When planning healthy meals, we have been trained to check the amount of calories, fat and sugar in a dish, but another number to carefully review is sodium content. One of our goals for healthy eating should be to reduce the amount of sodium we consume. Excessive sodium intake can raise blood pressure, which increases risk for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Studies have also found an increased risk of stomach cancer with excessive sodium intake.

You are probably thinking, "I don't use the salt shaker," but most of our sodium intake comes from processed foods, which contribute to up to 75 percent of the American diet. Reading labels is a start to reducing the sodium in your diet. However, if processed foods are a staple for you, it can be difficult to limit sodium to 1,500 mg per day as recommended by the American Heart Association.

Choosing fresh foods that contain little to no salt is a much easier way to cut down on sodium. Eating fresh vegetables and fruit not only decreases your sodium intake, it also cuts down on calorie intake, leading to weight loss! When you do find yourself buying processed foods, look for labels that say low sodium or sodium free.

Avoid products that contain more than 200 mg of sodium per serving, and always remember to look at the serving size. Food labels can be misleading. For example, a can of reduced-sodium soup may still have half your days worth of sodium in it. Instead of buying canned soup, try making your own soup. Soup can be a healthy meal choice when you make it with lots of fresh vegetables, low-sodium broth and little added salt.

For healthy and delicious soup recipes, visit the recipe library on the Ocean Mist Farms website. We recommend the Roasted Vegetable Soup with Artichokes because it is a real crowd pleaser. A low-sodium meal doesn't have to mean a flavorless meal – especially when cooking with Artichokes!

By: Sheri Caprara-Hayes – Registered Dietitian, Nutrition Educator