In this article, I would like to talk about something that is quite obvious, but unfortunately not fully realized by everyone, namely the harm of excessive salt consumption.
Therefore, there is a direct correlation between the amount of salt consumed by a person and the likelihood of developing high blood pressure, i.e. hypertension, with all its consequences in the form of cerebral circulatory disorders, heart attacks, strokes and others.
On this basis, the World Health Organization strongly recommends that everyone reduce their salt intake to no more than 2.3 g per day.
The actions each of you can take to reduce salt can be realized in three main ways:
- buying food;
- cooking;
- eating out.
Each of these directions has 5 obvioussimple tips. Let's take a look at what they are!
Buying food
- First of all, choose fresh and natural products. Obviously, if you have fresh vegetables or fruit in front of you, or a piece of raw meat, it is obvious that no one has added anything to these products.
- Read and compare the composition. Any product sold in the 21st century should have a label with the composition, which necessarily indicates the amount of sodium. The advice here is simple: when choosing between two products, take the one with less sodium.
- Pay specialattention to spices. Often they are sold as blends, often indicating for which dishes they are suitable, for example: spices for potatoes, for meat, for fish. Such mixtures usually contain a lot of salt. It is better to make your own seasoning mix, then you will know for sure that there is no salt in it.
- Choose the right preserved food. It should be understood that salt is one of the strongest, most effective, traditional and oldest preservatives, but still mankind has other safe options such as freezing, drying, sterilization, all without adding salt.
- Rinse canned foods (if possible). By rinsing, for example, canned beans or any other canned vegetables, you can reduce the amount of salt by 20-40%.
Cooking
- Experiment with flavors. Since you have decided to reduce the amount of salt, you should be aware that your body will demand food with a more pronounced flavor. Therefore, when cooking, feel free to experiment with different spices such as paprika, dried garlic, and also with lemon juice.
- Boil food properly. When boiling pasta, potatoes, porridge or any other food, do not add salt to the water.
- Experiment with cooking methods. There are cooking methods that allow you to bring out the flavor of food, such as grilling, stewing, baking, etc.
- Cook foods that contain potassium. As a matter of fact, foods containing potassium reduce your appetite for salty foods. The point is that potassium is an antagonist of sodium, so if you eat enough potassium-containing foods, you will not have a strong desire to eat something salty. Foods that contain more potassium are potatoes, legumes, greens, dried fruits and citrus fruits.
- Do not salt the food during cooking, but immediately before eating. In this case, the taste buds will immediately receive a signal of saltiness. If you season food during cooking, the taste of salt becomes less pronounced, and the body does not immediately "recognize" it. Hence the tendency of many salt lovers to add salt to cooked food.
Eating out
- Ask your waiter for dishes prepared without adding salt or salty sauces. Use lemon juice or a little balsamic vinegar to enhance the flavor.
- Ask for dressings or sauces to be served separately, and use them in moderation. Some sauces and dressings may be high in salt and fat.
- Watch out for the words'pickled', 'salted' and 'smoked' on the menu. These will help you identify foods high in sodium.
- Before salting a dish, be sure to taste it. Many people add salt out of habit, but often there is no need and food will taste good without it. Better yet, move the salt shaker from your table to a neighboring one.
- Look for alternatives. Maybe you shouldn't salt your food, but rather pepper it? Or maybe add a little garlic or dill? That way the flavor will be different.
If you gradually but consistently make these changes in your life to reduce the amount of salt you consume, you will eventually find that you no longer want salty foods and can make do with minimal amounts of salt.
Which of these tips do you find easy to follow? If you've found at least some, I recommend you start with them!