Too much salt in your diet will cause you to retain water and sidetrack your numbers on the scale; however, there are several other harmful effects of excessive salt / sodium on your body. Please read the following carefully:
Excessive sodium will:
- Raise the pressure of the blood, causing stress on the arteries
- Increase the mass of the left ventricle of the heart
- Thicken, stiffen, and narrow major arteries, including the coronary and renal arteries
- Increase the number of strokes
- Increase the severity of cardiac failure
- Cause the blood platelets to clump together
- Accelerate the rate of kidney deterioration
- Affect calcium and bone metabolism, affecting bone density in women
- Increase the incidence of cancer of the stomach
- Increase the severity of asthma in male asthmatic subjects
On the plus side, however, excessive sodium will:
- Make your food taste good.
That's it. Is good taste really worth wrecking your heart, arteries, and kidneys?
Here's your guideline for salt: DON'T cook with it. DON'T add it to your food at the table. DON'T eat anything for which you don't know the sodium content. You should not get more than 2000 mg of sodium per day, at most. 1500-1700 is probably more like it.
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