Take A Chance And Go LIVE LIFE!

 

Allow me to quote Irish action star Liam Neeson WHEN he said:  TAKE A CHANCE AND GO LIVE LIFE.  This was his well-quoted one-liner after his beloved wife, Natasha Richardson, died at that young age of 45 years after a tragic skiing accident at Mont-Tremblant in Canada.  WHILE she DIDN'T die immediately, her condition DIDN'T get better.  For this loving couple, they had talked way back that in case something happens, they DON'T want to stay alive hooked up to machines.  Instead, she wanted to volunteer her organs if possible.  Feeling that deep pain, Liam Neeson was quoted many times: 'TAKE A CHANCE AND GO LIVE LIFE.  TELL THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE THAT YOU LOVE THEM EVERY DAY. DON'T TAKE ANY MOMENT FOR GRANTED.  LIFE IS WORTH LIVING'.  WHILE that says a lot, he could have NOT expressed it more than that way.  Look around you, HOW many times have we witnessed bereaved family members sulking in sorrow upon the sudden demise of a loved one???

Let's face it.  WHEN you find yourself stuck at work OR without the person you love, do you think you could probably be living your life better?  WHILE it may be that easy to feel that you have NO control over our existence, from my experiences, I'll opine that it's the opposite in fact.  WHY?  Because it's only us WHO can get to decide HOW to live our life and HOW we would want to live life to the fullest.  Sadly, I am quite sure everyone of us did bear witness [even at first hand] bereaved folks WHO were struggling upon the demise of their loved one.  And often, the unsaid part is the 'unverbalized' regrets, regrets for missing out to LIVE LIFE well enough💧💧💧

The kind of silly question I sometimes heard is:  HOW and WHERE do we start, once we talk about living life to the fullest?  Nothing fancy here, first things first, let us define WHAT HAPPINESS is to us, on our own terms and NOT anyone's else.  True, there will be multitudes of people in your life WHO will peddle their own views as to HOW you should go about your future.  I even always opine that, generally, once you walk into a room with 10 people, expect 10 varying opinions.  The trap here is that some of those opinions will tend to be articulated as FACTS, and it then boils down for you to validate its veracity💥💥💥

And here's WHEN things can turn from good to bad OR from bad to worse.  Seeking validation from others will only ignite and stir your own feelings of inadequacy and that needless pressure, further hindering yourself from living and experiencing life by your own rules.  Others may be happy living a simple yet peaceful life BUT WHEN you no longer define HAPPINESS based on other people's definitions, you will then start to feel lighter and at peace.  Many years back, I did thread those circuituous roads before I realized that I was lost and I had to regain control of things❌❌❌

Our takeaway:  All along, we prioritize things, goals and dreams.  HOW often have we heard us prioritizing PEOPLE?  The defensive ones will blurt out LIKE 'BUT I LOVE THEM'.  BUT HOW often we are able to match our words with deeds?  Again, it aill starts with that firm commitment for the people WHO truly really matter in your life [till your last breath].  Knowing WHO is most important to you further prevents that potential risk of you neglecting OR at least disregarding them, NOT until those last moments of one's life.  To piggy-back on Liam Neeson's touching advice:  TAKE A CHANCE AND GO LIVE LIFE.  TELL THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE THAT YOU LOVE THEM EVERY DAY. DON'T TAKE ANY MOMENT FOR GRANTED.  LIFE IS WORTH LIVING💙💛💜

Are Reality Shows Reeling Us?

 

Are REALITY SHOWS REELING US?  Decades back, WHAT started out as experiments in the western media has turned things around to become a part of our default mainstream programming and alas, even across diverse cultures, we still CAN'T get enough of it.  And even prior to the popularity of these REALITY SHOWS, television and all other forms of media have already impacted NOT just our thoughts, opinions and behaviors.  It has even creeped into our cultures WHERE some things are now becoming the norm rather than the exception.  NO doubt about it, we have taken it in for entertainment per se📘📗📙

Good enough that our minds are designed to really synthesize boatloads of information every day, from our interactions with others to the books we read and the entertainment we seek out.  We then tend to make sense of the world through these pieces of information we gather, and the impacts HOW we live our lives every day.  BUT beyond the daily information we have been absorbing, we are also influenced by our prior life experiences, our family origins, the environment we are raised in and a slew of our other cultural [and sometimes genetic] factors💚💛💜

