Holistic Solutions - Nutrition and Lifestyle Counseling

In our busy helter skelter lives we are all eating on the run and eating out more. We’re all getting more conscious about our food choices: calories, fat content, trans fats and sodium. Following is the sodium content of some of your favorite fast foods. 

WARNING; the following statistics are SCARY! 

Burger King Enormous Omelet Sandwich: 1,940 mg. salt
Pizza Hut 4 All Individual Meat Lovers Pizza: 2,150 mg. salt
Cosi Individual Pepperoni Flatbread Pizza: 2,731 mg. salt
Macaroni Grill Chicken Parmesan Lunch: 2,030 mg. salt
Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Foot Long: 2,400 mg.salt
McDonald’ Kids 6 piece Chicken McNugget Meal with fries & 8 ounces of 1% milk 940 mg. salt
KFC Chicken and Biscuit Bowl: 2,420 mg. salt
Quiznos Tuna Melt, regular: 1,535 mg. salt 
Auntie Anne’s Glazin’ Raisin without butter: 460 mg. salt
Auntie Anne’s Original Pretzel: 930 mg. salt  Let’s put this into perspective. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 mg. of sodium per day while The Institute of Medicine is urging us to eat only 1,500 mg. A recent study posted by the British Medical Journal concluded that a 25 to 35 percent decrease in dietary salt cut cardiovascular risk by 25 percent.  Prepared or processed foods, ingredients that mean lots of salt include but are not limited to monosodium glutamate (MSG), baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), baking powder, (disodium phosphate found in some quick-cooking cereals), sodium alginate (often used in ice cream), sodium nitrate (used in cured meats), sodium benzoate (used as a preservative in many sauces and salad dressings), sodium propionate and others.   Is this frightening?   Please DON’T pass the salt.  

Dr. Rob, syndicated columnist  Bucks County Courier Times August 15, 2008