13 “Healthy” Food Habits You Should Ditch Right Now

Going low on sodium

If you’ve ever had high blood pressure, you were probably told to cut down or stop consuming sodium. But a new study from Boston University that followed 2,600 people over 16 years found that a low-sodium diet didn’t actually lower blood pressure. So salt might not be the enemy after all—and actually, a little salt might be part of a healthy food plan. The study also found that people with the lowest intake of sodium (along with the highest) had a greater risk of heart disease than the people in the middle. But, that doesn’t mean you should go crazy eating processed foods that contain lots of sodium either. “In general, focusing on reducing processed foods, which tend to be rich in added sodium, and adding in more whole foods may be more effective than just focusing on counting milligrams of sodium when it comes to promoting heart health,” says Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDE, author of Belly Fat Diet for Dummies. Find out the 55 health myths that need to die.

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