As these interpersonal and direct influences are more likely to impact our values and even behaviors than REALITY SHOWS, does this mean that we should NOT be concerned about the ways in WHICH REALITY SHOW trends tend to impact us?  Of course, we need to pay attention to the underlying messages in these shows and even explore WHY they appeal to us so much.  BUT the thing is, these REALITY SHOWS keep coming back to us and before we know it, we get 'hostaged' to it💥💥💥

Unconsciously, we end up wanting to know WHO said WHAT to WHOM and WHICH person betrayed another OR WHO compromised their alliances OR made a shady decision that influenced other people.  YES, it's all about the best and worst of human behavior.  YES, it shapes up as akin to an observational psychology class without the lecture OR exams.  YES, often these REALITY SHOWS cause us to reflect on WHAT we might do similarly😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  WHAT I reaized in all these is that REALITY SHOWS are ironically named because they are often far from realistic scenarios.  And even though these programs are 'guilty pleasures' for many of us, we can use them as good conversation starters with friends and even as 'food for thought' within our own minds as we consider our values and HOW we live in ways that demonstrate those values.  So, ARE REALITY SHOWS REELING US?  It really depends if you want to be REELED???

When Technology Becomes Creepy

 

It's NOT debatable, BIG PICTURES are far different from small framed ones.  Let's NOT look farther down than the wide-screen TV technologies that now feature  OLED [Organic Light Emitting Diode]  and QLED [Quantum Dot LED]. More than just the superficial, WHAT seems scary are recent researches proving the parallellism between this significant progression of TV technology along the course of drug addiction.  Surely, you'll be shocked in disbelief with this purported parallelism drawn by those researches.  This is WHEN TECHNOLOGY BECOMES CREEPY❌❌❌

Unfortunately, most of us [and that includes me till now] wrongly assume that confusions between mediated experience and real life are rare and as such, unimportant.  BUT the history of TV technology has been a continuous evolution toward ever more intense stimulation.  The amount of data coming into and through our eyes, ears and brain WHILE we watch TV has been constantly escalating💥💥💥

In that NOT so distant past, viewers gathered in the living room to watch a tiny black-and-white screen, sometimes enlarged by a distorting magnifying glass.  Small thought it was, it was a large increase over the information that had been coming into the ears alone by way of radio.  Radio required its audience to imagine WHAT the Lone Ranger might look like.  YES, TV eliminated that need.  Viewers could now see WHAT he 'really' looked like.  OR at least WHAT he looked like in black and white.  Viewers still had to imagine WHAT he and his sidekick Tonto, and the sunsets they rode into, would look like in color💧💧💧

Some critics have focused their ire on the increased energy that the advanced TV technologies require, the chemicals that make their brilliant pictures.  WHAT is scary are the psychological, emotional, social and even neurological effects these big-screen high definition TVs have, especially on the development of children and adolescents as researches showed that those 'BIG PICTURES' may turn up the volume on WHATEVER emotional responses would have been experienced with a standard representation.  Those studies showed that as our brains evolved in a world with no such thing as modern media, we tend to respond to TV as IF WHAT is going on behind the screen is the real thing.  The parallelism here is drawn between TV and fast food as both are tagged as 'supernormal stimuli' and even the super-sized HDTV is the 'supersized me'💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  WHAT seems interesting are recent studies that showed the brains of children watching TV showed the sort of activity associated with 'FIGHT or FLIGHT' threat responses.  There was also activity in the parts of the brain normally associated with imitation.  Alarming is the evidence showing that children were 'actively processing' the video violence and storing those aggressive scripts in an area of the brain that serves as a 'ready file' for memories that return in a flash and in the end, the child is expected to behave more aggressively.  Scarier is the conclusion that our brains CAN'T distinguish between fantasy and real violence.  WHEN TECHNOLOGY BECOMES CREEPY😡😡😡

Do We Really Need To FAIL?

