Guilty was the verdict and Jack confessed.

He snacked on a small bag of delicious H-E-B brand potato chips Monday evening after such a healthy day of eating.

So how much sodium is in the average small bag of chips? In his bag, H-E-B noted 170 mg (with 150 calories). We looked at the sodium content in a small bag of chips of three leading brands: Lay’s (170mg), Ruffles (160mg), and Kettle Brand (210mg).

By taking the average of these three, we estimate that the average small bag of chips has about 178mg of salt. Here’s how other popular foods compare:

🔹One serving of Bumble Bee White Crabmeat has 260mg of sodium.

Buy the Solid White Albacore Tuna In Water with more protein and 140mg of sodium.

🔹Canned, packaged, and restaurant-prepared soups often pack a lot of sodium, though you can find reduced-sodium options for some canned varieties.

On average, canned soup has 700 mg of sodium, or 30% of the Recommend Daily Intake, per 1-cup (245-gram) serving.

Here’s a tip to save costs and reduce sodium intake: Just add rice and water to any can of soup to double or triple it for almost free. Note: This same hack can be used on other high sodium consumables like tomato sauces, chili, etc.

🔹Making a sandwich? Two slices of Oroweat’s Whole Wheat bread contains 270mg of sodium. Instead, try an Oroweat Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin Roll with just 170mg.

🔹Ham is full of salt. A 3-ounce (85-gram) serving of roasted ham averages 1,117 mg of sodium, or 48% of the RDI.

🔹One Serving of Grape-Nuts Original Cereal has 270mg of sodium so opt for Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds with 135mg instead.

🔹Instant Pudding. A 25-gram portion of instant vanilla pudding mix — used to make a 1/2-cup serving — has 350 mg of sodium, or 15% of the RDI.

🔹Jerky. A 1-ounce (28-gram) serving of beef jerky packs 620 mg of sodium, or 27% of the RDI.

🔹A serving size of V8 Original Vegetable Juice contains a whopping 640mg of sodium but the V8’s Purple Power Veggie Blend contains just 100mg instead. Some brands offer low-sodium versions, which means they can have no more than 140 mg of sodium per serving according to FDA rules.

🔹One Serving of Organic Valley’s Cottage Cheese contains 450mg of sodium so replace it with a Grassmilk Plain Yogurt which contains 120mg per serving. Note that one study found that rinsing cottage cheese under running water for 3 minutes, then draining it, reduces sodium content by 63%.

🔹Pizza. Yikes!A large, 140-gram slice of store-bought, frozen pizza averages 765 mg of sodium, or 33% of the RDI. A restaurant-prepared slice of the same size packs even more — averaging 957 mg of sodium, or 41% of the RDI.

Jack and I agree that since going as salt free as possible, we’ve noticed the original tastes of vegetables, fruits and other food are far more naturally flavorful.

SALT FACTS

🔹Salt is an essential part of a healthy diet. It helps our nerves and muscles function properly and help us control blood pressure and volume. But too much may lead to hypertension, a leading cause of heart disease and stroke. The FDA recommends no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, but Jack aims for under 1,000 at home.

🔹The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for sodium of 2,300 mg — is about 1 teaspoon of salt.

🔹Table salt, known chemically as sodium chloride, is made up of 40% sodium.

🔹It’s estimated that at least half of people with hypertension have blood pressure that’s affected by sodium consumption — meaning they’re salt sensitive. In addition, your risk for salt sensitivity increases with age.

🔹The average daily sodium intake in the United States is 3,400 mg — much higher than the recommended upper limit.

This mainly comes from packaged and restaurant foods, rather than from overusing your salt shaker.

Thanks for supporting independent true journalism with a small tip. Dodie & Jack

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From award-winning Texas author Cynthia Leal Massey.