One thing I always ask my clients is if they know what they are putting in their shopping carts, and one thing I consistently realize, is they really don’t have a clue. People start eating chicken as a lean protein source, but start wondering why they aren’t getting results. I quickly discovered the problem. Instead of buying fresh chicken, they were buying that frozen, pre-packaged stuff that is so popular these days.  When I ask them to bring in one of the packages, they are amazed when I show them, clearly on the label, that their chicken has anywhere from 300-900 mg of sodium. They didn’t realize that the chicken is soaked in a 15% sodium solution. This is not fresh chicken, it may have appeared that way, but like many things in life, looks are certainly deceiving in the case of boneless, skinless, “fresh” chicken breast.

People have a hard time understanding why I am so inflexible when it comes to sodium levels.  Besides the fact that is high sodium intake has been attributed to everything from high cholesterol to poor joint health, high sodium traps excess water in the body, which then traps the unwanted fat in your body.  Everyone thinks they need salt in their diet; that it is essential to their health and well-being. On one level, people are right, sodium is important, in fact it is an essential mineral that the body needs to function properly.  But, what they don’t realize is that for people who are overweight or have too much water retention (sodium), they already have a huge “salt block” inside of them. Picture the salt blocks you buy for animals to lick. You have one of those inside you. A salt block is sitting in your fat and in your body, so you are in no way facing a salt deficit. All the sodium that you need is already contained in the meat you are eating, whether that meat is turkey, chicken, or beef. The animal had it when it was alive, survived on it, and so will you. Since the sodium is already there, why in the world would you think you need to supplement by adding more?

Do me a favor. Go to your freezer and look at the expiration date on the chicken you bought this week at the grocer or even better yet at one of the large discount warehouses. What you will probably see is that it is good for months from now. Take a piece of that chicken, put it on a plate and set it in your refrigerator. Keep that there for months and then come back and tell me what it looks like. The bottom line is that meat should never be “good” for that long of a period. If it is, you probably should not be putting it into your body because it’s so loaded with preservatives. So next time you head to the grocery store, make sure you pick up some fresh chicken, not that sodium-ridden, frozen junk.

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