I saw my doctor today, which I hate doing but they are so much friendlier about sick calls if I do the well visits. And also, if I go too long between check-ups I start imagining scenarios where a doctor tsks regretfully and says, “If only we had caught this sooner.”
The doctor noted that I seemed nervous, and I paused to reflect on how I really do believe that MY type of responses to things are fairly normal and it’s everyone ELSE who could stand to use a little medication to adjust their responses to reality. It OUGHT to make a person nervous to be wearing only the front half of a nightgown and talking with a fully-dressed near-stranger asking Very Personal Questions, in a doctor’s office TEEMING WITH THE GERMS OF SICK PEOPLE, with the potential for hearing Bad News at ANY MOMENT. A nervous response seems NATURAL and APPROPRIATE.
Anyway. I’m supposed to take my blood pressure somewhere that is not a doctor’s office, because she wasn’t sure she was able to get an accurate result, and the number was high for someone my age. In the meantime, she would like me to cut back significantly on salt. Which, is there an easier way? Amputating a limb, would that help?
I am hoping to collect some salt-cutting-back tips, and maybe some salt-COMPENSATING tips (like, if I’m going to eat too much salt, some ways to help counteract the effects). The most helpful kind of tip is something like this: “I love salt TOO! I used to eat it PLAIN as a child!—okay,fine, sometimes as an adult too. And so when I had to cut back, I thought I MIGHT DIE. But I didn’t, and here are a few things that made it easier / more comfortable.”
As opposed to the kind of tip my late mother-in-law used to give, which was criticism + sweeping scorn + complete lack of empathy, along the lines of: “Nobody NEEDS so much SALT! People eat WAY too much of it! All these PROCESSED FOODS! Why, I cut out salt completely and I don’t even miss it! …No, I don’t use other spices instead! Nobody NEEDS those!”
I don’t know if this would work but I just thought of it and I’m going to try it. You know how sugar crystals sprinkled on top of cookies give you a stronger sweet flavor because they’re on the outside alone instead of mixed with all the other non-sweet ingredients? I think it would work with salt. If you don’t salt the food while you’re cooking but sprinkle a small amount of larger sea salt crystals on top at the end, would it taste saltier to your tongue than food with more salt mixed in? I will experiment.
I also like cumin and smoked paprika (not together) for hits of flavor without salt. And I think there are some salt-free seasoning mixes that taste salty, like sugar substitutes but for salt. Good luck, this is a tough one!
This totally, totally works. This works ESPECIALLY well if you have a salt grinder that makes a really fine salt grain, so that instead of big grains, you have a fine salt powder. We have stopped salting food in the cooking process and just pass the salt grinder around at the table – I think we eat a lot less salt, but we FEEL like we are eating more delicious salty foods.
no salt + no spices = my midwestern childhood diet. Ewww. Just keep an eye on frozen foods and bread. Bread has a lot of sodium.
HA!! love it
I’ve found that I can sub lemon juice for salt in many places. Like chicken, fish, vegetables- they all perk up with the addition of a squirt of real lemon juice (not the stuff in the plastic bottles that look like lemons!).
My family was on a pretty strict reduced-salt regimen growing up because my dad had high blood pressure. Some things that seem to work: I buy the salt-free chicken stock concentrate packets (I find mine at trader joes) for use in soups and sauces and whatnot, and buy the no salt added canned beans and tomatoes, and add the salt myself with a lighter hand. Lemon/acid can add a nice brightening/flavor note without salt (increase the vinegar in salad dressings, for example, or add a splash of red wine vinegar if the flavor of a dish seems flat). I am not anti-processed-food as a matter of principle, but it does sadly seem to be easier to avoid lots of unintended extra salt if you make some categories of things yourself instead of buying: enchilada sauce, soup, spaghetti sauce, etc. And I use kosher salt instead of table salt whenever possible in my cooking because it seems to add more salty flavor with less (though that could just be a psychological effect.)
While this is doubtless not *exactly* the kind of bolstering you’re looking for, I have found that one’s taste/palate adjusts pretty quickly, so that what once felt like an inadequate amount of salt comes to seem normal, and what used to seem normal tastes very salty. Hopefully you’ll find the same!
And I’ll end with a plug for the wife of a friend of mine: the sodium girl blog seems pretty good for recipes and suggestions that are low salt (she has a very strict sodium limit due to, I think, a kidney problem). Good luck!
Not psychological, there’s an actual difference between kosher salt and table salt. This is a great run down: http://smittenkitchen.com/tips/2010/06/29/not-all-salts-are-created-equally/
We recently went mostly sodium free at my house. Mrs. Dash makes several products ( taco seasoning, pot roast, veggie dips, and salad dressings) which are sodium free. They take some getting used to but are a good option. Trader Joes sells sodium free tortilla chips…they are amazing. There are lots of products out there…just be prepared to spend hours in the grocery store reading labels. It feels really bad at first and slowly gets a little easier.
I LOVE SALT. And I have high blood pressure (runs in my family, plus I’m a nervous/anxious type) which is treated with medication.
They say that the salt shaker is not the culprit, so I don’t feel guilty shaking a bit of salt on my food at dinner. (I don’t go crazy, but I don’t avoid it.) The places I seem to find TONS of salt are in canned foods (beans are really high in sodium, for instance — pinto beans and the like) and in broths. So that’s where I cut down on sodium — check the labels and buy sodium-free or low-sodium canned items and broth. Or cook fresh instead of from cans, if you can.
I think frozen foods are high in sodium too — we don’t eat a lot of those so I can’t be sure, but your best bet is to check the labels.
I also compensate by adding heat (cayenne, red pepper flakes) but I know that’s hard to do with young kids in the house! ;)
The main culprits are indeed processed foods, especially canned ones, and also restaurants. That accounts for the vast majority of the daily salt intake for most people. I really love salt, but I can’t really even TELL that the canned beans are a source of delicious salt. Other processed foods are worth the sodium sometimes, but the canned beans are SO NOT, to me.
Frozen veggies are just as easy as canned for the most part, and you also skip the whole “bpa in can liners” quandary too, which is also good. The biggest adjustment was that we cook beans from dried beans which is a right pain in the butt but I go through many pots full on a dedicated day and then I freeze them in the number of servings that my family usually needs in ziplock bags, and then it’s no harder than canned beans from there on out. I do this about once or twice a year, because we have a chest freezer. And it FEELS very domestic to have a bean putting-up day, during which you can justify some superlatively lazy activities because you are simmering beans on the stove.
Do you just put them in ziplocs? Do you have any liquid with them?
I just put them in ziplocks, yep! The liquid depends on whether or not the beans have disintegrated into more of a mush from cooking and/or whether I have incorporated delicious seasonings, but usually, I don’t try to include much liquid, but don’t make a huge effort to avoid the liquid either.
