If you speak to one of the personal trainers at the many gyms in Brentwood, they’ll be eager to go over the details of setting up a healthy diet for you. They love to talk shop, and their purview is the human body: how to sculpt and how to fuel it. They can tell you about what foods will promote better Brentwood fitness, as well as which ones to avoid. But there are two subjects on which they might not necessarily agree, and licensed nutritionists don’t always agree on them either. Those are the subjects of salt and sugar. How much of these should be part of a healthy diet for the average adult?
A Contentious Topic
It is generally understood by Brentwood residents, and people living elsewhere as well, that too much sodium and too much sugar can be bad for you. Okay, fair enough, but how much is too much? It’s impossible to eliminate either salt or sugar from one’s diet completely. Many foods naturally contain sugar, including fruits, which are healthy for you because they are a natural source of antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins. Also, you should be getting some sodium in your diet. Sodium allows us to regulate our fluid balance, so we do not become dehydrated, and it also sends nerve impulses throughout our bodies.
Salt
But as to how much sugar and salt cross the line into being harmful to us, it’s tough to get a reliable answer from anyone in Brentwood who is supposed to be an authority on this matter. There are some who will say that you should be eating no more than 2,300 mg per day. On average, Americans consume much more than that, 3,400 mg, according to some estimates. This is mainly due to all of the salt in processed foods that is needed as a preservative to keep it fresh.
You probably know that too much salt can contribute to high blood pressure, and this burdens your heart. If you eat an excess of salt, you might be at higher risk for heart attack or stroke. However, what about the American who has eaten considerably more than the recommended 2,300 mg per day during their lives, and they live well into their 80s or 90s? Such situations are hardly rare.
Sugar
How much sugar is bad for you is even harder to pin down. Men are supposed to eat no more than nine teaspoons of sugar a day, while for women it’s six. But this changes when you look at men and women of different body sizes. Also, from a fitness standpoint, while a nutritionist will tell you that adding sugar to things is unhealthy, the fact that so-called healthy foods sometimes contain quite a bit of sugar naturally further muddies the waters.
Ultimately, residents of Brentwood might not want to get so bogged down in the numbers game. Instead, they should merely concentrate on eating healthy, and the rest will sort itself out. Presumably, the sugar from an apple or an orange will serve you much better than that from a bag of Skittles. As for salt, if you stay away from processed foods and eat natural ones like whole grains, nuts, organic lean meats, and vegetables, then your sodium consumption is going to be much less. You don’t have to be a fanatic regarding this stuff. Just use a little bit of common sense with your food choices, and you should be fine.
