Should You Try The Paleo Diet?

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With so many diet trends out there, it's hard to decide which are fads and which are actually worth trying. Take the Paleo diet for example. Is it good for weight loss, or even healthy? I’m Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien, and I’m here to break down the Paleo Diet.

This author can pick some great topics. The Paleo Diet is very popular right now and you should understand it before you try it.

What Exactly Is the Paleo Diet?

You’ve probably heard of the trendy Paleo Diet, and you may know that subscribing to this type of diet means you’re supposed to eat like a caveman.

But let's get specific. "The diet bans any food that was unavailable during the Stone Age", which includes everything from processed foods and refined sugar to dairy products, grains, white potatoes, salt, and legumes. That leaves grass-fed meat, (includes poultry) and seafood, fruits and veggies, eggs, nuts, seeds, and naturally occurring oils (like olive and coconut).

So, is it healthy? As with most diets, the answer isn’t as simple as “yes” or “no.” There are definitely good-for-you aspects, but there are also arguments against it.

Pros of Paleo

Some principles of the plan are definitely a step in the right direction, especially for people who subsist on a diet of junk food. Cutting out processed foods is certainly a good idea, and cutting back on refined sugar and salt is a healthy move. Natural protein, fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds are all staples of a smart eating plan.

In terms of weight loss, the elimination of starchy carbs like pasta, rice, and white potatoes can help you to reduce your calorie intake.

 The Paleo crowd was among the first to embrace trends like making rice out of cauliflower and turning zucchini into pasta. Both of those techniques are calorie-saving Hungry Girl favorites!

Cons of the Paleo Diet

Certain parts of the diet are pretty extreme. Going full-on Paleo means you’re nixing all whole grains, beans, and dairy products.

Some experts say it’s too restrictive and that the diet is ultimately unbalanced. Another problem with the diet is that it's just plain unrealistic for some people. The total exclusion of major food groups and types of food makes it difficult to follow on a daily basis. Following the Paleo diet can be very expensive and time-consuming if you’re strict. You have to prepare all of your food from scratch to make sure you’re not eating anything from the no-no list.

From a weight-loss perspective, simply following a Paleo Diet won't necessarily result in the number on the scale going down. The basics of weight loss come down to calories in versus calories out, and there are plenty of high-calorie foods on the Paleo diet: nuts, oil, and certain cuts of meat, for example. While those are fine in moderation, it's easy to overdo your calorie consumption when your choices are limited.

So, Should You Do It?

If the idea behind the Paleo diet sounds good and you want to give it a try, go for it! However, I’d recommend you also incorporate the following concepts:

• Choose lean cuts of meat and poultry. Red meat in particular, can be very caloric if you don't pick the right cuts. Follow guidelines and top tips for meat eating. When it comes to chicken and turkey, white meat is a better bet than dark, and ditching the fatty skin is always a good idea.
• Practice portion control. Paleo staples like nuts, seeds, and oil are very calorie dense, which means small servings contain a lot of calories. Use measuring spoons and a food scale to make sure you're not overdoing it. Pay attention to portion control pointers that really help. 
• Track your calories. Whether you're trying to lose weight or simply maintain, keeping an eye on your calorie count is the way to go. In fact, keeping a food journal is one of my top recommendations when it comes to weight loss or maintenance.  

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonlosingweight.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There are two books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon

Getting Older and Gaining Weight

When I was in my 20s, I believed that aging was a natural process that one should let happen, naturally. Why should people cover their gray or try to 'stay cool' by wearing hip clothes? They should just let things happen without fighting it. Twenty-something years later, I suddenly understand that the 'natural process of getting older' is like take a long walk off a short pier. There are some things we can't control as we get older, but one thing we can do something about is our weight. Our bodies may change, but there is something we can do about weight gain.

Why We Gain Weight As We Age

Most people think that gaining weight and getting older go hand in hand, but the reason we gain weight isn't just about getting older, it's about how our habits change. Many of us gain weight because we:

Become more sedentary (we are less active)
Don't lift weights to maintain muscle mass (your muscles get flabby)
While there are some elements we can't control, most of the weight gain that comes with aging can be avoided with a little exercise and improved eat habits.

What You Can Do

The main reason for muscle loss, which lowers metabolism, is that we often spend way too much time sitting - we sit at work, we sit when we watch TV and we sit when we play around on the computer. If we spend too much time doing that when we're younger, it's that much harder to stop doing that when we get older. It follows that being active and lifting weights will help preserve your muscle and increase your bone density while maintaining a higher metabolism.

