More flavours, less salt

SALT is critical for flavour. It enhances sweetness, mellows bitterness, improves texture, acts as a preservative and more.

That’s why if it is missing from a recipe’s ingredient list, it’s most likely a typo. But too much salt can have serious health consequences, because it increases the risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) which causes heart disease and stroke, and can lead to kidney, brain and eye damage.

A new study published in the JAMA showed that reducing salt by 1 teaspoon a day going from a high-sodium to a low-sodium diet was just as effective at lowering blood pressure as taking medication. The dramatic results were seen in just one week. The study also underscored that even those taking blood pressure medications benefit from reducing their sodium intake. You can’t just pop a pill and forget about what you are eating you also need to keep salt in check for optimal health.

If you don’t have high blood pressure, you might think this doesn’t apply to you, but it does. Cutting back on salt can help keep you at the lower end of the normal blood pressure range, which reduces cardio risk factors and helps prevent hypertension down the road. There’s a small subset of people who should avoid a low-sodium diet it’s always a good idea to talk with your doctor before you make any significant dietary changes.

Here are some ways to reduce salt without losing flavour:

Cook more

More than 70% of the sodium in our diets comes from packaged, processed and prepared foods. Cooking more often and using minimally processed ingredients is the single most impactful thing you can do to keep sodium in check. Any dish you make yourself will probably have less sodium than a store-bought version.

Build flavour healthfully Instead of leaning on salt as a primary seasoning, build flavour healthfully by exploring the wide and wondrous realm of spices, fresh and dried herbs, citrus juice and zest, vinegars, chillies, mushrooms, garlic, onion, ginger and more, then use salt sparingly to bring it all together. There are many excellent salt-free seasoning blends to shake onto foods, too. If you taste a finished dish and it seems a bit flat, try a spritz of lemon juice or a splash of vinegar before you reach for the salt. Often, that bit of acid is all a dish needs to have a compelling pop. Don’t get trapped in an all-or-nothing mentality: Some salt is important for flavour, just use it strategically. Check labels and buy low-sodium There’s no need to rule out convenient canned, boxed and frozen ingredients. Just opt for those labelled low-sodium or no-salt-added whenever possible. You can always add salt and/ or other seasoning to taste, but this way you’re in control of how much. Check the nutrition labels on packaged foods; salt content can vary widely within the same food category, and many foods that don’t taste salty, such as bread, cottage cheese and ready-toeat breakfast cereals, can be surprisingly high in sodium.

Factor in salty seasonings

Many mouthwatering ingredients such as mustard, miso, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, hot sauce, olive, capers and many cheeses are salty. Think of them accordingly as forms of salt, adding them to dishes first and tasting before reaching for it. Retrain your taste buds

The more salt you are accustomed to eating, the more it takes to perceive saltiness in food. So by habitually eating a lot of salt we trap ourselves into needing an excess for food to taste good. Luckily, “taste buds are adaptable little fellas,” says preventive and lifestyle medicine expert Dr David Katz. It takes a couple of months to adjust, but eventually lower sodium foods start tasting amply salty. Katz calls the transition “taste bud rehab”, and it’s a programme worth committing to, especially because there are so many other flavours to explore.

Practice these strategies until they become second nature. Over time, you will wind up eating less salt without thinking about it at all. |