Helping Your Loved One Shake the Salt Habit
June 17, 2025
Sodium is an important nutrient in a person’s diet, and it has many health benefits. Most of the sodium in our diet comes from salt, which is a great flavor enhancer and helps to preserve many foods. It is also one of the food products that gets the most grief because it’s not uncommon for many people to enjoy a diet that is overloaded with salt and then suffer from the negative health effects of too much sodium.
Three Health Benefits of Sodium
Before we talk about the dangers of too much sodium, let’s take a quick minute to recognize the important part that a healthy amount of sodium plays in keeping the body healthy.
- Sodium reduces the risk of dehydration by helping the body retain its fluid levels. Too low sodium levels can quickly lead to dehydration.
- Proper sodium levels reduce the risk of falling. When sodium levels are too low in the blood, your loved one may experience neurological and cognitive impairments that will affect his gait and his ability to react appropriately if he is thrown off balance.
- Sodium is needed to prevent low blood pressure, in which a person may feel faint or experience dizziness.
One Major Health Risk Associated with Too Much Sodium
Having too much sodium in the diet is much more common than too little in our part of the world. That’s because a large part of our country’s eating habits revolve around processed food, fast food, and frozen meals. All of these are overly packed with salt, and the sodium levels in just one meal can easily surpass how much sodium a person should intake for the entire day.
The most common health risk of having a high-sodium diet is developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to several major health crises, including heart attacks and strokes. If your loved one has high blood pressure, his doctor may recommend that you help him take action to reduce the level of sodium in his diet to help control his blood pressure levels.
When Your Loved One Needs Assistance Changing Daily Eating Habits
Many elderly individuals grew up in a time when processed foods were in their heyday. Advancements were made in food preservation, and people became less reliant on fresh food and instead enjoyed the convenience and often lower cost of foods that came in cans, frozen meal trays, and even the local fast-food eatery. A whole generation grew up eating foods that were unhealthy and is now suffering the consequences.
If that’s your loved one and he lives on his own, he might struggle with where to even begin to lower his sodium levels. A personal care at home provider can help him revamp his diet from what he purchases at the market to how he prepares it at home. With personal care at home providers, your loved one will receive meal help that fits their lifestyle and budget. They can help him find delicious salt substitutes and learn what foods he should try to enjoy only occasionally because of their high sodium levels. Your loved one will slowly learn to shake the salt habit with the personal care at home he receives from his home care team.
If you or your loved one is looking for Personal Care at Home in San Jose, CA, please call Familiar Surroundings Home Care.
Santa Clara County: (408) 979-9990
San Mateo County: (650) 353-9777
Santa Cruz County: (831) 480-3990