GET STARTED NOW
Before you get started, see your doctor, especially if you're on any medications or have any pain or injuries you're dealing with. Once you've got clearance to exercise, you can follow this basic approach to getting in shape:

Cardio Exercise: Choose any activity you enjoy or think you might enjoy with some practice like swimming, walking or cycling and try to do that activity at least 3 days a week. Start with what you can handle and gradually add time each week until you can do 30 minutes of continuous activity. More about Cardio for Beginners.

Lift weights: Strength training may be one of the most important parts of your exercise program. You'll build muscle and strength while also working on important areas like balance, stability, and flexibility - all things that tend to decline with age. Learn more about how to get started.

Watch Your Diet: The most important aspect of managing your weight is your diet. Keeping track of your calories and sticking with healthy eating at least most of the time can help you avoid too much weight gain as you get older. Learn more about weight loss for older adults.

Be realistic: As you get older, it will take longer to lose weight, so it helps to focus on the process - getting your workouts in and eating as healthfully as possible. Do that and your body will respond in its own time.

If you find it hard to start or stick with an exercise program, motivate yourself by remembering what you do for your health when you exercise: you feel better, you look better, you reduce your chances of heart disease and diabetes and, best of all, you're doing what your body was meant to do: moving around.

You can tweet me at #ray0369

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonlosingweight.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/couponThere’s two ebooks. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

Eating Fewer Calories Can Help You Live Longer

Researchers have concluded that a calorie-restricted diet does help us live longer, healthier lives. But age, diet, and sex must all be factored in to realize the full benefits of lower caloric intake.

I wrote about this in a post last year. It's been proven over and over, in many different studies, that over indulging in high-calorie foods can shorten your life.

This is just one more reason why we should be eating fresh foods and not eat man-made foods. Two-thirds of all the food we eat every day should be fruits and vegetables. We should not be drinking anything with calories including milk or any other dairy. As a matter of fact, when you're trying to lose fat, you shouldn't eat or drink any dairy. Some doctors will say that plain Greek yogurt is the only exception.

If you stick to eating fresh and stop drinking calories, cutting back or avoid red meat and any type of tube meat, you shouldn't have to count calories. Fresh fruits and vegetables are low in calories. You can eat white meat chicken or turkey and seafood. Stay away from starchy vegetables at the beginning but after a few weeks, potatoes and corn in moderation are okay.

Following this type of diet should cut your calories to less than 2000 a day and over a couple of months you should see results. Don't worry about the scale too much, measure your waist, hips, and thighs to see if your diet is working. 

If you like to follow a diet program, the DASH diet might be for you. This is the meal plan that has won an award again this year for the best and healthiest diet of 2016. Get some information on this diet from the internet and if you think this is for you then try it a few months. Changing your diet won't give you quick results. This diet doesn't restrict food. You won't be hungry, but it is a diet of fresh foods. If you're use to processed foods, you will have food cravings for a couple weeks. This diet doesn't have sugar in the food so your body will crave sugar for a while. After a week or so the cravings will go away. It's not a quick weight loss plan so be patient until your body adjusts to your new diet.

You'll become a happier, healthier person. 

You can tweet me at #ray0369

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.
gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonlosingweight.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.
There are two books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon

The Mysteries of Weight Loss

So you’re finally ready to lose weight. Now the question is: How?

The standard advice -- to eat less and move more -- isn’t so helpful when it comes to the “how.” You probably know you need to cut calories, but how many? Are you better off getting those calories from low-fat or low-carb foods? And what’s going on with your metabolism, your personal energy-burning furnace? Is it programmed to keep you overweight? Is there any way to fan the flames so you can dream of one day eating a piece of pie without gaining a pound?

Even science is still stumped on many of the basic questions of weight loss.

“Amazingly, in this era of obesity, there are still many things that we really don’t know,” says Robin Callister, PhD, professor of human physiology at the University of Newcastle in Australia.

Here’s what we do know about some of the most persistent mysteries of weight loss.

Do You Have to Cut 3,500 Calories to Lose a Pound?

The idea that dieters need to cut this many calories -- with diet, exercise or both -- to lose 1 pound of weight comes from an influential scientific paper published in 1958. Max Wishnofsky, MD, a doctor who lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., tried to sum up everything we knew about how calories are stored by the body. He concluded that when the body is in a steady caloric state -- meaning it isn’t fasting or starving -- extra calories will be stored as fat, and it would take 3,500 extra calories to create a pound of fat. In that same steady state, he also said it would take a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose a pound of weight. For decades, the “Wishnofsky Rule” has been math that determined dieters live by.

The trouble is that it’s wrong.

