Get the Salt Out (22 page)

141
A whole grain, low-sugar muffin is better for your blood pressure
than a couple of slices of whole grain toast. Even if both the muffin and the toast have the same sodium
content, the sodium contained in most baked goods (sodium bicarbonate) is less “dangerous” to the body than the sodium chloride (or salt) found in bread. In both human and animal studies, researchers have found a greater increase in blood pressure among those receiving isodium chloride than among those receiving other forms of sodium like sodium bicarbonate. To raise blood pressure, you need both the sodium ion and the chloride ion, as in table salt. Sodium chloride raises blood volume, increases urinary excretion of calcium, and induces increases in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure—all of which can double or triple the risk of heart attack and stroke. For all of these reasons, a muffin is better for you than toast
as long as the muffin you eat is low in sugar.
(Too much sugar has been found to contribute to both high blood pressure and heart disease, just like too much salt.)

BONUS TIP:
If you need help reducing the sugar you consume in muffins and other foods, you may want to read my book
Get the Sugar Out,
which provides 501 tips on how to do exactly that.

142
Use mashed sweet vegetables and fruits—
like mashed sweet potato, winter squash, or applesauce—when you use sodium-rich leavening agents like baking soda and regular baking powder in baked goods. Mashed vegetables and fruits provide potassium, which counteracts the sodium content of the leavening agents. They also make muffins naturally sweet and moist. The following muffin recipe, from
Back to Health
by Dennis W. Remington, M.D., and Barbara W. Higa, R.D., uses high-potassium mashed banana in this way.
Two Salt Shakers.

Combine the dry ingredients [oats, oat bran, nuts, salt, and baking powder] in a bowl. Mix together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, honey, and milk. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and combine only until moistened. Fill 12 oiled or paper-lined muffin cups ⅔ full. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins.

143
Stay away from foods like toaster pastries, fruit turnovers, and danish pastries.
Although you may know that these foods are high in nutrient-depleting refined carbohydrates and sugar, you may not realize that they also are surprisingly high sources of sodium.

144
Make your own pancakes and waffles.
If you make homemade breakfast goodies instead of relying on high-sodium, highly processed mixes, you’ll eat much less sodium. According to
The Sodium Counter
(Pocket Books, 1993), three pancakes made from Aunt Jemima Whole Wheat Pancake and Waffle Mix contain a whopping 950 milligrams! The same number of pancakes made from scratch at home usually contains only a few hundred.

145
To reduce the sodium content of baked goods even
further,
use Featherweight or Cellu low-sodium baking powder in place of regular baking powder. The pancakes that follow are simple to make and nutritious but contain only 14 milligrams of sodium each. This recipe comes from
Salt: The Brand Name Guide to Sodium Content by
the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
One Salt Shaker.