Which is to say, I ladle the beans or use a slotted spoon, so I try to drain them before putting them in the bags so as not to make a huge mess, but usually some liquid ends up in the bag anyway.
Cutting salt intake is really hard. BUT I had to do it a few years ago and it wasn’t the worst thing ever. The hardest part was definitely the adjustment period where everything tasted really bland as my tastebuds adjusted.
Here is what I did, noting that I’m not a medical professional…just a regular person:
I cut out processed foods (in a reasonable way…like, I didn’t have time to make my own tomato sauce, so that stayed. But I tried to cut back on, say, a frozen lasagna or a frozen dinner). I limited my intake of canned food (soups, lentils). When I made homemade soup, I used water instead of broth. I never made my own broth, but you could do that and it would likely be lower in sodium that store bought.
I also cut back on cheese and bread because there is a lot of sodium in those. I stopped using table salt. You can get no salt as a replacement, and there are lots of seasoning blends that have no salt – Mrs. Dash’s is wonderful. I also cut back salt in recipes, and didn’t use salt when I was cooking pasta.
When cooking, I used A TON of lemon instead of salt. I really found that I liked the flavour of lemon, and I found that it highlighted or accented flavours in food much the same way salt did. I also used more herbs and spices (I liked pepper, cumin, chili, paprika, fresh ginger & garlic).
Eating out was a real problem, as most everything in restaurants is heavily processed or salted. So I just tried to limit eating out to a special treat. Not being able to quickly order a pizza or Chinese for dinner was a pain…but it was okay as I really didn’t NEED to eat that stuff.
After typing all of this out and thinking about my current diet, I think I need to revisit my low sodium living, as I am really eating unhealthy these days.
Hopefully some of this helps. Also, my high blood pressure ended up being a flukey one time thing, so I hope yours is too!
Great advice! Just what I would have suggested. I’m on BP meds, and would like to get off them.
My doctor also suggested making sure to get plenty of potassium (bananas, avocado…) and garlic.
You can also buy Potassium Chloride (KCl) salt and mix it with the regular Sodium Chloride (NaCl) salt in whatever ratio you like. It’s saltiness without the sodium.
Ugh, I’m so sorry. I love salt and would be so sad if I were instructed to cut back. I second the suggestion to reduce salt use in cooking and sprinkle some kosher salt on before eating.
In case you are interested in second-guessing your doctor, I once read a pretty persuasive piece by Jeffrey Steingarten (in his book “The Man Who Ate Everything) that suggested that most people are not adversely affected by salt, and that even the majority of people who have high blood pressure need not reduce salt intake. I couldn’t find it online, but here’s something to give you the idea: http://www.saferfoods.co.nz/salt2.shtml.
Not the same article, but I found this one pretty enlightening.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/opinion/sunday/we-only-think-we-know-the-truth-about-salt.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
That’s a really interesting article!
For a bunch of reasons I had to stop eating all processed foods a while back, and I started getting serious salt cravings. I’d never been one to put a ton of salt on my food and suddenly I was adding salt to everything. When I talked to my doctor (and got her to check my sodium levels) she said that most people’s bodies are really good at regulating sodium – you have too much you’ll excrete the excess – too little and your sweat won’t be as salty.
So instead of reducing salt intake you could increase the amount of salt leaving your system…say by doing hot yoga or something :)
If you do eat too much salt, drinking a lot of water will help flush it out. Maybe that would be a good option after eating a very salty meal.
Dirnk lots of water. Avoid baked goods (although homemade are fine). Bread/tortillas/crackers- yuck. Low salt wheat thins and corn tortillas (instead of flour) are great substitutes. Shaker salt is okay, it’s the canned food/processed food salt that is so dangerous. And pizza/bacon/sausage. So I have a slice of pizza instead of two, or spaghetti but only one piece of garlic bread, not three. My blood pressure never went down after baby number two so I’m salt conscious. It can be done. The Trader Joe’s chips are really good and low salt beans/veggies/canned foods are available and do not suck.
I pretty much do everything that Pseudostoops said. My husband is 40 and has had high blood pressure for 5 years and takes 2 medications to help control it. He still takes both meds so I can’t say that cutting salt really helped him much in that regard. I do feel like it is still something worthwhile to do, so I do it. It is really not harder to make your own taco seasoning, enchilada sauce, soup, etc and my kids like some foods better now that I make them homemade.
Eating out is much harder because everything! seems! so! salty!, but we rarely eat out anyway so even that is not bad.
I don’t think there’s any way to mitigate salt intake except what Lauren said, which is to drink a lot of water. I also agree that salting at the very end with a large-crystal salt gives you the most bang for your salt buck. Smokey & acidic flavors are also great – they add the kick that foods need to not be bland. I love my lemon pepper mix from Penzey’s. Actually, I love everything I’ve ever bought from Penzey’s! They do mail order if they don’t have a store near you. They have a few salt-free blends – my dad loves their Forward blend. Maybe a first step would be just to be *aware* of how much your sodium intake actually is and where it’s coming from (track it). Bread, tortilla chips & other snack foods, canned foods, etc. Then you could identify areas where you could substitute w/o caring too much, i.e. salt free tortilla chips. I always buy the “low sodium” (or really, “lower sodium”) version of anything canned. Processed foods are definitely where it sneaks in the most.
I love salt, and was also told to scale way back because of my blood pressure. I agree with everyone that looking at any canned things you buy like beans and tomatoes and choosing the low sodium option helps. The things I find I need to pay the most attention to are soups, salad dressings, lunch meats, and sauces.
It took me some time to not feel salt deprived, but my taste for salt did change with a little time. The only thing that finally got me serious was having blood pressure issues when pregnant. But it worked. Now when I take a sip or bite of something I used to like that is high sodium, it tastes incredibly salty.
I have cut back on salt in the past year, so hopefully I can offer done helpful ideas.
1. When I buy canned goods, I look for the ones with little or no sodium. Some cans are labeled “no salt added” , organic canned goods are often much lower in sodium than non-organics. I don’t know why.
1. Unsalted chips are good when eaten with some sort of flavorful but not too salty dip. I like corn chips with salsa or hummus.
3. Supposedly, potassium helps to combat the blood pressure raising effects of sodium. If I have eaten a lot of salt, I try to have a good helping of potassium. a banana, some coconut water, a potato baked in its skin. I have also increased the amount of garlic I eat, it is supposed to help with blood pressure too.
