Too much salt can leave you feeling bloated and heavy. If you’re in the habit of regularly consuming an excess amount of salt, you’re also at risk of developing high blood pressure or hypertension. Fortunately, there are four, easy ways to cut your salt intake without feeling deprived.
Stop Consuming Ready-Made Foods
Processed or pre-packaged foods often contain excessive amounts of sodium, sugar, and fat. Cutting these things out and choosing to prepare your meals and snacks on your own is an easy and affordable way to limit your salt while still enjoying flavorful and healthy foods. This remains true, even if you choose to sprinkle your foods with a small amount of salt before serving. The amount of sodium that you consciously add to your plate will likely be far less than the amount that’s routinely added to processed goods.
Get Your Meat Fresh From The Butcher
Many frozen cuts of meat have been injected with a special, sodium-containing solution to make them more flavorful and tender. Rather than buying flash-frozen meats or any other meat that’s already been packaged, always get your beef and poultry fresh from a reputable, local butcher. When in doubt, be sure to ask the butcher whether any injectable solutions have been used in the available products. Keep in mind that some flash-frozen meats can contain up to 25 percent of an injectable, sodium-based solution.
Choose Fresh Produce
Rather than reaching for roasted nuts, pretzels, or potato chips, load up on fresh fruits and vegetables whenever you feel peckish in-between meals. In fact, fresh produce should always be your go-to selection when you have the choice of using recently picked items, canned produce, or frozen produce. Both canned and frozen produce will always have at least a nominal amount of added sodium while fresh options will not. When shopping the produce aisle, you should also load up on fresh spices and herbs given that these are excellent alternatives to salt when cooking.
Ask Your Waiter To Serve Your Meal Without Salt
Many people regularly make special requests when dining out, whether they want chefs to hold the cheese or cook their meats medium-rare. One change that a lot of consumers aren’t aware that they can ask for, however, is to simply have the salt left out of their meals when preparing them. This simple change will again put you in control of exactly how much sodium your food contains. Best of all, you can always take advantage of the salt and pepper shakers at your table to season your meal to your liking.