I can still remember when I was a wee tyke, and my mom would take all day to cook a really good dinner. The first thing my dad would do was dump a load of salt onto it before he’d even tasted it. It just seemed like a ritual at the Moore house. "Taste it first," my mom would say and my dad would follow that up with "needs more salt." Are there any other families out there in a similar situation? Bet there are.

So what’s the big deal with salt? Plenty! Did you know that the average adult should take in less than 2,400 milligrams of salt per day? That equates to one teaspoon of salt. Measure it out—it’s a lot! Sodium (salt) makes the body hold on to fluid. The heart has to pump harder to move this extra fluid. If you are a person with a heart problem, you shouldn’t be putting your heart through this excessive stress.

If you have heart trouble, you should also know that too much salt can worsen symptoms such as swelling and shortness of breath. And oh my, the weight gain—whew! You really don’t want that! A recent study found out that people with heart problems should take in no more than 2,000 mg per day.

So, how can you be on guard and educate yourself about sodium intake? Well, first off, read labels. You may be shocked.

I went into our pantry and pulled out a 26 oz. family size can of cream of mushroom soup with about 6 servings per container. The sodium content for one serving is 880 mgs. If you add 1/2 cup of milk to the soup it adds another 60 mgs of sodium. Now remember, we’re trying to keep it at 2000 mgs a day. Seems almost impossible, doesn’t it? Well, here’s a list of the biggest sodium loaders in the food chain. Be very aware of foods like canned soup and dry soup mixes, some of these have 1500 mgs of sodium in a serving! Then come canned meat and canned fish: tuna, mackerel, sardines and even salmon. Next? Ham, bacon, and sausage–mmm–tasty and salty! Then come peanut butter and salted nuts. Another high sodium food is instant cooked cereal—who knew? Do you eat salted butter or margarine? Those are next on the list. After those? Deli items such as lunch meat and cheeses, followed by hot dogs. Then we have prepared mixed items like pancakes, muffins, and cornbreads. A big offender is TV dinners.

Ever buy those "mixes"—the taco, chili, spaghetti, gravy, and sauces in those little envelopes? Well they are loaded with salt. Then come your no-brainers—potato chips, pretzels, pickles and the like—add salad dressings, too. But a big offender of highly salted food is—believe it or not—fast food. No big shock there, huh? I sometimes feel we crave salt and grease. Just look at America’s waistlines, but that’s a story for another day.

So, what should we do? Well, how about when you grocery shop, you choose fresh fruits and veggies—no salt there! If you have to choose canned goods look for items that say low-sodium on the label. If you want to, you can rinse the canned veggies with water to cut the salt content even more.

Avoid salty tasting seasonings like soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, bullion cubes, chili sauces, and meat tenderizers. Try seasoning your food with lemons, limes, vinegars, and herbs instead.

Are you addicted to table salt? Want to limit it or get rid of it? Try using salt substitutes, take the salt shaker off the table and put it away, or just don’t cook with salt. That’s what I do, I never use salt when I am cooking.

Sodium is also in your medicine cabinet. Those bicarb or sodium carbonate items for heartburn are loaded with it.

Now, how about the meat that you buy at the supermarket? Seems the meat purveyors are now supplying the stores with meat that’s been injected with broth or saline enhancement (salt water). Read the label on the boneless, skinless chicken breasts and you will see that it’s been injected with salt water to—get this—tenderize the meat. Gee, looks like they inflate the weight by 15% to charge more for their product. Chicken is not the only item that’s being injected with salt water. Nick and I enjoy pork loins. Well, they’re injecting pork loin with 15% salt solution. Now, how are people on low-salt diets supposed to deal with that? Well, I asked the meat manager at one of our major food markets and she said that all of the boneless, skinless chicken breasts are injected and the pork loin, too. I voiced my displeasure but she said that they "had their hands tied—they all do it." So, Nick and I are buying chicken breasts with the bones in them. These are not injected. The pork loin? Pick up the pork sirloins, they’re not injected. So, please read the label. It makes all the difference for the health of you and your loved ones.

See you at the beach.