I love salt so I’m having very strong empathy pains for you. My dad has high blood pressure and has been instructed to reduce his salt and he’s done things very similar to the other commentors (no salt added to cooking, unsalted butter, no salt added canned items). But I have also heard what Elissa is referring to as well. I think the problem in the typical Western diet is salt added when you don’t even know it and not so much the actual salt shaker. FWIW, I agree with pseudostoops and think sea salt/kosher is saltier than regular table salt. I’m not sure why but it seems like I can use way less in cooking when I use sea salt and I find that when I roast vegetables, half of the sea salt sticks to the pan but does aid in the flavor of the broccoli, etc.
Drink lots of water, and I always rinse anything I get out of a can (beans, veggies except creamed corn, etc.) I buy low-sodium when I can, I very rarely eat canned soup or frozen meals…but the water thing is probably the most important! And I agree, there is growing evidence that salt is not the problem after all, so I would maybe try to cut down but not get all worked up about it. Good luck!
I had to go low salt for my BP as well. Giving up canned soups/broth was a huge thing and easy to do for me. I also stopped putting the salt shaker on the table or counter: only in the cupboard and only for recipes that NEED it. On the occasion that I eat out, I notice the salt as soon as I get home: thirsty, bloated hands…I try to drink tons of water when I eat out to combat the salt and to keep me full. I mean like I chug my entire water before I order and then another water while I wait for the food. Total chug. I never thought that would work, but it really does make me feel so full that I eat half as much as usual!
I grew up using salt on EVERYTHING. In my early 20s I lived at my grandmother’s house for a while and she kept her salt shaker in the cabinet rather than out on the table. This made a big difference for me. Once I sat down and started eating, my food had to really need salt for me to get up & go over to the cabinet to get it. Eventually I stopped thinking about it most of the time. This doesn’t address anything as far as cooking with salt or buying low/lower-sodium products but it’s a simple thing to try and if it works, it is a DROP! and it is IN THE BUCKET!
Good luck!
I have heard the same (from nutrition professors I work with, I am not a scientist) that salt is only a problem for very very few people. But it sucks if you have to cut back! I have no useful tips as after I heard that from the prof I stopped worrying about it. But!. At the risk of hijacking your comments (which is not my intent) I am curious about the doctor check up and going in the first place. I went for a well check up about 5 years ago (really only because I needed a referral) and the lady basically asked why the heck I was there since I was obviously healthy. I said something lame about thinking periodic check ups were a normal thing and she implied they were not for my age/health. So I got my referral and haven’t been to a primary care physician since except when I was truly sick. Do most mid 30s (ok, late 30s) women get check ups beyond ob gyn? I’m curious!
I see a family practitioner (all in one doctor!), and when I asked for a “regular” checkup a couple years ago (I’m 33 now) she gave me a weird look. So I guess not? But then how do they not catch things that take a while to exhibit symptoms openly (high blood pressure, sugar levels, etc)? I don’t know. Weird.
My doctor is big on preventative health care so I have a regular checkup which mostly involves blood pressure check and arranging for a blood draw for various tests. I am a few years older than you though, although I’ve been going for a few years now too.
Start trying recipes based on fresh herbs and spices. The lemon is a good idea, as well as the red pepper flakes. I also get 1 or 2 fresh bunches of herbs a week and try to plan at least 2 meals around each. Like last week I used cilantro & limes in both a rice side dish as well as an incredible salad dressing with honey and jalapeño. Basil in pesto and caprese salad. Dill in tsatski sauce in gyros and I made pickles. I always keep ginger and parsley on hand too. I guess the main point is that fresh herbs and spices really bring the flavor big time, and you won’t even miss the salt.
I don’t have any salt reducing tips, but I am a person whose blood pressure SKYROCKETS in the doctor’s office, and then is perfectly normal everywhere else. It gets so high that everyone looks alarmed and re-checks and re-checks and waits a little while and checks again, but nope…still sky high. I feel somewhat anxious at the doctor’s (I am a complete hypochondriac) but the blood pressure thing is very annoying. My mother gave me a hospital-grade portable blood pressure machine that I use at home periodically and my blood pressure is always 100% normal. Even after I’ve been dealing with children not wanting to do homework, bickering, etc…so I guess this is just to say that your blood pressure might be completely fine afterall!
I’ve been obsessively reading the Eat This, Not That books for awhile (sometimes just out of curiosity, since I do continue to occasionally eat things that I now know are horrifying.) The huge huge culprit with sodium for most people is fast food and eating out, unless you’re eating at some local gourmet type thing where they’re grilling pineapple and salmon in a bourbon glaze or something. But, like, Ruby Tuesdays? Spaghetti Factory? You’re basically wrecked for a week, sodium wise, after eating there. And Chinese food from most places, obviously.
I really like eating out, unfortunately, so this sucks for me. But for health and fiscal responsibility, I have tried to drastically cut down on the amount of fast food runs or family dinners out we are doing. I miss it, but it’s getting a little easier. I’m just trying really hard to find tasty substitutes at home (besides, you know, POTATO CHIPS, which would be my at-home substitute if I wasn’t also worried about health!) I love hummus, for example, and if you eat it with raw veggies it’s not too terrible, or I think Stacy’s makes a low sodium pita chip?
I, too, recently read an article about how HBP was not necessarily correlative with salt intake, but it does seem like doctors still use that as the first line of defense against HBP, so I’m not going to fight it. Anyway, when I was pregnant I reduced my salt intake because having too much made me bloat up and feel awful — it was a big sacrifice because I LOVE SALT. But here are the things that I did that didn’t make me want to wade into the water with pockets full of sand, and I did NOT stop putting salt on my food altogether:
— Cutting down on the biggest sodium offenders: canned soups (other than low-sodium varieties), deli meats, cured meats, jarred pestos/pasta sauces, and frozen foods (to the extent reasonable)
— Using spices like sriracha, Herbes de Provence, steak seasoning, fresh ginger, or garlic during cooking, and only adding salt to my plate if the taste was really lacking (I have also recently been introduced to a spice called Mural of Flavor that is AWESOME)
— Using kosher salt instead of regular table salt (I still do this and I like it so much better — there is definitely more punch for the amount you use)
— Drinking huge amounts of water
I had high blood pressure for someone my age, as well. It runs in my family, but I’m sure I wasn’t doing anything to help it. Also, I’m a super stressed person as it is. Oh, and then when they tell you your blood pressure is high, how are you supposed to not feel more stressed. Most common question to me in the doctor’s office: What’s wrong? Me: Uh, I’m here. That’s what’s wrong.
I found that when I changed my diet drastically by cutting out coffee, sugar, wheat, and dairy, it went way down. That restrictive diet, frankly, was terrible. Short term, no, I enjoyed the new foods I was eating. Long term, with life and needing to attend lunchtime meetings and get places in a rush and holidays and birthdays and fall with fun coffee drinks and desserts, well, you get the picture. It was very difficult for me to sustain it. Also: EXPENSIVE. However, I think the main difference was very little processed food, plus I ate loads of fruit and vegetables. I found myself needing less and less salt over the four months I was restricting in that way. So, if I had to offer anything, I’d say to eat as much veg as possible without salt all over it if you’re having something salty some other time in the day, drink lots of water, and also maybe try to gradually cut back on the salt rather than go cold turkey.
