Learning More About Nutrition - Sodium the Silent

Yesterday we talked about the importance of having a good mindset about your weight and your weight loss goals. Today, we're going to talk about nutrition. Most of us are pretty well trained to look at two things on a label - calories and fat grams. We pay little attention to the rest of the fine print, but this information is very important.

Let's start by breaking down what you'll be reading on these labels. We'll be doing this over the course of a few days so that everything can be covered properly. We'll start with sodium levels, since this is an area that causes a lot of problems for many dieters.

The daily recommended amount of sodium for any adult is 2400 mg. If you are getting too much sodium, you can end up with excess water retention, headaches and in some cases, high blood pressure. Too little sodium is also not recommended and can cause serious health complications.

Now that you know how much sodium you actually need, spend one day adding this figure up for anything that you eat. You might be surprised at just how much sodium is in something like ice cream, or even in canned goods. Your goal is to get as close to 2400 mg a day.

Take the sodium challenge and find out where you stand!