If you’re like me, you worry that you’re feeding your kids too much processed junk, concerned about all the chemicals and preservatives and ingredients you can’t pronounce. I’m constantly reading labels and get that icky, guilty feeling whenever I spring for the break-and-bake cookies or the technicolor Avengers Popsicles. It turns out though that one of the biggest hits to our kids’ diets is the amount of sodium in their food. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 9 out of 10 kids consume more sodium than is recommended, and 1 out of 6 has elevated blood pressure. And it’s not like all of that salt is coming out of the shaker. Nope, more than 75 percent of our sodium intake comes from restaurant meals and processed foods.
The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 mgs a day of sodium, but the average kid is consuming around 3,100 mgs a day. Yikes!
To help reduce the amount of sodium your kids eat, The AHA suggests reading labels and choosing the options with less sodium. Also, look for packaged products that are labeled “low sodium” or “no salt added.” When cooking, limit the amount of salt that you add to your foods, so your kids don’t develop a taste for super-salty fare. Feed them plenty of foods with potassium, which apparently offsets the effects of sodium, like potatoes, bananas, cantaloupe, tomatoes, greens, and beans. Finally, know which foods are the biggest offenders. We’ve rounded up some of the most common high sodium favorites to get you started.
More Nutrition Tips:
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Kid Favorites with a Shocking Amount of Sodium
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Cheese Slices
While cheese slices and sticks are loaded with healthy calcium, just one slice or one string cheese can be anywhere between 200 and 300 mgs of sodium.
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Cold Cuts
Just two ounces of oven roasted turkey slices are about 540 mg of sodium. Stick it between two slices of bread, and that's more than half the recommended amount of sodium for the day.
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Frozen Pizza
Sure, your kids love pizza, but just one serving of a freezer brand can be anywhere between 650-850 mgs of sodium.
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Hot Dogs
It's no shocker that franks are going to be loaded with sodium. Just how much? Almost 500 mgs for one dog.
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Mac 'n' Cheese
This is a staple of most kids' diets, but one cup of the cheesy treat has about 570 mg of sodium.
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Whole Wheat Bread
Just two slices of even seemingly healthy wheat bread contains about 370 mg of sodium, and that's before you even add the cold cuts, mayo and cheese.
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Crackers
While most of their crunchy snack foods do contain about 200 to 300 mg of sodium, it's still surprisingly less than many of the culprits above. Still, the salty snacks should probably be limited as well.
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Pretzels
And yes, pretzels fall into the high-sodium salty snacks category, too.
Photo: Getty
