As you will probably notice from watching the myriad of (or just myriad, as you prefer) cooking shows on television, chefs tend to use a generous hand when salting their dishes. I do, too. Do you? My daughter says she can’t seem to duplicate my most delicious dishes – and thinks it’s mainly because she doesn’t put enough salt in them.
Read an article this morning entitled “The Great Salt Divide” on MedPage Today. They interviewed a number of doctors and nutritionists on the role of salt, especially for children, in overall health. Some experts spouted the usual bromides about consuming less. One made an interesting observation about the potassium-salt balance being an issue:
“In fact, more recently it has been shown that not only is too much salt dangerous but too little salt may also be a concern. Plus, those to [sic] eat too much sodium may not eat enough potassium. Potassium levels that are too low are associated with more adverse cardiac outcomes.”
People. listen to your doctor if you are at risk. But I submit the following information for your consideration:
Selected items of nutrition in a 1 oz. serving of potato chips:
- Total sodium: 220 mg
- Total potassium: 320 mg
Doesn’t that look like a nicely balanced food? Incidentally, corn chips don’t provide this genial balance.
The government says adults need 4.7 grams (4700 mg) of potassium a day. If my math is right, that means the chips have almost 7% of your daily requirement. That banana you were virtuously thinking about eating offers only just under 9%! A shockingly small difference, isn’t it?
And the recommended level of sodium is 2300 mg per day, which makes the chips not even 10% of that.
Now, since yogurt is also high in potassium, make a dip with it. Greek nonfat tastes great, but regular, full-fat yogurt is measurably higher in potassium (same with milk, by the way). My favorite dip is spicy – plain nonfat Greek yogurt with a generous squirt of sriracha. Dip away – and voila! You’re upping your potassium nicely with your salty chips.
I’m just kidding. This is a food column, not a nutrition source.
And I really do love my chips ‘n’ dip.
