High Salt & Sugar Diet

Sodium and sugar are not necessarily bad for you. Sodium helps regulate blood pressure, blood volume and fluids in your body and is necessary for nerve and muscle control. Sugar provides the energy necessary for operation of your brain and body. The problem is sodium and sugar have inundated the American diet and the excess of these tasty ingredients causes serious medical problems such as hypertension and heightened risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Sodium Requirements and Limits

Healthy adults should consume about 1,500 mg of sodium per day, according to the Institute of Medicine. You may need more sodium in your diet than others if you sweat more because of exercise or if you work or live in a hot environment. You should consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium a day, according to the Mayo Clinic. If you have kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or if you are black, middle-aged or older, you should consume no more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. Speak with your doctor if you are uncertain about how much sodium you should have in your diet.

Sources of Sodium

You may try to avoid adding salt to your food, but this alone may do less good than you think. According to Mayo Clinic, only 6 percent of sodium in Americans' diet comes from salt added while eating. Five percent is added during cooking, and 12 percent comes naturally from food such as meat, dairy and shellfish. A whopping 77 percent of the sodium in American's diet comes from processed and prepared foods.

High Sodium Diets

The steady inundation of processed and prepared foods into Americans' diet has resulted in an excess of sodium in the American diet. On average, American women eat 2,300 mg to 3,100 mg of sodium per day and American men eat 3,100 mg to 4,700 mg per day, according to Colorado State University Extension -- well above recommended levels. Concern over the well-established health consequences of a high-sodium diet has prompted lawmakers to consider legislation that may mandate the reduction of sodium contained in processed and prepared foods, according to Reuters.

High Sugar Diet and Health

Although salt has long been identified as contributing to hypertension and cardiac disease, sugar has been getting more scrutiny as a potential causal factor. For example, research reported at "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" and "Nature Reviews Nephrology" suggests that sugar, and particularly fructose, contributes to obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. The rise in fructose consumption in the American diet has paralleled the steady increase in the incidence of these conditions. Researchers hypothesize that an increase in uric acid caused by fructose may play a causal role in these various health conditions.

What to Do

Reduce the risks associated with excesses of sodium and sugar. Eat whole, fresh foods, including plenty of vegetables. Avoid processed and prepackaged foods and avoid high sodium foods such as bouillon, cured meats and soy sauce. When you do use canned, prepared or packaged foods, review the nutrition labels. Shop for foods that have no salt or sodium added. Use pepper, garlic and other spices instead of salt for seasoning.

As for sugar, avoid full-sugar soda and sweets but also become aware of sugar hidden in products. Avoid food with added sugar. Read nutrition labels and note how many grams of sugar are in each serving. You get 4 calories for each gram of sugar. A food with 30 g of sugar gives you 120 calories from sugar. The American Heart Association recommends women get no more than 100 calories from sugar each day and men get no more than 150 calories daily.