If you're low on sodium, go to a sit-down restaurant, that should take care of you for 2 or 3 days

Eating out is enjoyable. You don't have to cook or clean away, just sit, relax, chat, eat, drink and walk away. There's usually a wide array of choices on the menu, but what's not usually on the menu are a few basic pieces of information about the dish. As Wendy Mesley of Marketplace points out, it is very easy for restaurants to add three things after each menu item - calorie count, fat, and sodium amounts, but they don't. (it is worth seeing the whole show)

And it's not the fast food drive-thru restaurants that are the focus here. Restaurants such as Montana's, Boston Pizza, Red Lobster are some of the joints that get covered. A food chain representative tried to put a positive spin on their "nutrition information" campaign. 75% had no information available at restaurants. People were very surprised to learn how high calorie counts were. (check out this sample of typical meals calorie, fat & sodium amounts as compared to ¼ pounder burgers scroll down the page)

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It was also alarming to see the extreme amount of sodium in some appetizers and the main courses. It's recommended that a person not consume more than 1500 mg of sodium a day. Many meals had over 3000 and 4000 mg of sodium. That's the type of information that's still being hidden from easy public view. Restaurants and government are not too hungry to change this. More on this in a later post.