Too much salt is bad for you. It does give food a kick. But it does much worse damage to your heart over the long term.
Here are 10 reasons why you should eat less salt.
1. Salt Can Cause Osteoporosis
A lot of young women don’t worry about osteoporosis. A lot of us probably haven’t even heard of it. Osteoporosis causes thinning of the bones, which means your bones can easily fracture and break. It’s becoming more and more common among adults.
Osteoporosis might not cause as much hassle as heart disease or cancer, but it does cause constant hassle in your bones.
Too much salt can cause you to lose calcium from your bones, which need it to stay strong. When you lose calcium, your bones become weaker, which means they can break much more easily.
2. Obesity
“I’ve always been told that salt doesn’t cause weight gain, which means I can keep eating as much as I want.”
Fair enough. Salt itself doesn’t cause obesity as such.
But what salt does is, it makes you thirsty. And when you’re thirsty, you might be tempted to drink more soda.
And soda – as you know – is rife with sugar, which does cause weight gain.
Otherwise healthy adults who know the perils of drinking too much soda might avoid such drinks. But teenagers and children are different. When they’re thirsty, they’re probably going to want a coke.
3. Salt Causes Hypertension
Hypertension is debilitating and can leader to even more debilitating things, such as heart disease and stroke.
Salt can cause hypertension problems, which is why it’s a good idea to consume less of it.
4. Salt Can Cause Stomach Cancer
This one is really scary. The Big C is scary in general, and any type of cancer is terrifying. But stomach cancer is arguably one of the scariest, as it has such a bad mortality rate. If you haven’t yet made the connection, a bad diet can cause stomach cancer. It makes sense when you really think about it. After all, junk food certainly isn’t going to be good for your stomach! Salt is a risk factor – a big one. If you reduce your intake of salt, you can reduce your risk of developing stomach cancer.
5. Water Retention
Water retention leads to bloating. And bloating is horrible! Sometimes bloating takes ages to go away, and it makes us feel rubbish for a few hours. There are different causes of bloating, and too much salt intake is one of them. Reduce your salt intake and see what happens. You might feel that you haven’t eaten a huge stone for once!
6. Salt is an Irritant
Salt is actually an irritant that can wreak havoc with your internal system. It can trigger toxins to become active, which in turn can leave you feeling fatigued and generally out of whack. Salt can also weaken your taste buds, so that your sense of taste isn’t as sharp as it once was.
7. Salt can cause high blood pressure.
You might argue that it might already be too late to prevent high blood pressure.It may be but it’s not too late to treat it. And treat it you must. While there are other ways to treat high blood pressure, such as pharmacology, diet is also a good remedy. And key to your diet should be reducing your salt intake.
8. Salt Can Age You Prematurely
None of us want to look older before our time. Yet many of us are consuming things that are accelerating the ageing process, from alcohol to salt.
Yep, salt is the enemy of youthful beauty. It wants to strip you of your glow, and add fine lines and wrinkles ASAP.
This is because it’s refined – just like sugar.
9. Salt Can Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease
We’re going to guess that you don’t want heart disease. No one wants heart disease. But why are so many of us stubbornly sticking to diets that are linked with cardiovascular disease?
Heart disease is now the biggest killer in world. And while there are other contributory factors, such as lack of exercise, diet plays a massive role in the development of this killer chronic disease.
Too much salt intake causes hypertension, which then puts huge pressure on your heart. Your blood vessels also take a hit, which isn’t cool. And when your heart and blood pressure are under stress from hypertension, it can lead to heart disease.
10. Salt Can Trigger Your Asthma
Asthma isn’t pleasant. For anyone who suffers from it, it can greatly reduce the quality of their life.
Asthma attacks can even be deadly if not properly treated quickly enough.
But while you might think you already know what triggers your asthma to flare up, there might be one irritant that’s gone under your radar – salt.
Stay happy and healthy!
