Salt: It's the not-so-secret ingredient in tasty treats like chicken fingers, onion rings and tomato juice.

But today one group advocating healthy eating says that at some chain restaurants, we may be getting nearly four times the amount of salt we need in a day in one single sitting.

"If the meal was high in fat, it was high in salt. If it was low in fat, it was low in salt. Salt city at restaurants," Michael Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest told ABC News.

CSPI released a report this morning detailing which restaurants are the worst offenders when it comes to meals packed with sodium.

Instead of eating those meals, some suggest steering clear of salty foods and choosing healthier alternatives when eating out, cooking at home and even opting for drive-through where portions are smaller.

U.S. dietary guidelines recommend healthy adults get a maximum daily dose of about 2,300 mg of salt. But some of the meals on CSPI's list had more than 6,000 mg. With large portion sizes, sit-down restaurants like Red Lobster, Chili's and Olive Garden can be more of a problem than fast food.

Doctors like Keith Ayoob, director of the nutrition clinic at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, worry because too much salt can contribute to high blood pressure, potentially leading to heart attack and stroke.

But salt is an inexpensive flavor enhancer that your taste buds quickly get used to and crave -- and it can be tricky to monitor how much you're consuming, Ayoob said.

Two cases in point: An otherwise healthy stir-fry can be loaded with salt and so can broth-based soups.

"It's not something like fat where you can kind of see a greasy food and you know it's there," Ayoob told ABC News.

That's one reason restaurants that made the list say they work hard to keep customers informed and offer healthy choices.

Red Lobster, for instance, posts nutritional content for all of its meals on its Web site, redlobster.com, and in its restaurants. An online calculator also lets customers add up what they're consuming in a full meal and swap in healthier alternatives.

"Red Lobster offers many options for those watching their sodium intake, including up to eight species of fresh fish in each restaurant and a Lighthouse menu with selections less than 500 calories and 750mg of sodium," Red Lobster's communications director Mark Jaronski said in a statement.

鹽:在調制美味中沒那么神秘,就像炸雞條、洋蔥圈和番茄汁。

但是,今天一個倡導健康飲食的小組說,在一些連鎖餐館,我們一頓飯可能正攝入一天中所需鹽量的近4倍。

公共利益科學中心執行主任邁克爾雅各布森告訴美國廣播公司新聞中心,“如果餐中富含脂肪,也就富含鹽份。如果是低脂肪,鹽含量就低,鹽城就在餐館里 ”,

今天上午美國科學普及中心發表了一份報告,在提到餐中調入納的問題時詳細說明了餐館是罪魁禍首。

摒棄那種不健康的膳食,報告中一些內容建議食用無鹽食物以及選擇較健康的方案,無論外出就餐、在家烹調甚至駕車路邊遇到份量小的食物。

美國飲食指南推薦健康的成年人每天最多攝入2300毫克的鹽。但美國科學普及中心清單中一些膳食已超過6000毫克。對于大規模、靜坐餐館像Red Lobster, Chili's and Olive Garden比快餐的問題更嚴重。

正如阿爾伯特愛因斯坦醫學院的營養診所主任醫生基思Ayoob表示,擔憂是因為食入過多的鹽能促使血壓升高,可能導致心臟病和中風。

Ayoob說但鹽是一種幫助您味蕾迅速適應和打開食欲的廉價香料-監控你正攝入多少鹽量可能會尤為困難。

這方面有兩個問題:一個健康的炒菜除了可以加鹽,還要配個湯。

Ayoob告訴美國廣播公司新聞中心, “這不像在脂肪里您可以看到油膩的食品,你知道它的存在 ”

這就是餐館為什么列了清單表明他們努力讓顧客了解情況并提供健康備選食物。

 例如Red Lobster,其網站上redlobster.com和餐館里貼出所有膳食的營養含量,一個在線計算器也可以讓顧客匯總出一頓飯中攝入了什么而從健康的備選食物中調換。

 Red Lobster交流主任馬克Jaronski在一份聲明中說“Red Lobster為那些關注他們鈉攝入量的人提供了許多備選食物,其中包括在每個餐廳都有8種新鮮的魚和一個選擇少于500卡路里熱量和750mg鈉的燈塔菜單, ”。