I have found that the thing that affects my blood pressure most is not salt per se, but MSG and nitrites. I can’t explain it, but it works for me to eliminate MSG. It’s easy these days to find foods without those ingredients. I also agree with those who suggest putting large-flake salt on top of your food, and making sure you are well hydrated. Also, I don’t know if this is unique, but consuming intensive amounts of sugar makes me retain fluid, which raises blood pressure. I’m talking candy splurges, for example. Nothing happens with a reasonable amount, but sometimes I get carried away!
We had to make that same change and it isn’t as daunting as it seems. Processed foods are the devil for sure. Canned Soup & Gatorade is the WORST. Just try to reduce those, if you use them, and see what happens. Also: drink lots of water and then it’s literally a wash. (ba dum bum *ching*)
My guess is more what the doctor called “White Coat Syndrome” which is a real thing and is exactly how you described it. I bet if you take your blood pressure at home, it will be completely different. This is what Kevin does and it’s been great for him. (he winds himself up, similarly to you)
Good job on going to the doctor! You did a healthy thing! Hooray!
Oy. All of the comments above sound like great ideas. I cut out table salt when I was 14 ( I don’t remember why) and it was amazing how quickly my taste buds changed. To this day, I only salt things when cooking and not at the table, unless they are hideous. :) But unlike your MIL, we use all kinds of other spices. I have had some issues with high blood pressure when I go the dr as well, but I tend to get wound up (okay, I’m always wound up/anxious) before a dr’s visit. They usually check me later in the visit and it’s been fine. I am curious about the home blood pressure monitors and how accurate they are. I hope that you find some simple ways to lower it. The only good thing is that there are so many lower-sodium options in the stores now compared to 10 or 20 years ago.
I didn’t read through all the comments so I apologize if I’m repeating something someone already said. I remember reading somewhere that sea salt (the less refined the better) is better for those with high BP because there are other minerals in there that can help compensate for the sodium. That’s probably google-able to verify!
I seem to recall you posting a while back that you had a Fitbit–if you log in to their website and track your food every day, it will show you which items you eat are high in sodium. (Which is how I discovered that a single pickle spear has 1500 mg of sodium.)
If your doctor didn’t mention it, the Dash Diet is all about lowering your blood pressure through no salt intake. It is a helpful resource as to what items are good to eat and which are high in sodium. I find the actual diet itself sort of…bland.
I have issues with insomnia. Every time I have had my blood pressure checked after a particularly bad night, it is always sky high. When I have a good nights sleep, it goes back down to the low end of normal. So maybe try and go to bed earlier or nap in addition to cutting back on the salt?
I loooooove salt, I keep packets in my desk at work for funsies. My family is from the high Rocky Mountains and my mom says we have to eat salt to keep our blood pressure up…despite the fact that we live in the Midwest at 500 ft above sea level now. :) My bp has never been over 120/80, even while pregnant. I taste my food, THEN salt it, but my family salts first…pizza, salad, cantaloupe, watermelon, etc. I would rather give up chocolate than salt, so I don’t have any advice but I am OVERWHELMED with sympathy.
Also, “white coat hypertension” (high bp at doctor’s) is a really real thing, so let’s just pray that’s all it is!
Does salt intake affect your cardiovascular risk? The New England Journal of Medicine had a great article last year on this issue: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1212606
The best evidence from a meta-analysis of prospective randomized controlled trials shows that “decreased salt intake was associated with a significant reduction in cardiovascular events and a nonsignificant reduction in all-cause mortality.” The article also cites the Institute of Medicine by recommending that salt intake be lowered GRADUALLY.
So I’d say go slow with the salt reduction and go back in a couple weeks to the doctor to see if, after getting a few minutes to sit and breathe easy, the high blood pressure is still there. And make sure they are using an appropriately sized cuff — too small a cuff leads to a higher number — and that you don’t have a sweater sleeve bunched up above the cuff.
I loooove salt. As a child I used to lick the insides of leftover packets of Chinese restaurant soy sauce. I remember the first time I saw something labeled “low sodium”, I asked my mother what it meant, and when she explained that when people got older they sometimes had to stop eating salt– I was about seven, and I just felt devastated.
So. I feel your pain.
The only thing I can say is that home cooking seriously reduces salt intake. We cook almost all of our meals from scratch because it’s cheaper, but seriously, processed foods have a lot of unnecessary salt added for preservation purposes at every step of their manufacture. Salt used in home cooking comes nowhere close, even if you regularly give the shaker a dozen shakes over your meal. You still use wayyyy less salt than something prepackaged and preserved.
I agree with some of the above advice too about cutting back and then seeing the doctor again to check for any changes. I feel like the “less salt!!” advice is something they throw at almost everyone and carelessly in many cases.
Or maybe you should delve deeper. Not to make this a more anxiety ridden issue, but the effect on reducing diet sodium content isn’t necessarily effective for everyone.
My father was told to reduce salt, and he tried very very hard to do so, but he found eating mostly veggies and lean meat, and low sugar (as much salt as to taste because you are avoiding most processed foods) and walking/exercise was much much more effective and less stressful than only focusing on salt . Basically, he is following the South Beach Diet and it worked wonders for his blood pressure, with daily walks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/opinion/sunday/we-only-think-we-know-the-truth-about-salt.html?pagewanted=all
Yes, the doctor has gone into various methods and things to try. The salt-reduction is just the one I’m asking for tips on.
OK, good. Because I went on meds, and I’m not even sure they’re helping. I think some of us get high BP as we get older, no matter what we do — but in your case it sounds like “white coat syndrome.” My BP isn’t awful, just above the cut-off where they get excited. So here I am, on Lisinopril, cutting out caffeine (now that I’m off it, I find I’m VERY sensitive to it, and one cup in the morning will make me jittery and keep me up late) but finding that things like getting extra potassium (bananas, avocados) and regular cardio exercise seem to make the most difference.
Losing weight might also make a difference for me, but it’s not that easy when menopause and hip replacement surgery (both sides) enter into the mix. I AM active (or more active than average for my age), just not rehabbed enough from the last surgery 3 months ago to have the stamina to get in 10,000 steps a day (or more), like I would like (and like I used to).
If you’ve got a Fitbit, then you probably have the exercise part covered (or are ready to give it a go).
And I agree with the others who report that limiting salt and sodium only helps SOME people.
I bought a BP monitor and take mine daily. Keep in mind, too, that the public machines in grocery stores and pharmacies aren’t that accurate.
