Live healthy, cut the salt

AUBURN - Common table salt, once a rare commodity, is now often overlooked as a high-risk heart health factor.

Salt is the most common seasoning added to foods. Many people prefer to add more salt when the food is already prepared and on the plate. Often, salt cannot be seen when shaken, and the recommended three teaspoons of dietary salt intake is consumed in just one meal.

According to Becky Crawford, community nutrition educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County, one grilled chicken sandwich from McDonald's contains 1,600 milligrams of salt, and one triple thick vanilla milkshake, also from McDonald's contains 866 milligrams of salt. That alone is the recommended daily limit, she said.