At On Track Eating we want to promote a healthy, balanced diet. One aspect of this that I am going to look at in this blog post is salt. Most people have too much salt in their diet and reducing your salt intake is one step towards healthier eating. Although you might not add salt at the table, about 75% of the salt we consume is already in the food that we buy. Eating too much salt can cause health problems such as raised blood pressure, leading to heart disease and strokes.
Foods that are often high in salt include:
1. Salty meats such as ham, bacon, sausages and smoked meat or fish
2. Soups
3. Soy sauce, stock cubes, gravy powder and salted flavourings
4. Meat and yeast extracts
5. Hard cheese
6. Salted snacks like crisps and peanuts
7. Ready meals
8. Baked beans
9. Sauces
10. Some breakfast cereals
11. Pizza
The current recommendations are for adults to have less than 6g of salt a day (approximately one teaspoon) but the average salt intake is 9g. Not only is salt often added in cooking and at the table but high levels are also found in many processed foods. Check food labels to see how much salt the item contains. Sometimes labels show sodium which forms part of salt. To convert sodium to salt multiply it by 2.5. For example 2.4g sodium = 6g salt.
High levels per 100g are:
Salt 1.5g
Sodium 0.6g
Low levels per 100g are:
Salt 0.3g
Sodium 0.1g
How to reduce the amount of salt that you are having:
1. Don’t add salt to food when cooking or at the table.
2. Check the labels of food that you buy. Choose ‘no added salt’ products where possible.
3. Use pepper, lemon juice, herbs and spices instead of salt to give added flavour.
4. Reduce the amount of food that you eat containing higher levels of salt.
You may find that you are very used to the taste of salt and it may take some time for your taste buds to adjust to having less. However, it is worth persevering!
If you would like to find out more, why not visit the On Track Eating main website where you will find information on healthy eating and weight loss.
This is a great post! We just recently noticed how much sodium we were really getting. I am not one to add salt to cooking or if I do in moderation. I do add a little to homemade spaghetti sauce for example. I always thought I had a lower sodium diet until I really started reading labels. My honey was diagnosed with high blood pressure a couple days ago-there was more to it then diet but he also added salt to food on his plate. I am changing the diet in the household to a lower sodium diet and I now realize exactly how much sodium we were really getting! This post helps me to know what to be careful with, thank you