I love salt. LOVE. Yet my husband had to cut it out years ago for HBP, and, well, I still love salt but living with reduced quantities hasn’t been TERRIBLE. We do everything Lawyerish does plus we only use unsalted butter. It is only 90 mg per tbsp, but whatever. I like butter and it was a fairly easy unnoticeable way to cut back. And adding flavor to things is KEY. Like, my husband would buy low sodium turkey, and then use balsamic dressing (homemade, with garlic and a plop of mayo) to snazz up the taste. There are some really good broths that are low sodium – like 140 mg per serving vs 550, so that is a pretty easy way to cut back if you are a soup eater. And in my opinion, most of the low salt options – soy sauce, tomato sauce, beans – are perfectly fine. Especially if you throw in a bunch of ginger or sriracha or garlic or lemon.
But also, as someone who has white coat hypertension like whoa (once I wasn’t allowed to leave the office until my BP came down), take your BP elsewhere and go back with the result. Via email, of course. Just to see if that reduces the low salt recommendation.
Good luck!
A tasty way to lower blood pressure is to consume pomegranate. I like eating the seeds on salads and in yogurt and hot cereal, etc. You can use the juice concentrate to make a yummy drink. Studies have shown this is effective. Also, celery will do that, too, but not everyone loves the taste of celery. I think it is a good snack with cream cheese and raisins on top (ants on a log, anybody?).
Cooking with fresh garlic and onion powder and then seasoning with fresh pepper and lemon or lime has helped us lower our salt intake. I also rinse canned beans before eating them. My husband has very high blood pressure in the doctor’s office and the doctor recommended he buy a kit at the drugstore and do his own readings at home. It was substantially lower at home.
Erik had to do this b/c of his blood pressure and bread was a huge culprit, as I recall. He had a target sodium number he couldn’t go over every day and he really couldn’t eat very much prepared food, unfortunately. His beloved ham was not on the Dash Diet (which is the diet they recommend). I will try very hard to refrain from extensive assvice here except to say that after six weeks of low sodium eating his blood pressure went up, so he bought his own blood pressure cuff and started testing it after various things. In the end nothing made any difference except caffeine, and as soon as he cut that out he had great blood pressure. Sorry for that terrible news and the assvice.
PS I bought some white paint at Home Depot; it was called “Moonlight Dream”. I thought that was a very lovely name, and I thought of you the entire time I fretted over all the various shades of white paint, but MOST ESPECIALLY when the Home Depot Paint Lady gave me the most cursory of service, instead of admiring my lovely choice of “Moonlight Dream” white paint. Nothing was satisfactorily whacked closed. NOTHING.
I had to cut out salt while pregnant both times and while it was tough and sad, it went much easier than I expected and I noticed the results rapidly. Well, I should say I noticed the results if eating a salty meal after having cut down in salt–I could really tell the next day.
Prepared foods are high, which is a no brainer. But also sneaky are the partly prepared foods: frozen veggies, canned veggies, beans. Basically I learned to check if it had an ingredient list on it. The frozen peas with salt still chap my hide.
Try making a gradual change rather than going whole hog. Cut the salt by half in recipes and then cut it altogether a few weeks later. If you find yourself consistently craving salty foods like pretzels or potato chips, drink a cup of water and see if the craving goes away. Sometimes I’m actually dehydrated when I’m craving salty food.
OMG. I just realized that low salt means little to no bacon. I.Am.So.Sorry!
My dad had to cut out sodium after he went into atrial fibrulation and had major heart problems. We ordered so much awesome food from the healthy heart market. We found salt free pickles, beans, crackers etc. Also whole foods has a whole sodium free area. Here is the healthy hearts sodium free section, there is salad dressings, bbq sauce, candies, all kinds of stuff http://healthyheartmarket.com/sodiumfreefoods.aspx
There is ketchup and popcorn too.
We also would buy the low sodium Nut thin crackers.
The next thing we did is watched portions, for example we bought apple juice boxes so when he had juice it was a portioned amount of sodium vs allowing him to just pour out as much as he wanted. We bought everything and then packaged it in serving sizes based on sodium. That way each day he knew he could eat a bag of these crackers, two of these juices, X amount of dip, etc and he wouldn’t exceed his sodium intake.
The first thing you should do is find out how much sodium you can have. Then you need to track it. My fitness pal tracks sodium but there was also two phone apps for him that tracked only sodium and not calories etc. Once we knew how much he could have ie not to exceed 1200 mg a day we based all of his portions on that. The next thing we did is decide how many meals. We said three meals and two snacks a day. So each big meal could have 300 mg of sodium and snacks 100 mg allowing 100 extra mg here and there. Eggs were a good breakfast because you can fill them with tons of veggies and get lots of flavor. Then he was allowed one piece of toast with low sodium butter spread and we found some chicken sausage at trader joes that would keep him at 300. For lunch we did a lot of sandwiches with preportioned nut thins and a juice box for lunch. He could also have an orange or apple with it, or a portioned amount of grapes or strawberries. For dinner a lot of protein seasoned with the 21 salute from trader joes (all purpose seasoning with no sodium), veggies and then a light starch.
it worked well. We kept the pop corn and pickles on hand from the healthy heart market for when he wanted to feel like he was eating salt or snacks.
Apples are only 1mg so apples were a free food he could eat unlimited apples and feel full and satisfied plus get a crunch and good texture.
Hope this helps some
Also, I know everyone says to drink a ton of water however, if you do have high blood pressure it’s possible you have extra water around your heart. With my dad he also had to limit his fluid intake daily because he was retaining too much water and it was putting pressure on his heart. I can’t remember the exact number of fluid but I do know he was limited to no more then 8 glasses of fluid a day. If you do have too much sodium and you are retaining water it will cause more problems. Be careful of the “drink tons of water” advice.
My husband LOVES salt. He would salt the hell out of his food, before he even tasted it. We did a Whole 30 plan-and he stopped salting-after a few days he said “you know, I can actually taste the food now!”. He said before, he was more about tasting the salt. So while I don’t have anything constructive to add-you might take heart that food might taste better once your taste buds adjust.
I can’t even believe I’m going to admit this online. That’s how much I love you.
I have a meditation CD in the car. It is called Liquid Mind.
It has a track ACTUALLY NAMED “Teach me to Whisper.”
(Because I just can’t get the hang of that whole whispering thing.)
Well! Also I have no idea if soothing music lowers blood pressure!
I can tell you, though, that it makes me feel nice and mellow, listening to it, and definitely lowers my blood pressure. It’s like driving underwater. Which I’m sure is totally safe.
So what I would do is: bring my saltiest tortilla chips in the car, and play that CD.
