Stop and Drop It.

No, I don’t mean stop and give me 20 push ups….. Although a little extra exercise wouldn’t hurt. What I am talking about is that salt shaker you keep on your table. We Americans are consuming way too much of it. It’s in almost everything we eat. The average American adult only needs to consume 1500 mg of salt per day. Have you been checking your labels when you shop? If you have, you might notice that those frozen entrees and processed foods are loaded with salt. One frozen meal and a processed muffin will take you way over your daily limit.

We all know that too much salt can lead to high Blood pressure….but did you know it can lead to uncontrolled weight gain even though it has no calories in it? Excess salt can spike your insulin, your body’s fat-storage hormone. That’s how salt packs on more body fat- and you end up weighing more. 
Ever wonder why your rings feel tight or you just feel puffy? It’s all that water retention due to your body holding onto too much sodium (aka salt).

Okay, what we know about salt is…..it can bring out the flavor in foods. So can herbs. Try experimenting with fresh herbs. I am making a special area in my garden that will be full of fresh herbs. The other thing is to train our taste buds to taste what the foods we eat really taste like. Some times we just mask the flavor of our foods with salt and pepper and other condiments. We really should enjoy the foods we eat for their unique flavors.

To flush yourself of the stored sodium in your body try the following diet for three days.

Start by drinking water, if you don’t like the taste of water, you can squeeze a slice of lemon into every 8 oz you drink. You need to drink half the amount of your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 140. Lbs then you need to divide that by 2 and that’s how much water you need to flush your body of that sodium. If you weigh 140 lbs you need to drink 70 ounces of water each day. It's a lot of water so stay by a bathroom.

Next, Cut down (don’t eliminate) on your carbohydrate intake. Complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables are the only carbohydrates that you should eat during this three-day salt flush. Forget the bread and pasta. Every pound of carbs stored in your body hold 2 or 3 pounds of water and it is this water that holds the excess salt. Thus, the practice of eating high-protein foods low in carbs, such as lean meat, oatmeal and brown rice, assist the entire process of drinking great amounts of water to purify the body system of excess sodium. Make sure you eat naturally low sodium or sodium free foods. So remember to eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies. I love plenty of fresh fruits and veggies.

Last thing is to sweat out the excess salt. For the three-day flush, choose to exercise aerobically. Take a nice fast pace walk if you can….or dance. Just start sweating. Alternatively, you can choose to haunt a sauna daily. Stay in the sauna long enough to break a sweat. I have to set up my bathroom and make a homemade sauna. I will give directions on this soon.

After 3 days go back to drinking your 8 glasses of water per day and stay within your 1500mg of sodium per day……your going to feel great! No more puffy fingers.

Now put down that salt shaker and take a drink a water!