A certain amount of salt is a necessary intake for the proper functioning of our body, but the unfortunate part of the story is that we have a tendency to over consume. As the years pass by, we tend to consume more and more salt creating an unwanted deposit of sodium chloride inside our system. This is unhealthy and may lead to a built up of hypertension and an enhancement of blood pressure over the years.
Studies reveal that our normal salt intake should be limited to 1500 mg per day with an upper threshold limit of 2300 mg maximum. However, salt consumption pattern in individuals shows that we consume far higher quantities of salt touching around 3400 mg per day which is certainly not beneficial for health.
Here we have ways to consume much lesser amount of salt and yet need not forego the taste:
- Use of whole foods:
It is not that salt that travels into our bloodstream comes from the additional pinch of table salt that we add to our meals. A lot of salt comes from the packaged food that we consume regularly. If you explore the packs of instant soups,ketchups, and packaged vegetables you find the salt content levels in these foods. So be careful. Enough salt is already present in these packaged foods that we eat. So what is the point in adding those extra spoonfuls of salt to our meal that is clinically harmful?
- Swap with low sodium products:
While exploring your picks in the supermarkets you have a lot of options for switching over to food items with low sodium content. Select those with low sodium content that one should take to maintain the salt intake below the limit of 1500 mg per day. Broth, for example, comes with different salt contents. You can easily replace the one having as high as 800 mg per serving by the one that contains only 140 mg of salt per serving. The data on the package will be of great help in your food selection.
- Use of spices and herbs:
Adding spices and herbs to your food will certainly enhance the taste of your meal without having to rely much on salt to make your meal tasty. Spices and herbs often come with wonderful aromas and they are healthy. They help you dispense with salt altogether. However, you may take salt along with spices but the quantity should be well below the recommended level. Stock up your kitchen store with spices like fenugreek, coriander, black pepper, paprika, turmeric and fenugreek. They have great flavors and prevent you from high salt consumption.
- Cultivate a low sodium lifestyle:
To exercise control on your sodium intake, you need to educate yourself on this mineral. You got to understand about the healthy requirement per day and when you are about to cross the danger level. Some foods have hidden sodium content you never know. These are dangerous for health. Try to avoid them. Most of the canned pickles have very high sodium content and it is better not to have them too often. The label on the food package will be your guide for that matter.
- Try looking beyond the rack:
Do not carry a notion that all those tastes come from the jar and cans of processed food alone. We basically have five tastes to go with; sweet,sour,bitter, umami and salty.Foods like carrot,beet,celery,beef,shellfish, and egg whites have sufficient salt content. Eat them. They are darn tasty in their own right. They will take care of the salt requirement of your body as well.
- Taste before you season:
One way to cut on salt at the very initial stage is to taste the food while it is still being cooked. Our food whether bought from malls or local peasant market already contains salt. Now taking this extra salt at the table has been more of a habit for us. It is a pre-dining ritual sort of act that doesn’t make a great difference in taste but contributes to your health hazards. So tasting the salt at the preparation stage is a concrete signal whether you would need any more at the table.
- Grow an aversion towards salt:
If you cut down on salt gradually, your taste buds will get accustomed to it. You will no longer feel it is really necessary to load yourself with the extra spoonful that you used to do before.
Excess consumption of table salt invites health hazards. To maintain the satisfying taste of your dish, there are simple ways to reduce the salt intake yet to be tried.