Ok, this has nothing to do with salt, but with a little experiment I did. Bear with me here . . . My husband and I visited Hawaii once when his brother was stationed there with the military. We had a lovely time. While we were there we discovered a Hawaiian music artist that we loved. So, my experiment started when I was pregnant with baby #2. On the way to a doctor’s visit I would listen to this music in the car and imagine myself in Hawaii – on the beach, chilling with family, etc. Well, I promise you I have never had lower blood pressure! My doctor commented every time about how wonderful my blood pressure was. Well, four children later I continue this “trick” – even when I am not going to the doctor. If I feel stressed or anxious, I put on the music and do a little daydreaming. I would be curious for you to try this and report back on your results!
So my MIL is a HUGE convenience food person. So there is lots of salt in my diet. I drink a ton of water to try and compensate with exercise. I know those aren’t things everyone wants to hear but I am sure you will persevere in this as you did with trying new foods.
I read (somewhere?) that if salting food at the table is something you can’t give up, it’s better to put kosher salt in a small salt cellar (read: fancy named bowl with salt in it) and sprinkle a pinch with your fingers rather than use a traditional salt shaker. Kosher is better, as has already been covered, and the pinch-with-fingers give a more evenly distributed salting while still using less.
number one way for me to cut high bp was to lose weight and I know thats not what you wanted to hear BUT I’ve lost 40 pounds in the last 5 months and reduced my high blood pressure significantly–I used to take my BP every day and send it in to the dr once a week and that sucked–I felt like a 10 year old reporting on my chore list–once the weight came down a bit I didn’t have to send it in but I did have to bring in weekly numbers at the end of the month–this was ALL to keep me off bp meds–it came up quite by accident that losing weight would help the bp go down as if losing weight WASN’T something they would normally recommend! WHY NOT?? were they afraid to offend me? If there is a way to do something w/o drugs or surgery I WANT TO KNOW!! Did they talk to you about weight? I still have a LOT to lose but my bp is no longer an issue
I bring this up not to be a downer but because 5 years ago I had surgery to reduce the pain of a broken/stress fracture ankle I neglected to take care of (stupid pride would not let me admit it was hurt) so the pain of it made it unbearable to walk which led to weight gain which led to no exercise and really into a vicious circle after the 10,000 dollar surgery to fix my ankle I was excited to get back to real life and said something like ‘wow now I can get the weight off’ and the foot dr said “well gee if you’d LOST the weight you wouldn’t have needed surgery!” If he had said I needed to lose weight to reduce the ankle I’m sure I would have been offended or embarrassed BUT it wouldn’t have cost 10,000 dollars–either way it still took a long time to get started but I feel better now
a lot of your readers have left excellent advice for cutting salt and I agree with most of them
** cut salt in food
**use the least processed you can find
**don’t use canned veg but try to get frozen instead
** LOTS of water
**put salt on food
**mrs dash is great
I read that if you never eat highly processed crap er food you can salt your homemade food as much as possible
Yes, she talked to me about various methods—the salt is just the method I wanted to gather more tips on, since that one is new to me.
you seem to have garnered a GREAT response here so GOOD LUCK! I’ll be watching (not in a creepy way either) and cheering you on
did she offer to take your bp at the end of the appt too? I found that once I was told it was high I FREAKED the ______ out and then every time I thought of my bp my heart would start to pound and I get panicky feeling and then of course it’s sky high I found it less stressful to take mine at home because even the end of the appt reading was high and I was breathing hard
One weird bp thing that I learned right before I had Bear last October: if you cross your legs while they’re checking your bp, it can be higher. I had my legs crossed at the ankles when the nurse tested it and my bp was 140/something, so she had me uncross my legs and it was 110/sixty-something. Just thought I would mention it because I would never have thought that could affect bp.
Yes! I am astonished at how many medical professionals do not follow guidelines for taking bp. You are supposed to be sitting with your feet flat on the floor (not with your legs hanging off a table), and the arm being measured is supposed to be fully supported, not hanging. And, as another reader mentioned, the blood pressure cuff should be sized appropriately, and there should not be big bunches of fabric under the cuff.
I don’t think you’re a Diet Coke person Swistle (i.e. an addict like *cough* some of us out there)… or at least you’ve never mentioned it before but there’s a significant amount of sodium in some diet soft drinks so that might be something to watch out for. I never thought to even look for salt in a Diet Coke until someone pointed it out to me.
I’m one of those people you described. As child, I once begged my mom for a salt lick to keep in my room (request DENIED). I’ve tried to cut back on salt in my cooking because my husband has high-ish blood pressure, and a family history of crazy blood pressure issues. I see it has been suggested already…the best thing I’ve found is lemon juice, but I also add some vinegar to the lemon juice (white basalmic, specifically, but it took a lot of testing of different vinegars to land on that conclusion, some of which were better than others for our palates). When adding “wet” flavoring doesn’t make sense, I substitute either garlic powder, jerk seasoning, or cajun seasoning for whatever amount of salt I was supposed to put in.
Also, salt and sodium aren’t exactly the same thing. Salt has sodium in it, but foods that are high in sodium aren’t necessarily high in salt. That’s why canned/processed foods that are high in sodium don’t necessarily taste salty at all. I think it’s sodium that tends to be the culprit in high blood pressure issues (as opposed to salt specifically) but I am not an expert on that. But, as mentioned many times, sodium levels are soooooo incredibly much higher in canned/processed foods than fresh. So using fresh produce, for example, is really a much more effective way to lower sodium intake than reducing the amount of salt that you put in your food. Which, hahahahahahaha, is easier said than done! We use a lot of diced tomatoes in our dinners, and instead of buying canned tomatoes I now buy a TON of fresh tomatoes about once a month, boil them for about 30 seconds, chop them up, add some herbs, and then divide them into ziploc bags to freeze. Then when I need a can of diced tomatoes, I just thaw a bag from the freezer. The texture is a little different, but it’s not like we used to savor the texture of canned diced tomatoes, either. The whole tomato process takes me about 45 minutes once a month. I just did a quick Google search, and it looks like one tomato has about 6mg of sodium, and I’d say about 3-4 tomatoes go in each of my bags. A can of diced tomatoes has well over 600mg of sodium.
My grandmother (95 years old, only takes blood pressure meds as HBP is her only health issue), uses an old-fashioned salt cellar with a teeny tiny spoon. She does cook with salt, but again, measured. That way she knows exactly how much salt she’s taking in. She doesn’t use processed foods much.
Swistle, I had to give up dairy (mostly) almost two years ago. DAIRY. So while I don’t have any good salt advice, I do have advice from a person who had to give up something that she loved more than any other food – CHEESE MERCIFUL BEAUTIFUL CHEESE – and that is, it will take a while for the cravings to subside. Meanwhile I can barely remember what cheese was like. I’ve gotten used to substitutes I make myself. You can honestly get used to anything, the trick is to make regular unsalted (or in my case un-cheesed) foods delicious.