The 3,500-calorie rule doesn’t work because the body adjusts to weight loss. It quickly decreases the number of calories it needs to maintain its new, lighter size, says Corby Martin, PhD, director of the Ingestive Behavior Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA. That means weight loss slows down over time. People who expect to drop a pound for every 3,500 calories they cut will soon become frustrated when the scale doesn’t cooperate.

Let’s say a dieter knows they need to eat 2,500 calories a day to maintain their current weight. But they want to slim down. So they decide to shave 500 calories off their daily intake. According to the Wishnofsky Rule, after about a week of doing that, they should lose a pound.

“For the first week or two, the 3,500 calorie-per-pound rule kind of works, roughly, but after the first couple of weeks it doesn’t work,” Martin says.

Here’s why: In 3 or 4 weeks, you need less food to maintain that new, slimmer shape. I know you only lost a couple pounds and if you might only have to lose 10 pounds, you're going to plateau several times. The problem with this formula is that we don't have the same food today that we had in 1958. Believe me, I was there, I just started high school. In those days farmers did use pesticides to control bugs but we didn't chemical engineer our food like we do today. It's chemical engineered food that will cause food addiction and furthermore cause obesity.

Forget cutting back on the food your eating; you have to go back to eating fresh foods. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, it's best to buy organic. Ration the red meat your eating; it's marbled with fat and it's causing you to increase your body fat. Seafood and chicken or turkey are a better choice. Never eat tube meat or any other processed or manufactured food. If you don't eat foods that add to your body fat, your body will burn the stored fat you have.

Are All Calories Equal?

Fujioka counsels his patients to pay attention to how alcohol affects their eating.

“Some folks, when they drink alcohol, feel like they have license to eat whatever they want to, and they get into problems,” he says.

If a glass of wine weakens your will to resist that plate of cheese and crackers, it’s not doing your waistline any favors.

But if booze doesn’t affect your eating, then one or two drinks is probably OK, he says.

As for calories from fat, carbohydrates, and protein, this is where one size, or one eating plan, really doesn’t fit all.

There is good science to show that people who have high blood sugar levels -- associated with conditions like type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, gestational diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and fatty liver disease -- benefit from diets that are lower in refined carbohydrates and higher in healthy fats and lean proteins. Examples of this kind of diet are South Beach, the Zone diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the low GI diet.

If insulin levels aren’t a concern, there’s little difference in the amount of weight people lose if they cut their calories from fat or from carbs, says Kevin Hall, PhD, a senior investigator and expert in metabolism at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, MD. But he says protein calories are a different story.

In the lab, researchers have shown that higher-protein diets tend to increase the number of calories a person burns, Hall says. “So in that sense, a protein calorie is not equivalent to a carbohydrate or a fat calorie,” he says.

Protein helps you burn more calories during the day and helps preserve muscle. When people lose weight, they don’t just lose fat -- they also lose muscle. The more muscle you lose on a diet, the more your metabolism slows. That can make it tough to keep the weight off down the road. Protein also helps you feel satisfied for longer after your eat.

But people can eat only so much protein without changing their kidney function. U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that adults keep their protein in a range of 10% to 35% of total calories each day. Most diets fall into that range. Atkins, for example, one of the highest protein diets around, supplies 35% of daily calories from protein.

Weight loss is a mystery to some of us because we don't know how we gain the excess body fat, so we don't know what we have to do to lose the fat. Most of us think if we can just lose some weight the fat will disappear, but it doesn't work that way and that's why most of us give up trying.

Losing body fat should be your goal. Read up on weight loss and losing body fat. It doesn’t cost money to lose weight. The internet is full of free information. But the quickest way and cheapest way is to buy an ebook online and get everything you need in one short read. I have two ebooks on Amazon:

How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight

Getting To A Healthy Weight

Check out one of them, I think you can find all the info you need and plenty of tips on how I lost my body fat. 

Look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find these e-books. These books give you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my books at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Why Am I Sleepy After Lunch?

As you return to your work after eating lunch, you may wonder: Why am I so sleepy? Whether you use words like drowsiness, sleepiness, tiredness, or fatigue to describe this mid-afternoon lull, why does it occur? Well, it may actually relate to a natural dip in the circadian rhythm.

It is normal to feel a little sleepy after eating lunch. Some people may mistakenly think that it relates to the consumption of food.

In particular, some believe that there is a significant shift in blood flow from the brain to the stomach or gastrointestinal tract to aid in digestion. Although this sounds plausible, it doesn’t really make that much sense. If this were the case, why wouldn’t we feel just as sleepy after eating a large breakfast or after dinner? The truth is that this sleepiness is unrelated to meals and is due to another cause.

