In the last post I wrote about us eating too much salt, and why that is very harmful for us. Today come some great tips on how to eat less salt, without martyring ourselves. Pick the tips that sound most do-able for you, and try them out! I used to be a huge salt addict but I kicked it, you can do it too!
How to cut down your salt intake:
* What to do at home *
- Salt your food less and less each day. Within just a few days your taste buds will get more sensitive to salty tastes, and you will need much less salt to get the taste !
- Use more herbs in your cooking (preferably fresh), lemon, lime, vinegar. They will give the food a fantastic flavour, you won't need salt for the taste !
- Stock up on salt-free snacks, such as nuts (unsalted !), fresh or dried fruits, seeds, and other healthy stuff
- Rinse canned food like fish, vegetables, feta cheese and capers. That can reduce sodium by almost one third !
- Do not salt your kid's food. Don't make children addicted to something that will cause them health problems later on !
* What to do at the supermarket *
- The salt that you add at home is only half the story. 60 to 80% of the salt that you eat is an additive in various foods.
- Read labels: Check not just the salty stuff, sweet products like hot chocolate can also contain salt.
- Sodium hides in these names on the label: Sodium Glutemate, sodium chloride, sodium caseinate, monosodium glutamate, trisodium phosphate, sodium ascorbate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium stearoyl lactylate.
- Compare brands: One product from a certain brand may contain up to four times the amount of salt as the same item from another brand !
- Get low-salt or low Sodium versions of vegetable bullion, and other condiments in health food stores. They contains a nice combination of spices that give a salty taste with minimum salt.
- Choose fresh over canned products.
* What to do when you eat out *
- Ask for food without salt, when possible.
- Ask for sauces and codiments to be served separately, not on top of your food.
- Avoid fast foods. they are probably the worst culprit when it comes to extremely high amounts of salt.
- Eat more at home. Limit takeaways, use them as a special treat, not as your regular meals.
- Avoid dishes high in salt, (such as Asian sauces, cured meats and cheeses)
Want to know more ?
- Scouting for Sodium
- Salt Content Varies Widely Among Packaged Foods
- FDA contemplating crackdown on salt
- National Salt Policies Overseas and in the United States (quite an interesting little document, about how different governments are trying to control the salt consumption in their countries)
- What are we feeding our Kids?