I’ve used Mrs Dash in recipes before and it’s pretty tasty. Maybe something like that?
What if you used coarse sea salt instead of table salt? That’s what I started doing. You don’t need as much and the grains are satisfyingly crunchy. I honestly don’t know if this is a real solution or not. But definitely look into spices lemon juice herbs too.
Oh man. This sucks. Salt is the best. Maybe try and figure out where the majority of salt in YOUR diet comes from and start there? And definitely check your BP more times, just to be sure. Automatic cuffs are less accurate than manual ones, so really you should get a nurse friend (me) to do it.
I recommend Kosher salt.
Salt is my weakness.
I could EASILY give up sweets but I actually DID used to sneak piles of salt as a child.
And lick the salt lick in the barn.
Seriously, I would sneak into the barn to lick the animal salt lick, because glorious salt. Luckily my blood pressure isn’t high because if I had to cut back on salt I would probably just perish instead.
My husband has to reduce his salt intake as well, due to high blood pressure. I cook from scratch (nothing pre-packaged and limited canned goods) and try to make everything I can (pasta sauce, for example) so that I can know exactly how much salt is in it. My husband is still learning that the salt shaker is not his enemy (salt has a purpose!). His problem (one of his problems) is snacking — he didn’t realize how much salt was in the crap he got out of the vending machines at work.
This will sound backwards but here goes. Keep a food journal for a week and look up the sodium content of each thing. Find out how much you are roughly taking in and see what might be the most concentrated sources of it. This feels to me like the easiest way to go about a dietary reduction plan. You may not be doing all that badly and only need to make some tweaks in order to get to the recommended level.
I did not read the majority of the replies (there were soo many… great work people!!!) but will add my bit in, even though I’m sure it is nothing new.
I am a pharmacist that works in a heart failure clinic and the people that I see on a daily basis NEED to keep their salt intake to a minimal or they will end up in the hospital with an exacerbation of their heart failure, which could potentially lead to kidney failure and/or death. I am in Canada, so we are on the metric system, and we limit everyone to under 2,000mg of SODIUM or 2g. per day. (let me know if you need a conversion to what your food labels read, although I’m fairly confident that in the US you also look at sodium in mg). SO on that note, I will offer you what we offer our clients.
It is also important to know the conversion between salt and sodium:
1 teaspoon of salt = 2400mg of sodium —> OVER Your entire recommended daily intake of salt.
1 teaspoon of baking soda = 821mg of sodium
1 teaspoon of baking powder = 340mg of sodium
So with this information, I’d like to politely disagree with some of the previous commenters, that if you don’t add salt to your cooking, but just use it to sprinkle on top (depending on what your definition of “sprinkle” is) you could potentially be nearing your entire daily intake of sodium in one sitting. We recommend NO added salt on any foods, especially when it is for flavour – there are many great substitutes that can intensify flavours just as much, you may just have to hunt around. Lime or Lemon juices, low sodium spices like Mrs. Dash, which actually don’t have any sodium.
1). Read nutrition labels. Read Nutrition labels. Read Nutrition labels. Will be a pain at the beginning, but once you get in the habit, it will take you no time at all. Preferably no added salted, or else go for options that are low in sodium if you cannot get around that ingredient. There are a LOT of items that have UNEXPECTED sodium in it. A couple perfect examples of this: Bread crumbs. I have seasoned bread crumbs in my cupboard…. 1/3 cup is 630mg of sodium. WOW. I wouldn’t have expected that from bread crumbs??? I was about to make our most favourite, delicious sausage from Costco and for whatever reason, I looked at the nutrition label. One sausage contained 1200mg of sodium!!! WHAT??? In one sausage that I was having for lunch, I was eating over half of my daily intake. Disgusting. I can’t even look at those sausages anymore. You have to be really careful with packaged or processed foods, including meat. This leads me into my next point…
2). Processsed foods… these have to go. Most processed foods have a ton of sodium in them. Especially pre-packed meats or deli meats and sausages.
3). Watch drinks, like V8, that appear healthy but they are deceiving. Most of these types of drinks have upwards to 800mg of sodium in them. Two of these babies a day and you are almost at your daily limit. Also, caution with soda drinks as well, some have more sodium in it then others. Or a can of tomato juice, 545mg sodium.
4). Restaurant or take out food. Obviously, a lot of salt is added in when you eat out. Cautious when eating out, especially things that you KNOW are high in sodium…. perfect example I would say in Chinese food. If you love it, then maybe save it for a twice a year treat. Try to choose options that would be low in sodium. A lot of restaurants you can ask for no added salt to your meal.
5). Cheese. I am the biggest cheese lover ever. So, I thought I would pull out my cheese in my fridge, here are the labels:
Ricotta Cheese – 32g serving – 72mg sodium
SWISS – 32g serving – 115mg sodium
Cheddar (old) – 30g serving – 210mg sodium
Mozzarella – 30g serving – 240mg sodium
Parmesean – 30g serving – 260mg sodium
Feta – 30g serving – 290mg sodium
Harvarti (jalopeno) – 30g serving – 310mg sodium
I don’t have cottage cheese in my house, but a 30g serving runs between 400-500mg of sodium.
For reference, 30g is about 1/3 of a cup or a 3cm cube of the harder cheeses. As you can see, some cheeses can be really high in sodium. Swiss cheese and ricotta are good options. I use ricotta in all my cooking in place of cottage cheese. Once again, it just goes back to reading labels.
It really is all about awareness and reading those damn annoying food labels. It really is amazing how much salt we intake in a day when we aren’t even aware of it. If you can find a recipe that doesn’t require baking soda (or at least has a minimal amount in) use that in place of the previous one. Choose lower sodium options. Try to make items instead of buying processed foods (cut up potatoes and use salt free seasonings rather than using bagged, processed fries. Really try to avoid adding salt to any of your recipes. You may notice a huge change in taste if you are used to adding salt, however, once you have stopped using it and you do end up with adding salt you will notice it right away and will actually dislike the taste of it (that is what happened to me, I don’t add salt to any of my food or recipes, people have never commented on my food tasting bland as I compensate with various spices, however when I do eat food with salt I can barely stand it).
Here is a good reference put out from the Centre of Disease Control (US) it is a really easy, quick read. http://www.cdc.gov/salt/pdfs/Sodium_QandA.pdf
Anyways, hope that helps a bit. Good luck! And, even if your blood pressure turns out to be in normal range, its still good to eat healthy! (sorry it was really long but hate only giving half the information or providing no examples).
