Are also a rich source of potassium (important for blood pressure regulation).

• Dairy foods – Are the richest source of calcium (this mineral is important in regulating blood pressure)

• Physical activity – Of any type helps weight loss, which in turn can reduce blood pressure - get walking, mowing, house cleaning, car washing, etc. Getting physically active is a good stress management habit.

• Alcohol – In excess can increase blood pressure (exactly how is not known – it may interfere with blood pressure control hormones), but moderate alcohol drinking (1-2 units a day) can help protect against heart disease in men over 40-years-of age and post-menopausal women.

• Stress – Can raise blood pressure (not surprising). Learning relaxation techniques, such as controlled breathing, is an important part of stress management.

Stress is everywhere, so what are you going to do about it?

Stress seems to be a fact of life nowadays, whether it’s pressure at work, stretched finances or a neighbour that likes to burn garbage on a Sunday morning (every week!). Constant stress is one of the factors that can really impact your health and your mood. This week getfit.com will be tweeting about sources of stress and simple things you can do to reduce stress as it happens. However there are longer term measures that will make you more resistant to stress, the following are not magic bullets – but they will help in the daily battle that stress can feel like.

• Caffeine – Exaggerates the body’s response to stress e.g. elevating blood pressure and stress hormones. It also amplifies the perceived level of stress being experienced – sensitivity to caffeine varies between individuals, and caffeine in small amounts may have health benefits for some people.

• Sleep – Produces a refreshed mind and body, and enhances learning, memory and decision making – all useful tools and skills in the armoury for successfully dealing with potential stressors on the battlefield of daily living!

• B vitamins – Are considered to be the “anti-stress” vitamins because it is believed they help the body cope with stressful conditions. Mother Nature has made food (rather than nutrition supplements) available for thousands of years, so get your B vitamins from a balanced diet rather than a bottle.

• Vitamin C – Is used up more rapidly under stressful conditions. Prolonged stress depletes vitamin C in the glands (adrenal) regulating the stress response. Get enough of this vitamin to top up the adrenals and mop up free radicals (damaging substances) from environmental toxins e.g. cigarette smoke.

• Physical activity – Relaxes muscle and helps sleep (muscular tension and poor quality sleep are classic symptoms of stress). Exercise improves blood flow throughout the body, boosting delivery of nutrients and speeding removal of waste. Also, the body's release of chemicals during exercise produces that feel-good sensation of all-is-well with the world!

• Time management – Is the skill of spending no more time than necessary in completing tasks to the satisfaction of you and/or others. Time spent unnecessarily on the first task means less time for the next, and so on – not having enough time is a major source of stress. Buy time by learning how to manage it well.

• Assertiveness – Means freely expressing (non-aggressively) your true thoughts, desires, and intentions to others. Saying “no” when being pressured, or “yes” without feeling obliged liberates you from doing something you would rather not – spare time is valuable, so spend it doing what you enjoy.

Healthy Eating Tips for Breakfast

"Breakfast literally means 'breaking the fast' - it provides the body with the energy and nutrients it needs after a long over-night fast. It's generally recommended that breakfast should provide one-quarter of your day's nutritional requirements and its been found that people who eat breakfast tend to be happier and better able to concentrate during the morning," says Todd Donnelly, GetFit's resident nutritionist.
"Breakfast eaters have higher intakes of essential vitamins and minerals than breakfast skippers and a high fibre breakfast can improve energy levels and mood. Many breakfast cereals are fortified with essential B vitamins, iron and calcium, and are an important source of these nutrients in many people's diets".
"Its also been shown that people who eat breakfast tend to be slimmer than those who skip breakfast". Todd adds.

Common Myths and Misconceptions

• "Skipping breakfast helps with weight loss" - eating breakfast stimulates the metabolism and gets the body burning calories efficiently. Skipping breakfast therefore hinders weight loss.
• "I don't have time to eat breakfast" - preparing and eating a bowl of cereal takes less than 5 minutes in the morning and will provide you with great benefits. Can you not afford to find 5 minutes to benefit from eating breakfast?
• "I don't need breakfast". Not true - you wouldn't expect a car to run without petrol and equally you cannot expect your body to run without fuel. Your body and mind will both work better during the morning after a breakfast is consumed.
• "Skipping breakfast does not matter - I can make up the missed nutrients later". This is not true - the nutrients, vitamins and minerals missed at breakfast are not made up later in the day - people who skip breakfast have a less nutritious diet than those who eat this important meal.

We all like to be healthy and we want to be sure that we're doing the best we can for ourselves, and our family's health.
Join GetFit and start leading a healthy life today.

Healthy Eating Tips for Eating Out - The Basics

Eating out is no longer the 'once in a while' treat it used to be - for some it is an everyday necessity, and for others it's an essential part of their social and/or business lives.
Whenever you eat out, there are some clever tricks that will help you to choose healthy options wherever you're eating!
First of all, never forget that whenever and wherever you eat out, you're in control. A restaurant is privileged to have you as their guest (if they're not, there's many that will be) - they're there to supply you with a service - you're 'employing' them to cook your food for you (and do the washing up), regardless of whether it's the cafe down the road or in a Michelin star restaurant.
Also remember, food served in restaurants usually contains 50% or more calories than the food you'd serve at home. Add to this the fact that portion sizes have increased over the years; eating-out can become a real risk to any weight or health management plan. But with a few little tricks and a good idea of what you want to achieve, restaurants need not become 'no go zones'.

Tips & Tricks

• If you can't get the nutritional information of food, assume that it's high in calories.
• Order your food with your goals in mind. Ask yourself if what you're ordering helps or hinders your personal health goal. Portion sizes are important - if you control the portion size then the calories will look after themselves.
• You can control what arrives on your plate - just make sure those serving you know what you want.
• By being polite to the waiter you'll find they will normally bend over backwards to help out.
• Restaurants want you to enjoy your time with them because they need your custom (they are a business after all) - so never be afraid to change a dish, ask for the dressing to be left off or order a selection of side orders instead of a main course. Don't ever compromise your goals to make it easier for the restaurant - you're in control!
• Learn more tips and tricks of healthy eating with your own health coach account