Blood transfusions give Argentine patients HIV (AP)

AP - Two intensive-care patients contracted HIV after receiving blood transfusions at public hospitals in the Argentine province natural dmae Cordoba, a newspaper reported Friday.

For the typical healthy American, the Food and Nutrition Board recommends an bulk creatine monohydrate daily intake of 2400 milligrams of sodium. The question is, how do you know how much you are eating without carrying a book around and adding up everything you eat all day long? It may be more simple than that, but you do have to follow a few guidelines and take note of labels available for processed foods and fast foods.

First of all, it's good to know that foods without labels (meaning fresh foods) are typically low in sodium. This includes fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, milk, juices, meats, chicken, fish, and eggs. Those to watch out for that are almost always high in sodium (more than 400 milligrams) include processed meats (lunch meat, hot dogs, ham), canned foods (including vegetables and fish), frozen wholesale beta alanine and fast foods in particular.

Here's a guideline that will come in handy to figure out your daily intake: Since you are aiming for approximately 2000 milligrams a day, and since you are (hopefully) eating three meals a day, you'll want to average about 700 milligrams at each meal (which would add up to 2100 milligrams for the day). This leaves a little leeway to get to the 2400 milligrams recommended, so you don't have to get too specific.

Let's look at an example: You have a boxed cereal and milk with a banana for breakfast and start your day with about 400 milligrams of sodium-so far so good. For lunch you have a turkey sandwich, some chips, and some carrot sticks. Now you have to look at the label for the turkey-if it's fresh you're looking at about 400 milligrams for this meal as well-if the turkey is smoked or processed it may be adding a few hundred milligrams more. A Subway six inch turkey sub, for example, has about 700 milligrams (that includes the bread). The chips, surprisingly, contain less than 150 milligrams of sodium, since potatoes contain minimal sodium (there's just a little salt sprinkled on the top for flavor). As a snack in the afternoon you pick up an apple and you know there is not enough sodium to worry about there, since the sodium in fresh fruits is negligible. And for dinner you go to a fast food restaurant and look at the nutrition information: oops, better head home to cook something on the grill! Many fast food sandwiches easily approach 1000 milligrams of sodium and that's before you get a side of fries which are salted. Remember, the same goes for frozen dinners and canned stews-they can provide nearly 1000 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Bottom line, fresh food is the way to go to keep your sodium intake from getting too high. There's no need to look for special 'salt free' foods when shopping, especially those that aren't high to begin with. In a few instances a 'lower sodium' variety is a good idea: This includes canned soups and vegetables. Check out the amount of sodium in the processed foods you eat for a real eye opener. And if you start approaching 1000 milligrams before you've even completed your meal with sides, consider opting for another choice. If you are on a medically prescribed low sodium diet, be sure to contact your health professional for individual dietary guidelines.

Laurie Beebe is a registered dietitian certified in adult weight management. Diet coaching helps dramatically by allowing people to set their own goals and design their own action plans to start their path to success. Please visit Laurie's website, "Shaping Your Future" at http://www.mycoachlaurie.com for diet tips, links to great books and websites, to sign up for a free monthly newsletter, or for more information on coaching.