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Surviving a Low-Salt Diet
By Elissa Royal, January & February 2005
Everyone knows that too much salt can hurt your health. Here’s how to cut your salt intake without sacrificing flavor
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"Just take the salt shaker off the table." For years, doctors have
given this advice to their patients with high blood pressure. But it's not
that simple, says Ted Blank, 78.
After heart surgery, when Ted's doctor put him on diuretics to get rid
of excess fluid and a low-salt diet to prevent it from reaccumulating, he
started reading the sodium content on food labels and was stunned by what he
discovered. "They add salt to breakfast cereal. They add salt to desserts.
They add salt to everything!" A cup of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, for
example, has 202 milligrams (mg) of sodium; a cup of General Mills' Wheat
Chex has 267.
The salt shaker, it turns out, is only a minor player in the battle against
sodium.
If your goal is 1,000 mg of sodium a day—the common definition of a
low-salt diet—then a glass of tomato juice and a bowl of cereal with milk
will use your entire daily allowance. But a light sprinkle of salt on a potato
will add only 50 mg; a heavy sprinkle will add 100 mg. "The added sodium
in processed foods is the big problem," says Ted. "Cut that out and
you can keep the salt shaker on the table."
"A low-sodium diet—and I say "low-sodium," not
"low-salt," because that's what we're really talking
about—is a major lifestyle change," he says. Sodium appears in food
in many forms. Table salt is sodium chloride. Processed foods may contain
sodium alginate, sodium benzoate, sodium citrate, sodium hydroxide, sodium
nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium propionate, or sodium sulfite.
You will have to give up certain foods if they need a lot of salt to please
your palate. On the other hand, you will discover wonderful new foods that you
might never have tried if not for the sodium restriction. "No more deli
meats. No more pickles. No more Chinese restaurant buffets," says Ted.
"But if you plan carefully, you can still enjoy many of the foods you
love."
Getting Started
When Ted began his low-salt adventure, his wife, Lee, wondered whether they
could use any of the food they already had in the refrigerator and cabinets, so
she started reading labels. Demoralized, she announced, "It appears that
we should remove all the commercial foods from the house, pile them in the
backyard, and set them on fire."
Ted laughed and assured her that not everything had to go. A few foods can
be diluted, to bring the sodium content down to an acceptable level. Salad
dressings, for instance, can be diluted with oil and vinegar. "We'll
have to chuck all the soups and marinades, and most of the snacks and canned
goods. But keep the salted cashews! I'll wipe off some of the salt and
enjoy them on a day when I've kept my sodium intake really low," joked
Ted.
Lee dusted off her old breadmaking machine, modified the recipes that came
with it, and began making low-sodium bread. "These machines make it so
easy," she says. "And you feel less deprived when you're eating
homemade bread."
Ted, a self-taught cook, bought a low-sodium cookbook and adjusted his
favorite recipes. Then he bought salt-free spice blends and experimented with
new recipes. These spice combinations, such as the Mrs. Dash line, The Spice
Hunter (sold in health food stores), and Spices of the World (sold at Trader
Joe's), tend to rely heavily on garlic, onion, and pepper, sometimes with
the addition of more exotic spices.
To get acclimated to less salt, Ted established a daily regimen in which his
sodium intake is divided somewhat evenly among three meals and an evening
snack. He designed a chart where he faithfully records his sodium intake after
every meal.
Meal planning is a complicated affair at the Blanks', where sodium
content is a factor for Ted and carb content is a factor for Lee, who has
diabetes. "We're the modern-day version of Jack Sprat and his
wife," she laughs. "Jack Sprat could eat no salt; his wife could eat
no carbs." To simplify meal preparation, Lee eats many of her
husband's low-salt foods. "Your palate adjusts," she says.
But Lee warns that to retrain your tastes, you can't indulge yourself as
a reward. If you treat yourself to high-salt snacks one day a week, for
example, you'll just keep wanting salt. Stick to the low-sodium regimen,
she says. "Once you get accustomed to eating less salt, often you
don't miss it at all."
Now, try one of these recipes from Megaheart.com—Curry Chicken, Shrimp and Snow Peas with Rice, Rich Chocolate Cupcakes, Buttermilk Buns, and Grilled Vegetables
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