TKP Nutrition Insights- SODIUM
This month we launch a series of newsletter topics related to some of the very important areas of nutrition here at Teen Kitchen Project. In order to achieve our goal of Building Healthier Communities Through Food — we put a lot of extra focus on the taste and nutrition quality of the meals we provide to our clients. Our meals are medically-tailored meals, yes! But that is a broad term with many specific sub-categories and areas of interest.
We, here at TKP, provide “diabetes-friendly, heart healthy meals”. In this and upcoming newsletters we will focus on what that translates to in our meals and the importance of creating our meals in this manner.
Let’s get this rolling. Our first area of focus is on SODIUM. We see sodium in the news, sodium is consistently discussed in the medical and nutrition literature and people are very often talking about sodium. Ever heard: “How much sodium is in this?”, “I am watching my sodium intake”, “My doctor put me on a lower sodium diet”, etc.? These are just a few of the comments you might hear about sodium in your day-to-day life. Before we dive into specifics of TKP meals and our use of sodium in our recipes…let’s do a bit a primer on sodium, shall we?
What is Sodium?
Sodium is a mineral found in many common foods, sometimes naturally and sometimes added as salt during cooking or manufacturing for flavor or as a preservative. Some might be surprised to find out that sodium is actually an essential mineral that our bodies need to control fluid balance. Sodium is required to send nerve signals, and is involved in muscle function. Therefore, sodium has important roles. However, consuming too much has been linked to health problems (*more info below).
What is the difference between Sodium and Salt?
It’s a common misconception that “sodium” and “salt” are the same thing; in fact, the words are often used interchangeably. But understanding the difference between the two is important.
“Salt” refers to the crystal-like chemical compound sodium chloride, while “sodium” refers to the dietary mineral sodium. Health experts suggest remembering the distinction in this way:
- Sodium is found in food, either naturally or manufactured into processed foods.
- Salt is what we add to our food when we use the salt shaker or add it into a recipe or dish.
Table salt is a combination of the mineral elements sodium and chloride. Broken down by weight, sodium makes up approximately 40% of table salt. Ok, so we got that out of the way 😊
What are some health risks and recommendations?
It has been established over the years that excess dietary sodium intake can lead to a myriad of health problems. Extra sodium in the blood pulls water into the blood vessels. This increases the volume of blood inside the vessels and leads to increased blood pressure (BP). Increased BP creates extra workload for the heart muscle, blood vessels and kidneys. Over time, this is a huge risk for stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease, the leading causes of poor health and death around the world.
To avoid those risks, experts recommend most healthy adults aim for 2,300 mg or less per day. Very recently, The U.S. Dietary Guidelines have recently released a new recommendation urging people to work to cut the daily recommended intake of sodium from 2,300 milligrams to 1,500 milligrams per day. For some context, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that the average American consumes about 3,400 mg of sodium per day—much more than is generally recommended. Another helpful bit of context is that one teaspoon of salt (sodium chloride) contains 2,300 mg sodium. One teaspoon!
Since most diets are too high in sodium, it’s important to pay attention to how much salt and added sodium is present in our food—especially in processed foods like pizza, deli meats, soups, salad dressings, and cheese. But as experts point out, you can’t always count on your taste buds to sound the alarm. Keep in mind that foods high in sodium don’t always taste salty, so watch out for sweet offenders like cereals and even baked goods.
What does TKP do to balance delicious meals while lower sodium levels in them?
As you might imagine, many of our TKP clients have medical conditions that require a lower sodium diet/intake. Our chef works diligently to develop DELICIOUS meals that are flavorful and lower in sodium. This is not an easy task because the American palate is accustomed to a lot of extra sodium in foods and recipes. However, Amanda Hill, TKP’s Executive Chef and me, Toni, the dietitian – partner to create meals that qualify as reduced sodium. What does that mean? See the bullet points below for some helpful terminology:
Sodium-related term What does this term mean?
Salt Free/ Sodium Free Less than 5mg per serving
Very Low Sodium 35 mg or less per serving
Low Sodium 140 mg or less per serving
*Reduced Sodium *At least 25% less than original product recipe
Light in sodium/ lightly salted At least 50% less than original product recipe
No-Salt Added/ Unsalted No salt added during processing but the product may not be salt free.
As you can see above, there are many categories to consider. Our meals follow are Reduced Sodium. This means that we aim for them to be at least 25% less than original product recipe. For our entrees, that translates to <500mg per entrée. In order to achieve this, Amanda and I often have to negotiate and titrate a recipe to get the ideal flavor achievable while honoring the sodium parameters.
One major strategy employed by our Executive Chef, Amanda is to: Spice it up!
Our recipes use a wide variety of spices and other salt-free herbs or herb blends to provide great flavors while minimizing salt. We use lemon juice, garlic, cumin, onion and other fresh peppers to add more flavor to our meals. We are not afraid to explore different flavors, and spices from around the world. You can see from our menus that we are very international 😊 There is also a focus on locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. We use fresh, lean meat products, an amazing and delicious tofu product with is free of sodium and a great base for many of our dishes. We also work to procure fruits and vegetables that are in season. Just let your taste buds remind you: A fresh tomato, for example, has plenty of flavor and you won’t feel the need to add salt. Tomatoes off season tend to be blander.
Another approach TKP uses for creating the overall menus is inspired by the DASH Eating Plan. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It is is a flexible and balanced eating plan that helps create a heart-healthy eating style for life. The DASH eating plan is supported by the highest-quality evidence proving that it improves lipids and reduces blood pressure. The DASH diet is high in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains, poultry, fish, non-tropical oils and nuts, while limiting sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages and red meat. The diet’s high potassium, magnesium and calcium content has a positive impact on blood pressure and lipids.
Doing this for the HEALTH of it!
So, I hope this helps you gain a better understanding of why we offer a reduced sodium menu to our TKP clients. It is for the HEALTH of it! Our nutrition parameters are very important to us and to the health of our clients (most importantly). This was a brief overview of sodium. In upcoming issues of our TKP newsletter—we will offer more Nutrition Insights and explore why and how we offer delicious and nutritious medically-tailored-meals that are “diabetes-friendly, heart healthy”.
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