 

WHO needs FAILURE?  Germans would exclaim Mich!  Mir!  And in Spain it's Mi.  BUT WHO needs FAILURE?  It's like a bullet in one's head BUT here's the stark truth.  FAILURE is inevitable OR unavoidable in our life.  As an analogy, I like to think of failure as the necessary underbelly of success.  In the absence of FAILURE, HOW would we determine then WHAT our successes really are?  That might sound like a simplication and I do concede that FAILURE ISN'T that easy.  YES, I've been through that, ugggh💚💛💜

NOW, if someone would ask me if I would have opted NOT to go through FAILURES [if that was an option], I'll protest and exclaim 'NO WAY'.  WHY?  Because I am cocksure enough that I learnt one zillion lessons from all the FAILURES I have had in my life.  And the reasons are as logical and as rational as it can be:

• FAILURES made me know the chinks in my armor
• FAILURES made me resilient to face humps ahead
• FAILURES pushed me to learn lessons I would have NOT learned from anywhere else in this world

NOT to downplay the fortunate situations of the scions of the rich and famous [I can probably name Baron Trump, the 19 year old son of U.S. President Donald Trump] BUT I'm very sure that if we do an apples to apples comparison, at that age, I learnt lessons a thousand times more than the lessons learnt by Baron Trump [at his age now].  Admittedly, I'll say I am blessed enough because I had much harder lessons than this scion has gone through [and it's NOT his fault BTW].  WHERE else could I have learned those lessons BUT from my FAILURES???

Truth is, overcoming FAILURE is a very important barometer of our agility as it's NOT about FAILURE itself BUT WHAT you do to bounce back [from the grave].  YES, I have to admit that WHENEVER I did get hit by one FAILURE after another, accepting that FAILURE should be as natural as it should be that is, IF we handle things rightly [BTW, there are one too many horror stories WHERE a FAILURE is followed by one fumbling act to another]💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  HOW I did was quite difficult to translate in concrete words BUT WHAT I often did was to strike the balance, picking up the hard lessons from the FAILURE and rectifying the way I did it so that WHERE possible, I WON'T repeat the same mistake [BUT alas, I had a couple of mistakes WHICH I repeated [stupidly of course until I realized that enough is enough].  One mistake I'd like to openly share here in my early FAILUREs, I tended to wallow [and that was unproductive] as belatedly, I realized that FAILUREs are opportunities in disguise.  So, I asked myself, do I really want to miss opportunities spelled F-A-I-L-U-R-E?  Of course NOT😡😡😡

If It's For You, It Won't Pass You By

 

YES YES yowwww, IF IT'S FOR YOU, IT WON'T PASS YOU BY, a very old quote BUT worth revisiting from time to time.  I just CAN'T disagree with this because WHAT's supposed to be yours OR ours will come and WHAT's meant to be will fall in place, WHAT's right will feel right and we just DON'T have to force things out.  HOW many times in life things DON'T come into fruition at the time and circumstances we wanted it to happen?  I'd say probably look back and estimate that roughly half of things I wanted in life DIDN'T materialized on the dot [although a big chunk did come into fruition much later though]📗📙📘

Truth is, fate and destiny are oblivious of the clock and calendars.  IF they have to happen, they DON'T go through with clockwork precision.  LIKE some things come late.  LIKE some people you meet at the wrong time.  LIKE some dreams take donkey years to bloom.  And some moments do slip through our fingers and before we know it, we fail to realize HOW precious and important those moments were [NOT until those moments are gone].  In relationships, sometimes we are hard pressed to believe WHEN we become heart broken because the person you chose someone else instead.  And NOT WHEN the door you prayed would open stays shut💚💛💜

Talking about fighting battles WHICH at times turn out to be a losing battle, HOW often do we push back against a world that ISN'T that quite ready to share with us WHAT we desire and want to achieve?  And HOW many times did we try to rush and push hard just to make things happen our way [BUT it DIDN'T]?  And then, HOW many times did we go through those exercises in futility?  Sometimes, life itself tricks us by initially giving us all the positive and rosy things until things skid❎❎❎

I did bear witness WHEN my expectations will shoot up dramatically because things are falling into place [way beyond my expectations] and as I thought things were running in my favor, things will crumble down.  LIKE we would pursue a career we hoped and prayed for and discover it DOESN'T make sense.  We'll then rise and then we'll fall down.  And then in time, we'll rise again [BUT NOT after lots of struggles along the way]😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  We can be so intellectually upright OR just knowledgeable enough BUT if there's any assurance I can give everyone, we CAN'T possibly have the answers to every question that pops up in our head.  And we CAN'T possibly understand WHAT's happening, WHERE do we go, WHAT should we do every single second of the day.  And to complicate waters that seem murky enough, we CAN'T possibly know WHAT's right OR good OR ours to keep, NOT UNTIL IF IT'S FOR YOU, THEN IT WON'T PASS YOU BY😗😗😗

PASS Or FAIL In Life?