Others may argue that there are elements within food that cause sleepiness. For example, there are minuscule levels of the hormone called melatonin. Although melatonin has an important role in the timing of sleep, the low levels within food are unlikely to have any significant effect. There are some other foods that might make you feel a little sleepy, most notably turkey and foods that contain tryptophan. In addition, drinking alcohol may cause drowsiness. In most cases, this is not what contributes to feeling sleepy after lunch, however.

In fact, it has little to do with the food eaten (or that eating has occurred at all). Instead, it has more to do with the natural timing of an increased propensity towards sleep. There are two phenomena that contribute to this: the homeostatic sleep drive and the circadian rhythm. The sleep drive is due to the gradual build-up of a chemical within the brain called adenosine.

The longer that a person stays awake, the more adenosine accumulates, leading to an increased desire for sleep. This reaches its peak right before bedtime, but it is also higher in the afternoon compared to the morning.

The second process that contributes indirectly to sleepiness is the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is actually the pattern of an alerting signal. It increases throughout the day to keep us awake and counteract the increasing levels of adenosine. There is a shoulder or dip in this pattern in the early afternoon, typically 7-9 hours after waking up. When the alerting signal dips, the underlying sleepiness shows itself, and we feel sleepy.

Although feeling drowsy after lunch can be explained, there may be times when we are too sleepy. If we experience sleep deprivation, this after lunch sleepiness can be more pronounced. In addition, sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea may make this worse.

To counteract the sleepiness that occurs in the early afternoon, you can try using caffeine or even take a short 10-20 minute nap.

Fortunately, if you tough it out, this period will pass and you will find that you feel more alert again in a matter of hours.

I will have that trouble on weekends, probably because I eat more for lunch when I'm not working, but when I'm working, I always finish lunch with a cup of coffee or black tea. I find that what I eat will make a difference in my work after lunch. Eat lite and no fatty foods and you might do better after lunch. Yes, eating fatty or fried foods for lunch might be your problem. Try changing to a lite lunch, low-carbs and low-fat and see if there is any difference.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?”, is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

Why We Give-Up on Exercise

How many times have you given up on exercise? If you're like most of us, probably more times than you can count. There are plenty of reasons we find it hard to stick to an exercise program. Sometimes we give up for reasons beyond our control - An illness, for example, or an injury. Sometimes there's no particular reason. One minute we're exercising and patting ourselves on the back for it and, next thing you know, that 10 pounds is back and so is the guilt and frustration.

There's always a reason we give up and there are key moments that can happen in any exerciser's life to watch out for. These moments can create so much frustration, so much self-doubt, you may feel like you have no choice but to quit. However, it's often during these hard moments that you need to keep going.

Find out why you give up on exercise and what you can do about it.

You Give Up Because You're Not Losing Weight
If you exercise to lose weight, it's not terribly surprising that you expect to lose weight. And perhaps you even have realistic weight loss goals, say losing a pound or so a week.

However, you may notice a strange thing when you start an exercise program, a period of time where you may not lose any weight. The fact that it's quite common doesn't make it any easier to swallow. What's the point if you're not even getting results?

The point is that you're getting in shape, that's the point and you will lose weight but you have to change the foods you're eating. You can eat to gain fat or you can eat to lose fat. The exercise program may only be keeping you from gaining more body fat and not losing fat.

Why You Shouldn't Give Up

You may think this is the best time to give up, but this is precisely the moment to keep going and there are a bunch of reasons why. You may be losing inches instead of scale weight, which means you are getting results, just in a different way. Or your scale may be lying to you and not telling you the whole story. And don't forget, it's hard to lose weight. Think about this, is it weight you really want to lose or is it your body fat. It's not the same thing. When I first started my weight loss journey, I lost 30 pounds that year and I was still fat. What Happened, I want to give up.

But let's boil it down to the most important reason to keep going: Because sometimes you just have to keep doing it before you know how things will turn out. So, if you're in this situation, what if you could let go of weight loss for now and just let yourself do it? Let yourself exercise the best way you know how and let your body respond because it will in its own way. It may not be the way you envision, but it will respond if given enough time, consistency and attention to your sleep, stress management, workouts and, of course, your eating habits.

And keep in mind, there are things you can do if you're not losing weight such as take a look at your diet or hire a trainer or a dietitian to help you figure it out.

