Salt

I love salt. I always have. I grew up in a family that used salt on everything. I'm not exaggerating, either. My father salted watermelon. (It's delicious, you should really try it.Just a little, though. Keep your heat health in mind.) His father salted ice cream. We also used salt on tomatoes, carrots, green peppers and green apples.

When I took the heart health quiz yesterday, my sodium intake was one of the only things that I wasn't doing correctly for my heart. I have improved my salt intake over the last few months by eliminating most packaged foods from my diet. Most meals are made from scratch at home. I can't remember the last time I used the can opener. Probably for tuna.

Unfortunately, I am still getting salt from foods. I am probably doing better than most people, but need to work on improving it even more. Here are the results of the worst food for sodium.

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CDC officials were amazed that just 10 foods are responsible for 44 per cent of the sodium consumed.

According to the CDC, breads and rolls account for about 7 per cent of the salt that the average American eats in a day. Next on the list: cold cuts and cured meats; pizza; fresh and processed poultry; soups; fast-food hamburgers and sandwiches and cheese.

Rounding out the list — and accounting for about 3 per cent each — are spaghetti and other pasta dishes; meat loaf and other meat dishes and snacks such as potato chips and pretzels.

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Maybe I'm not doing as bad as I thought. I'll have to spend a day monitoring my salt intake to see if I'm overestimating my consumption.