 

A week ago, famous American rock climber Alex Honnold did successfully accomplish his very first climb of a skyscraper and that was Taipei 101, which, as of 2026, ranks as the 11th tallest building in the world.  And here comes Alex Honnold WHO has successfully climbed both in the arctic and even in the deserts.  YET, a week ago WHEN he embarked on that plan to climb Taipei 101, even NETFLIX [who sponsored that event WHERE Honnold was paid a paltry amount of $500,000] WAS prepared with a scenario WHERE Honnold fatally falls and dies.  Indeed a super-scary, heart-stomping attempt BUT this is just one of the concrete examples in life WHERE we are expected to either PASS or FAIL, NO in-between results, NO half-half successes at all💚💛💜

To cut this long story short, Alex Honnold was able to climb up successfully up to the very tip of the tower of Taipei 101.  Enough of that not so breaking news anymore.  The opportunity I want to grab is this PASS or FAIL in life.  WHETHER we like this fact OR not, the harsh truth that in life, there is only either a PASS or FAIL, no greys, no embers, no other colors except black OR white.  Our common dilemma is that sometimes, we [wrongly] think OR thought [in the past] that stopping OR giving up one, two or three notches before grabbing the top plum is SUCCESS by itself which is NOT really the case dude!@#$%?

Many times in the past, I did bear witness [right on the front row] of people giving up even before the ballgame starts.  For zillions of reasons a.k.a. alibi OR excuses, they will never run out of reasons WHY they gave up even before that 'jump ball' in basketball.  WHICH is deplorable to say the least because I witnessed them preparing for that endeavor😔😔😔

NOT to be defensive, many of us were schooled where the academic ratings were NOT so simple enough akin to a PASS or FAIL.  Instead, a student can still have an academic grade of 75% and is still considered as having PASSED the subject, much similar to another student who garnered 99%.  BUT alas, that was our life in the academe environment.  In our school campuses then, we were then being prepared for the realities of life out there but at that point in time, even the most stern headmaster can still hand you a 75% grade and you can then claim to have successfully PASSED the subject.  Once we're thrown into the lion's den, dude, NOT to scare anyone BUT our life turns to that PASS or FAIL situation, nothing gray, nothing in-between💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  At this point, we are often left to imagine HOW this play [in life] plays out in real life as we tend to judge 'winners and losers' NOT only in games BUT even in our lives, sometimes blaming our pitiful selves for failures WHEN in fact, complex systemic issues were holding us back OR taking credit for successes that were aided by people OR even external forces we may be unaware of OR have taken it for granted.  On a personal level, it is critical that we have some sense of control over our own life.  At the same time, people WHO are unaware of this PASS or FAIL reality in life become more vulnerable to be waylaid.  That PASS or FAIL in life, indeed!!!

Are High Achievers Demigods? It's A Loud 'NO' Sirrrrrrrs!

 

Are HIGH ACHIEVERS DEMIGODS?  NO sirrrrrrrs.  They are as human as we are.  They could be traced back across different races and cultures BUT WHEN we lump together all these HIGH ACHIEVERS they share quite a long list of commonalities.  And topping that list is COACHABILITY [as this poster shows].  In the NBA world, the best hoopsters from mostly the Americas and Europe would queue and aim to be part of the Annual Draft, WHERE rookies are ranked and then picked by the NBA teams.  BUT as the old cliche goes, MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN.  Such exactly is happening @ the NBA world.  Even if you get drafted, NO guarantees that you'll be a success story.  WHY???

In short, there were many bright and potential NBA rookies WHO were zeroed-in to lord it over the field for quite sometime.  BUT a good number of them are FLOPS no less, FAILURES to be frank.  One is Hassan Whiteside.  After he inked a $100Mn contract with Miami Heat, from there onwards, his performance skidded, his trajectory went down south consistently.  WHY?  NOT because of lesser talent OR potentials.  BUT it's that word spelled C-O-A-C-H-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y.  As this poster screams it all, YES you can have all the intelligence and talent BUT if you DON'T have that COACHABILITY, forget it, you're toast!@#$%?  You might wonder WHAT COACHABILITY has got to do with success if someone is intelligent and talented way beyond the median?  Thing is, you can be a gem OR a rare gem for that matter BUT as you have yet to 'take off' in life, you're a RAW gem, that's it❎❎❎

In the shortest words, a RAW rare gem needs to be harnessed and honed.  The top-tier skills just DON'T happen instantly.  You've got to earn your spurs.  In fact, you need to go through the wringer before you can earn your first badge [and God knows HOW many badges you need as you progress in life].  Take note that even those badges and certifications are NOT cast in stone.  They have EXPIRATION DATES.  WHAT's the need for EXPIRATION DATES then, you might wonder???

EXPIRATION DATES are there for the previous SUCCESS stories to refresh and revalidate themselves.  In short, even SUCCESS is never embedded in stone.  After a 'specific period', you have to 'RE-EARN' it, probably NOT in the same hard way as you endured the first time around BUT nevertheless, you still need to go through the process.  Besides COACHABILITY, we can rattle off ADAPTING TO CHANGE, SELF-DISCIPLINE, SELF-AWARENESS, EMBRACING NEW KNOWLEDGE, EMBRACING CHALLENGES, BALANCING AMBITION and WELL-BEING and YES, RESILIENCE [for you survive WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH]💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  If you are still in awe of Mark Zuckerberg OR Elon Musk, that's just fine BUT never get stuck in that state of stupor because they are as human as we are.  WHAT sets them very much apart [and NOT a part] of us are those intangibles, those little little things from SELF-DISCIPLINE down to RESILIENCE.  The least that's expected from us is to increase our own awareness that SUCCESS is NOT their monopoly.  We have the same fair chance, albeit it's a long shot.  BUT can we aim for that SHOT dude😁😁😁

WHAT IF Change Is Indeed Constant?

 

CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT.  This one-liner has been one of the most quoted ones ever and it's recurring unabated even as we speak now.  BUT WHAT IF CHANGE IS INDEED CONSTANT?  Those circumstances WHERE you are hoping and nursing hopes for CHANGE to happen BUT it's NOT happening?  WHERE ironically, CHANGES is no longer the variable we have always thought of???

LIKE you're hoping to be hired by that government agency BUT until a vacancy happens [as it is that REALITY in government jobs], nothing happens.  LIKE you're angling for a promotion to that juicy position in your organization BUT it's NOT shaping up either.  LIKE you were already interviewed at the local embassy of either U.S. or Canada for your immigrant application BUT you never heard anything yet [and the truth is, NO WAY is it feasible for you to initiate a follow-through as it will be a futile one❌❌❌

Allow me to share a sampling of my real-life scenarios:

• WHEN I was angling for a promotion - I first upskilled myself.  Then I found multiple ways and means to get noticed. LIKE volunteering for a task WHERE there are NO takers. LIKE during open forums, asking the most sensible and deep-thought questions.  LIKE during presentations, you have to host it with a jaw-dropping performance
• WHEN I was aiming to migrate then [as an immigrant and NOT an overseas worker], I remained steadfast in doing WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE until I was bestowed my naturalized citizenship

The mother of all ironies here is that WHILE we always say and hear that CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT, there are multiple times in our life WHERE a potential CHANGE we are hoping to happen does NOT happen [YET] and that's WHERE the CONSTANCY OF CHANGE may have its implications and ramifications as we continue to run through our journey in life😃😃😃

Our takeaway:  WHETHER every single variable in life is indeed a variable OR it gets stuck up and stalled [way beyond our control], it behooves that we have a Plan A, Plan B and preferably a Plan C because the mother of all ironies in life is that, besides all the UNKNOWN variables we are unable to anticipate, even those literal CONSTANTs can be impactful as well.  WHAT IF CHANGE IS CONSTANT???

Escaping That Hedonic Treadmill? Try Doing New Things

 

Something NEW?  Oh YES, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU DID SOMETHING NEW?  NOT to claim that I'm throwing you under the bus BUT the thing is, some claim that the biggest enemy of HAPPINESS is that hedonic treadmill.  That defines as to HOW we humans are quick to adapt to any changes in our lives and that a similar change has a diminishing impact.  That hedonic adaptation is our human tendency to quickly return to a relatively stable level of HAPPINESS despite major life changes.  That explains WHY we're encouraged to TRY DOING NEW THINGS💚💛💜

Quite strange to understand this human tendency.  LIKE if I take a hot bath today, I'll likely enjoy it a lot BUT WHEN I take that same hot bath tomorrow, I will like it a lot less [compared to today].  This is WHERE we are encouraged to constantly figuring out to do SOMETHING NEW.  BUT you might be surprised WHY the hell we're encouraged to try NEW things on a regular basis?  Sadly, a big piece of advice a lot of people [and that included me in the past] are NOT taking seriously is to TRY DOING SOMETHING NEW [which you have never done before]❌❌❌

YES, admittedly, I find it mind-boggling as well as to HOW can we expect a change in our HAPPINESS by NOT changing any of the things that we do?  Let's think about it.  WHATEVER you've been doing until now has NOT resulted in you becoming any much happier today than yesterday, right?  The trap here is that many of us [wrongly] thought that we're happy, and yet, here we are, either stuck OR stalled.  BUT can we push and hurdle through that mental obstacle that somehow places us in that state of stupor???

IF we're completely wrapped up in our own comfort zone, can we start small OR even modestly small for now.  True, we're all wrapped up in our regular routines and simply too fearful of trying something NEW.  And even if the activity in question is something we've been craving for so long, that power of predictability is often times just way too strong for us to overcome.  NOW, can I toot my horn as part of my pitch???

Our takeaway:  WHILE I am NOT the first to say that we got to WALK THE TALK, I'll admit that I WON'T be the last to WALK THE TALK as well because as I've done quite a list of new things throughout my own journey, I have to humbly admit that I did see the value of pushing myself way beyond my comfort zone, way beyond my own boundaries by exploring through roads [and even 'very narrow trails'] that are LESS or LEAST TRAVELLED.  Allow me to cite my blogsite WHICH I actively pursued only like more than 5 years back.  WHILE the blogging itself is never new [in fact, it has become a sort of routine to me], that challenge of trying to figure out the next topic, the next thread, that gives me that daily challenge WHICH I have always warmly embraced and committed to.  After all, I find a sense of fulfillment [if NOT achievement] WHEN I complete one blog after the other because I constantly challenge myself to TRY DOING NEW THINGS as I've got everything to gain and nothing to loss, seriously😁😁😁

Is Talking About Salt 'WORTH OUR SALT'?

 

Is talking about SALT WORTH OUR SALT?  There is a 'brewing' storm amongst medical experts because for the past 50 years, medicine has waged a 'misguided war' against critical sources of health like SALT and sunlight WHILE avoiding discussing the real causes of diseases.  Because of that, dangers of SALT are relently focused on despite evidence NOT supporting them.  In parallel, the extreme dangers of consuming too little SALT are very rarely discussed [despite WHAT critics claim that dangerously low sodium being one of the most common conditions seen in hospitalized patients and chronically low sodium greatly increasing one's risk of dying😡😡😡

Allow me to paste EN TOTO here excerpts from the "heart.org" portal of the American Heart Association for 7 SODIUM MYTHS busted:

Myth: Eliminate sodium completely for good health.  Sodium is an essential nutrient that controls blood pressure and is needed to make nerves and muscles work properly, but you need the right amount.  

Myth: I usually don’t salt my food, so I don't eat too much sodium.  Over 75% of sodium people in the U.S. consume is estimated to come from processed and ready meals– not the saltshaker. That’s why it’s important to compare Nutrition Facts labels and serving sizes.  

Myth: Sea salt has less sodium than table salt.Sea salt is popular, but it usually isn’t any less salty. Just like table salt, it typically contains 40% sodium.

Myth: High levels of sodium are only found in food.
Some over-the-counter medications contain high levels of sodium. Read drug labels carefully and remember that some companies produce low-sodium over-the-counter products.

Myth: I don’t eat a lot of salty food so I don't eat too much sodium.  Sodium is found in almost all foods including mixed dishes such as sandwiches, burgers and tacos; rice, pasta and grain dishes; pizza; meat, poultry and seafood dishes; and soups. Use the Nutrition Facts label to choose foods with the least sodium.

Myth: Lower sodium foods have no taste.
There is a rich world of creative and flavorful alternatives to salt. Experiment with spices, herbs and citrus to enhance the natural flavor of your food!  

Myth: My blood pressure is normal, so I don’t need to worry about how much sodium I eat.The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams (mg) a day and moving toward an ideal limit of no more than 1,500 mg per day for most adults. Even cutting back by 1,000 mg a day can help improve your blood pressure and heart health.