The health benefits of reducing sodium in your diet

Monitoring your daily sodium intake can have major health benefits – from reducing your risk of a heart attack and stroke to lowering your blood pressure. And cutting salt from your diet doesn’t have to be extremely limiting.

Whether your blood pressure is within the healthy range or not, eating a healthy diet with low salt intake can be very beneficial to your health. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day. This means maintaining a balance of sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium in your diet. A good way to reach adequate daily amounts of these minerals is to increase your consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole grains.

Limiting Salt

Eliminating some of the salt in your diet doesn’t have to mean completely changing what you’re eating. Here are some easy ways to limit your salt intake.

Limit meals out. Typical restaurant meals are high in sodium. Try eating out less often – unless you know you can order a low-sodium meal. Read More

On May 13, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued FAQs addressing the consequences for employers that provide employer payment plans. The IRS clarified that these arrangements do not comply with the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) market reforms and are subject to an excise tax.

Employer payment plans are arrangements in which employers reimburse employees on a pre-tax basis for individual health insurance premiums, whether inside or outside of an Exchange. Some employers have considered doing this to help employees pay for individual health insurance policies instead of offering an employer-sponsored health plan.

However, under IRS Notice 2013-54, these premium payment arrangements are considered employer payment plans, a type of group health plan subject to the ACA’s reforms. Because employer payment plans do not comply with the ACA’s regulations, the IRS indicated in the FAQs that these arrangements may be subject to an excise tax of $100 per day for each applicable employee ($36,500 per year per employee) under Code Section 4980D. Read More

Recent Internet bugs and vulnerabilities have had a widespread impact, compromising the security of computers as well as personal information you may enter online.

Although you can’t stop criminals from attempting a cyber attack, you can take several steps to reduce your risk of having your personal information stolen, misused or deleted. Start by using strong passwords, avoiding malware and viruses, and protecting yourself against scams and security breaches.

Password security

• Do not use the same password for multiple accounts, especially important accounts such as online banking or an online store with your credit card on file.
• Passwords should not be a word found in the dictionary or a combination easily

Seldom detected in its early stages, pancreatic cancer is often called a “silent disease” because signs and symptoms may not occur until the cancer is very advanced. The majority of pancreatic cancer patients die within a year of diagnosis.

Onset

Most pancreatic cancers begin in the cells lining the ducts of the pancreas. A rare form of pancreatic cancer, islet cell cancer, may begin in the cells that make insulin and other hormones. When pancreatic cancer spreads, it can be found in the lymph nodes, liver, lungs or the tissue lining the abdomen. Read Full News (pdf)