Hm, you’ve got me curious now. We’ve had our pink salt grinder from Costco for about a year now. Our family of four people eating solid foods uses it for most of our salt use (except when we use special flavored salts). It’s 368 servings of salt, each being 1/4 teaspoon and 420mg sodium (17% DV). It’s currently about 2/3 full, after we’ve been using it long enough that the bottle has sort of suffered major structural integrity damages at the hands of the kids. That suggests that our at-table use really isn’t actually that high – because we’ve used about 120 servings of our table salt among our entire family.
(This salt shaker actually lived through my last marathon, actually, which is when I was craving salt like crazy, and for good reason – because I was running long distances in the summer, and as a slower female runner who avoids processed foods I’m definitely cognizant of hyponatremia… and I don’t have blood pressure issues.)
Anyway. Moral is – salt grinders appear to be awesome at causing people to think they are eating lots of delicious salty crust when they aren’t really using very much. I’m really shocked at how little salt we’ve gone through. The salt grinder gets passed around the table most meals, though we only salt to taste.
That is a good point and I am in the exact same boat as you. My salt grinder from Costco we’ve had since our wedding 5 years ago and we still have about 1/4 of the salt left in it. But, I imagine we also treat salt like you… I may do a quick half-grind to top my edamame beans for taste or into my guacamole because that is the ONLY recipe i find you still need to add the salt… So yes, other than that, my salt grinder never really gets any use.
I can guarentee I probably hover the daily limit and some days I probably go over it before supper BUT we also have to remember this is a huge difference between a marathon runner who does not have blood pressure or heart issues and someone who does. People who do have heart issues such as heart failure or someone who has high blood pressure and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, having a high intake of salt puts them at increased risk of heart attack and stroke along with kidney failure resulting from elevated blood pressure. So we have to be cautious of what our habits are as they could easily be misinterpreted by someone else as what mine and your sprinkling is (sounds about the same) is different then what others is (some of my other family members for example Load up their food with salt).
Oops… meant to include this as well. This is quoted directly from the American Heart Association:
It is estimated that if Americans cut their average sodium intake by more than half – to an average of 1,500 milligrams a day – there would be a nearly 26 percent decrease in high blood pressure and a savings of more than $26 billion in healthcare costs over just a year.
The American Heart Association recommends foods with little or no salt to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Aim to eat less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day.
We know sodium is an acquired taste. As you take steps to reduce sodium, you’ll actually start to appreciate foods for their true flavor. In time, you’ll look forward to how food really tastes – not just the salty flavor.
First off, chuck out all your table salt. That stuff is poison, is the same stuff used in industrial applications, and contains only sodium chloride. Step 2, go buy some GOOD salt, like HImalayan crystal salt. It’s got a squillion different salts in it so you’re not only chowing down on sodium, and the balance of salts means it helps your fluid levels balance, rather than retaining it all, which table salt tends to do to you. Himalayan salt hasn’t been processed either, so is as natural as can be, as opposed to table salt which is HIGHLY processed. HImalayan salt is cut out the caves and ground up to your liking. And it’s pink too! Google it too, because It’s actually good for you, and kind of turns the whole Salt As An Evil Being thing on its head. Health wise, this stuff has super dooper improved mine. For reals.
What I would want to know is what IS Himalayan salt made of, and why is that substance better than sodium chloride? The industrial-applications concept doesn’t scare me: the same water we drink is also used in industrial applications, but that doesn’t mean anything bad about the water itself.
I searched it online, and found this on Wikipedia: “The chemical composition of Himalayan salt includes 95–96% sodium chloride, contaminated with 2–3% polyhalite and small amounts of ten other minerals. The pink color is due to iron oxide.”
(“Contaminated” seems like a word choice that needs editing.) I then looked up “polyhalite” and found this: “Polyhalite is an evaporite mineral, a hydrated sulfate of potassium, calcium and magnesium.” I didn’t find anything about other, non-sodium salts, except this in the section on polyhalite: “The name is from the Greek polys hals for many salts.”
It has sodium in it too, and 83 other elements. Yes, water is highly processed too (great comment, by the way!) but it’s not subject to temperatures of around 1500 degrees Fahrenheit like table salt is, and it’s the superheating that changes the nature of the salt molecule.
The other thing is the recent research that’s hinting at the importance of enough sodium in the body. Some bright spark noticed that the risk of heart attacks, strokes, bladibladibla increases for people ingesting more than 7,000 mgs of sodium a day – AND for those getting less than 3,000 mgs, and that when cutting back on sodium to that level and below, triglycerides increase, insulin resistance increases, and some kind of bad juju happens to the nervous system, which, hello there, additional heart disease risk factors.
But it’s like any new information that contradicts something we’ve been told forever – it’s HARD to change a belief that science once swore was fact, even when the fact was decided upon years go when technology was a baby, and particularly when the new fact is all completely NOT what the old fact was. So the progress of contradictory findings can be slooooow.
But back to the salt cage match! Google brings up a shitload of information about Himalayan crystal salt. If what you read resonates, it’s worth trying. If it doesn’t resonate, try it anyway. It’s not expensive :) And it’s pink, fgs. PINK. ie It’s way too pretty to ignore.
I do enjoy pink!
Encouragement: It does get easier! Hang in there! My husband has cut practically all salt out of his diet and I joined him because it was easier. We use to use The No-Salt product but now we don’t do that. He likes other spices a lot, so doesn’t miss the sodium taste. Eating out is more difficult but he has learned what is good to order and what is not. And because he has such a low intake normally then he doesn’t have to worry too much at a restaurant. I don’t work so hard at it, but I really notice when there is a lot of sodium in something and tend to try to avoid processed foods! And I definitely don’t miss the salt and salt shaker (don’t have either in our house).
I also suggest lemon juice, lime juice, and vinegar.
To ‘spice’ things up, I often combine them: a dash of red wine vinegar + a splash of balsamic + a squirt of lemon.
With all the varieties of vinegars, you have options for whichever type of cuisine you’re having. For an Asian-inspired dish, I might choose brown rice vinegar, lime juice, and ginger along with a little sesame oil. I guess one could say the same for salt, but my palate isn’t distinguished enough to appreciate salt sourced from different areas.
I think you might find The Flavor Bible helpful as well. It’s a reference book for cooking. No recipes but rather a list of all possible ingredients and suggestions of complimentary ingredients. For example, butternut squash and sage or carrots and tarragon (those aren’t exciting examples, but I can’t think of sexier ones right now). It makes me look forward to trying new flavor combinations, so I’m expecting something different instead of trying to find a substitute or compensate for reduced salt.
Not sure if anyone already suggested sea vegetables, but I like dulse (it doesn’t have the overwhelming sea weed taste). I use dulse flakes, but I’d really like to try dulse granules.