The big question is, how much time? The real answer is that it takes as long as it takes and weight loss will be different from person to person, depending on everything from genes and hormones to age and gender. My answer, based on personal experience with myself and my clients, is more like 3-6 months, sometimes up to a year depending on how much you have to lose and how long you have carried the extra weight. Remember that most of us need lots of practice to get a consistent workout program down and most of us will fail a few times along the way. A one-hour workout can burn 300 calories or more, but it can also only burn 100 calories if you're not doing the right type of workout.

Not losing weight is bad enough, but gaining weight after starting an exercise program can be downright horrifying. This is more common than you think and no one would blame you for having a knee-jerk response and quitting altogether. However, once again, this isn't the time to give up, no matter what the scale, or your mind, might be telling you. You can always change what you're doing or learn more about what to expect when you start a weight loss program, but what you can't do? Is give up.

If the scale is going up, that doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. In fact, if you're doing cardio, strength training and you're tracking your calories - As in actually calculating how many calories you're eating - there's a very good chance you're on the right track, no matter what the scale is telling you. You may be gain muscle and because muscle weighs more than fat, the scale will go up temporarily.

Forget the scale, and start to measure inches. You can measure several different parts of your body once a week to see if you are going in the right direction. Check the internet for websites that can help you do measurements. It's the old school way of calculating progress. Your pants don't lie. And when you can wear a smaller size or you have lots of room in your pants, your making progress. Don't worry so much about what the scale says. It might take three months of hard work before you see any results. Remember that your diet is 80% of weight loss and your goal is to lose fat.

Get my latest ebook to help you in your weight loss journey.

You can tweet me at #ray0369

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonlosingweight.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/couponThere’s two ebooks. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

Why is There so Much Sodium in Processed Foods?

People who need to cut back on their sodium are almost always told to cut back on processed foods, even foods that may not seem salty. That's because sodium is frequently used as a preservative and flavoring for many processed foods, either as salt or a component of special food additives.

You notice I don't say "salt". Salt is sodium, but there's more to sodium than salt, so it doesn't have to taste salty to have a lot of sodium.

Sodium as a Preservative

Using salt as a food additive is nothing new. In fact, it's been used as a preservative for centuries.

Salt is made up of sodium and chloride ions that reduce something called the water activity of foods. The water activity is the amount of water that's available for supporting bacteria growth or allowing other chemical reactions to take place.

Salt might also draw water out of any bacteria present, which kills them or, at least, slows them down quite a bit. In addition, salt enhances fermentation, which can be used as another technique for preserving foods.

Salt is an effective preservative on its own, but sometimes additional chemicals are necessary. Some of them work just like salt does to change the water activity, but others work by altering the chemical reactions that would typically result in spoiled foods and rancid fats. 

Sodium-containing preservatives include:

• disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
• sodium acetate
• sodium ascorbate
• sodium benzoate
• sodium diacetate
• sodium erythorbate
• sodium lactate

• sodium nitrate
• sodium nitrite
• sodium phosphates
• sodium propionate
• sodium sulfite

You'll find these chemicals in a variety of foods including salad dressings, canned foods, baked goods, cured meats, canned meats, cheese, jams, jellies and fruit fillings. Look at the ingredients listed on the packages.

Sodium as a Flavor Enhancer

Salt is a flavor enhancer that you probably use in your cooking or at the table.

But that accounts for just a small amount of the average daily intake of sodium -- less than 25 percent. You can use table salt and still stay under the recommended daily sodium intake of 1,500 to 2,400 milligrams as long as you avoid other sodium-containing ingredients.

Some flavorings that don't contain salt still contain large amounts of sodium. Monosodium glutamate strengthens your perception of the umami flavor found in savory foods like meat and fish. Sodium acetate is another flavor enhancer that is only slightly salty in taste, but it appears to suppress bitter flavors in foods, so it enhances the perception of sweet flavors. Soy sauce is also used as a flavor-enhancing ingredient, and it's extremely high in sodium.

Watching Your Sodium Intake

Look for sodium on the Nutrition Facts label. Even 'reduced sodium' foods can still contain more sodium than you expect. Sodium is listed is milligrams per serving, and that may not mean the whole package. If you eat a whole can of chicken soup, you're really eating two or three servings, so make sure you account for all the sodium.

Common processed foods that are high in sodium include:

• baked goods (including bread and buns)
• processed cheese 
• lunch meats, bacon, and sausage
• pasta meals like mac and cheese in a box or spaghetti in a can
• pizza (frozen or fresh)
• snack foods such as chips and even some crackers
• soup (canned, or powdered)
• sauces and gravies
• packaged rice and pasta side dishes

If you're trying to lose weight too much sodium will keep you from losing weight. 

You can tweet me at #ray0369

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonlosingweight.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There’s two ebooks. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon