It’s Salt’s Fault

I wasn’t exactly a healthy eater in my younger years, but because I was always active – from playing tag at morning and midday recess in grade school, to pick-up basketball, baseball and football games as I grew older – I never had problems with weight. Nevertheless, my after school diet of salty snacks and sugary soda left much to be desired.

Unlike technology and a host of other things that have changed since my youth, unfortunately, the snacks and drinks of choice for the average kid haven’t. Come to think of it, perhaps because of the advancement in technology youth have never been more sedentary than they are today.

Salty snacks, sugary sodas and sedentary Steves and Sarahs make for a lethal combination, primarily because one snack feeds off the other. Here’s what I mean:

According to a study performed by researchers from the University of London and St. George’s University, kids who tend to eat salty snacks tend to go to sugary, empty calorie sodas for refreshment (It’s no wonder I drank so much soda pop with my Pringles?). The researchers found this correlation after analyzing the diets of 1,600 kids, ages 4 to 18. What they found was that the more salt these kids consumed, the more likely they were to consume soda.

On the flip side, those whose diets were comparatively low in sodium tended to drink less soda.

Based on the researchers’ analysis, if children were to cut their sodium consumption in half, that would correspond to about a 250 calorie drop in overall calorie consumption (or about one 12 oz. bottle of Coca-Cola).

Now, if cutting sodium consumption in half sounds like a lot for a kid whose diet is saturated with sodium as it is, take it bit by bit. As the researchers say, even a gram’s worth drop in sodium consumption should result in a drop of fluid consumption of around 100 grams.

Of course, a drop in sodium consumption doesn’t absolutely guarantee a kid’s drop in soda consumption, but think about your drinking habits. Other than after a hard workout, the times we typically feel thirsty are after eating a lunch or dinner high in sodium, right (hopefully those are few and far between)? And since soda is the chug of choice for the average kid, a drop in sodium consumption should indeed lead to a drop in soda consumption. Further, this drop in soda consumption will naturally lead to fewer calories consumed through soda.

There are so many people I know that have lost pounds of weight simply by cutting back – or in the more preferable of instances, cutting back entirely – on soda. By helping your son or daughter kick the habit now, they’ll be that much better off later in life.

Now that I absolutely can guarantee.