From Lnscommunityradio
Here’s a mystery: you shake a few grains of salt on your scrambled eggs, add a pinch to your mixed green salad at lunch and then scatter a bit more on dinner’s baked potato and roasted chicken. The total? Scarcely 1⁄2 teaspoon. Yet somehow, most people actually consume nearly two heaping teaspoons of blood pressure-raising sodium chloride daily.
Where Does It All Come From?
Three-quarters of the sodium in our diets isn’t from a salt shaker. It’s hidden in processed foods, such as canned vegetables and soups; condiments, such as soy and Worcestershire sauce; fast-food burgers (and fries); and cured or preserved meats, such as bacon and sliced ham or turkey.
Some occurs naturally in unprocessed edibles, such as milk, beets and celery. That’s a good thing: sodium is necessary for life. It helps to regulate blood pressure, maintains the body’s fluid balance, transmits nerve impulses, makes muscles contract, and keeps your senses of taste, smell and touch working properly. You need a little every day to replace what is lost to sweat, tears and other excretions.
Safe Upper Limit
But is more salt harmful? Scientists—and the salt industry—have debated this for decades but medical evidence suggests that it is. Medical experts around the world agree: Most people eat too much salt. There is a strong link between a high salt diet and the development of high blood pressure. Reducing blood pressure lowers your risk of stroke and heart disease.
Shake the Salt Habit
Free yourself from your addiction to salt with these strategies. In a few weeks you'll feel better, and you won't miss it at all.
Omit salt from recipes or automatically reduce sodium by 25 per cent by measuring out the same amount of coarse salt instead—the coarse granules of these salts don’t pack as tightly into a measuring spoon.
Take the saltshaker off your table. If it’s not there, you may not think about adding salt to your meal.
Use other flavourings, such as herbs and spices, lemon or mustard to flavour your foods.
Use spices such as coriander, caraway and fennel seeds to add flavour to fish dishes and cooked vegetables.
Choose the “no added sugar or salt” varieties of canned foods such as kidney beans, chickpeas and sweet corn. If you can’t find beans packed in water, rinse them thoroughly before using them, to remove some of the salt.
Processed foods, such as canned soups, often contain very high levels of salt. Invest in a blender or food processor so that you can make your own.
Give unsalted or reduced-sodium pretzels, chips, peanuts and condiments a try.
Instead of adding salt, give cooked vegetables a bit of a lift by adding the zest (grated rind) and juice of a lemon.
