Ladies and ladies, this is another lovely and perfect day with which we have been blessed.
I am deeply impressed by your big turn up on this wonderful and maybe very critical day of our lives. Significantly, my pleasure and satisfaction is to ensure that each and every one of us is well, energetic and willing to make a significant difference in our way of life. As I said earlier, this is indeed a very rare and meaningful day in our lives. In reality, what we are going to address today will have a huge and important effect on our lives, especially in terms of preserving and observing good health.
I am thoroughly persuaded that each one of us loves a nutritious and tasty meal
I am fully convinced that each one of us enjoys consuming delicious and tasty meals. As a matter of fact no one can put up with tasteless and unpalatable meal. One important food ingredient that we often include in majority of our diets is salt. I cannot imagine how some meals more also the ones which require salt flavor will taste if this very vital ingredient is withdrawn. Definitely, majority of you will agree with me that the meal will be completely inedible, unpleasant and unpalatable. Evidently, salt plays very important role adding flavor in our daily meals.
Besides salt being an essential food flavor, it helps us to maintain good health.
Actually, salt contains vital elements such as sodium and chloride which are responsible for body metabolic processes (Aburto, et al., 2013). For instance, sodium performs homeostasis role by controlling body fluids and pressure. Furthermore, sodium ions (Na+) help in transmission and conduction of nerve impulses (Jamie, 2102). Nerve impulse conduction is an important activity since it helps our bodies to respond to exposed stimuli accordingly. On the other hand, chloride ions play very crucial role in enhancing food digestion process (Aburto, et al., 2013). In fact, salt has numerous health benefits than just making our meals tasty and delicious. However, for us to realize these benefits we must use acceptable and adequate levels of salt.
Having looked at many benefits of including salt in our daily diets, it is my pleasure now to welcome each one of you to our second important and perhaps interesting part of our discussion.
Let me start by posing this question to you, how many of you would like to a live a life full of misery simply because ignoring disease prevention measures? Off course, none of us would wish to have such miserable, sorrowful and uncomfortable life. If this is the case, then do you know that excessive consumption of salt is harmful and toxic to our lives? I know some of you may disagree with me pertaining to this sensitive and delicate issue. In fact, some of us will argue that inclusion of too much salt in our diets has health benefits. Nevertheless, everyone has freedom for self-conscious and speech. Notwithstanding our experiences, thoughts and feelings it is important to state that too much salt is extremely dangerous to our health (Cox, 2012). In order to unanimously accept the fact that excess salt poses a great threat to our health, I want us to explore various scientific evidence-based research and facts.
Drawing from our own experience, consumption of diets with large quantities of salt makes us become thirsty.
Consequently, the result is large water intake to correct sodium-water imbalance. Unfortunately, too much water in our body is not stored and therefore we end up urinating more in attempt to get rid of the excess water. Urine carries with it calcium minerals and therefore deprives our bodies that very essential mineral (Ossola, 2015). The more we urinate the more calcium minerals lost and the consequences are weakened bones and increased health risks such as osteoporosis.
Different studies conducted in United States have shown that many American citizens succumb due to high blood pressure and other related heart diseases.
Furthermore a lot of funds are used to control and treat these ailments. Guys I think it is hypocritical and unethical to witness people dying because of certain disease which are preventable. According to Professor Rachel, Johnson (University of Vermont in Burlington), excess sodium in the body raises blood pressure by retaining excess body fluid. Increased blood pressure in turn overburdens the heart and consequently increases health risks such as heart and stroke (Jamie, 2102). Research has revealed that one out of every three Americans will contradict high blood pressure within the course of their life (Johnson). Further research has revealed that approximately 50-70 million citizens in United States are living with high blood pressure. However, the good news is that low salt intake can avert the situation.
Wow! This one is an interesting but a serious effect.
Just imagine being intelligent and wise but all suddenly you lose your cognitive function. Well, do not be puzzled, this is what would happen to us if continue consuming too much salt. A study conducted in 2011 in Canada, found that sedentary adults who included high salt in their diets had high probability of cognitive deterioration than those who used less salt in their meals (Ossola, 2015). Therefore it is paramount that we keep monitoring the amount of salt in our diets and make appropriate adjustments where necessary.
Large intake of salt can predispose us to edema condition (Cox, 2012).
Edema is health disorder which is characterized by swelling of body tissues due to retention of extra fluids. In fact, the condition can occur overnight from just consumption of a meal with excess salt. More important, the condition can be avoided by including less salt in our diets and also observing preset guidelines on salt intake levels.
Evidently, consumption of excess salt can prevent proper functioning of kidney. A research conducted by World Action on Salt and Health has revealed that large salt intake increases the quantity of protein in urine and consequently increasing risks of kidney diseases (Ossola, 2015). In addition too much salt in diet can expose our bodies to kidney stones. The sad thing about kidney stones is that it has adverse health implications including death fatalities.
We all understand the harmful effects of stomach ulcers. It is painful to see our colleagues, children, parents and friends suffer from stomach ulcers when the condition can be prevented. A research published by Infection and Immunity journal indicated that stomach ulcers and cancer are associated with high salt intake. According to the research, too much salt in diet destroys stomach lining and thus predisposing individuals to ulcers and cancer (Jamie, 2102).
In conclusion, I believe that we all know that too much salt intake is harmful, toxic and dangerous to our health.
I strongly believe that we all strive to attaining happy, joyful and life free from ailments and miseries. Therefore, it will be devastating if we underestimate the adverse effects associated with large salt in our diets. Let us all join hands and direct our efforts towards eliminating adverse health effects linked to excess salt intake. More significantly, let us abide to preset guidelines on recommended levels of salt intake (Aburto, et al., 2013). In United States the recommended sodium intakes are 2,300 and 1,500 milligrams per day for healthy individuals and black Americans respectively (Ossola, 2015). Similarly, American Heart Association recommends 1,500 milligrams per day.
References
Aburto, N. J., Ziolkovska, A., Hooper, L., Elliott, P., Cappuccio, F. P., & Meerpohl, J. J. (2013). Effect of lower sodium intake on health: systematic review and meta-analyses. Bmj, 346, f1326.
Cox, Lauren (2012). Why Is Too Much Salt Bad for You?
Jamie, Schmid (2102). Too much sodium can wreck havoc on your body. Here are signs you need to cut back.
Ossola, Alexandra (2015). There’s a reason why New York City now requires restaurants to label salty foods
