Heart Health: 8 ways to cut sodium from your kids' diets
Kids who eat high sodium diets are about 35 percent more likely to have elevated blood pressure than kids who eat lower sodium diets, according to the American Heart Association. How to cut back.
Posted — UpdatedSeveral weeks into the (traditional) school year, many of us are back into school year routines - and habits, including what we put in our kids lunch boxes.
That might seem like a lot, but it isn't. Once you add up the sugar from the syrupy waffles for breakfast, that flavored yogurt for lunch and a granola bar for snack, your child probably has reached the sugar limit - or surpassed it - for the day.
But it's important to cut back. Diets high in added sugars, such as honey, table sugar and fructose, during childhood are linked to obesity and elevated blood pressure in children and young adults, both risk factors for heart disease. In fact, according to the heart association, overweight children who keep eating and drinking products with added sugars are more likely to become insulin resistant and eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
Sugar, however, isn't the only culprit. According to the heart association, "kids who eat high sodium diets are about 35 percent more likely to have elevated blood pressure than kids who eat lower sodium diets. In addition to heart health, sodium impacts bone, brain, stomach, and kidney health."
The heart association recommends a limit of 1,500 mg of sodium a day for all Americans, including kids. But, according to the group, kids ages 2 to 19 eat more than double that - 3,100 mg per day - thanks to salt laden processed foods and snacks such as pizza, cold cuts and cheese.
The heart association offers these tips for a healthy back-to-school season:
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