Top Tips for Reducing Salt in your Family's Diet - My Fussy Eater | Easy Family Recipes (2024)
by Ciara Attwell, Updated
5 Top Tips for Reducing Salt in your family’s diet!
I truly believe that eating well and eating healthily as either an individual or as a family is about balance. It’s not about completely cutting out certain food groups but just getting the amounts right.
One ingredient that is in an awful lot of the foods we eat is salt or sodium. A lot of it is hidden in foods where we’d least expect it (soups, processed meats and even cheese!) and for that reason an awful lot of us are probably unknowingly consuming too much.
It’s important to get the balance right where salt is concerned. We do need salt in our diet as it helps regulate fluid levels and prevents low blood pressure, but then too much salt has been linked to health problems like heart disease and strokes.
It’s definitely worth taking a look at the recommended salt intake guidelines for both children and adults (these differ) on your national health authorities website and if you think you or your family might be having too much, here are my top 5 tips for reducing your salt intake.
One of the easiest ways to reduce your salt intake is to stop adding it to your meals during cooking or reduce the amount you would usually use. The same can be said for adding it to your meal at the table. I’ve certainly been guilty of adding salt to a meal before I’ve even tasted it purely out of habit so try tasting before you add seasoning. It won’t take long before your taste buds get used to eating less salt and without the added salt you will probably start to taste and really appreciate the other flavours in the food.
Nutrition labels on food these days make this relatively easy and often salt content will be shown on the front of the packing using a colour coded system. Aim for the medium or low salt content ones and enjoy the higher content ones occasionally or in smaller quantities. Once you start looking at the labels, you’ll be surprised to see just how much salt is in things that perhaps would not expect like cottage cheese or cereals for example!
For as long as I can remember, toast and cereals have seemed to be the “go to” breakfast food for a lot of people. They are generally quick to prepare and an easy breakfast that you don’t have to think too much about, but some cereals and bread do contain a lot of salt and you could be consuming a large proportion of your recommended daily intake before you’ve even thought about lunch, snacks or dinner!
If you or your family usually have one or both these items every day for breakfast, try switching to something different for a few days of the week. Here are a few great breakfast recipes that you might like:
Strawberry Quinoa Breakfast Bars
Chocolate Coconut Porridge
DIY Smoothie Bowl for Kids
Shop bought sauces, marinades and salad dressings often contain high levels of sodium and whilst a good tip is to compare brands to find the one that has the lowest content, the best way of knowing how much salt is in your dressings and sauces is to make them from scratch yourself. There are thousands of recipes online these days so it couldn’t be simpler. Here are a couple of examples:
Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce
Homemade Mayo
If you are eating out, don’t be afraid to ask if your meal can be prepared without salt. It won’t always be possible and it will likely depend on the types of restaurant you are eating in, but restaurants these days are so much more use to customers asking for slight alterations to their dishes so don’t be worried about asking and if you don’t ask then you’ll never know!
Eat more fruits and vegetables. Skip or limit frozen dinners and other high-sodium fare such as pizza, fast food, packaged mixes, and canned soups or broths. Choose fresh or frozen skinless poultry, fish, and lean cuts of meat rather than those that are marinated, canned, smoked, brined, or cured.
Eat more fruits and vegetables. Skip or limit frozen dinners and other high-sodium fare such as pizza, fast food, packaged mixes, and canned soups or broths. Choose fresh or frozen skinless poultry, fish, and lean cuts of meat rather than those that are marinated, canned, smoked, brined, or cured.
Alternatives could be garlic, citrus juice, salt-free seasonings, or spices. Prepare rice, pasta, beans, and meats from their most basic forms (dry and fresh) when possible. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Limit sauces, mixes, and instant products, including flavored rice and ready-made pasta.
avoiding adding salt at the table or while cooking. using garlic, herbs, spices, lemon juice and vinegars to flavour food instead of salt. cooking your own food instead of eating takeaway food and pre-packaged foods. avoiding cured and salted processed meats.
Eating vegetables and fruits with a lot of water content also helps. Include apples, lettuce, strawberries, peppers to bring down the levels of salt in your body. Go for oats mixed with plain yoghurt, fruit-based smoothies, salt fewer soups to up your fluid levels and help kidneys in flushing out salts.
Alcohol is a diuretic and causes you to lose water and sodium in the urine. Drinking heavily and vomiting results in sodium loss. No caffeine – Caffeine is also a diuretic. In fact, drinking 4 cups of coffee can cause you to lose 1200 mg of sodium – that's your entire daily recommended sodium intake lost all in one go!
The following foods are high in sodium and should be avoided on a low-sodium diet: Fast food: Burgers, fries, chicken fingers, pizza, etc. Salty snack foods: Salted pretzels, chips, salted nuts, salted crackers, etc.
“The very best thing to do is sweat,” says registered dietitian Julia Zumpano, RD, LD. “The body naturally removes sodium through sweat, tears and urine.” To even out your sodium level, get sweaty by exercising or sitting in a sauna. Drink plenty of fluids and cut out salt and salty foods right away.
You can add lemon juice, lime juice, or apple cider vinegar to salty food to help neutralize the saltiness. A tomato product, such as tomato sauce or tomato paste, will also work since tomatoes are acidic.
If you're a salt lover, suddenly going cold turkey could be a shock, so reduce levels gradually. For every type of salt there are probably 100 different other flavours, so refresh your palate by experimenting with new tastes including herbs, spices, black pepper, or citrus rind and juices.
In acute hyponatremia, sodium levels drop rapidly — resulting in potentially dangerous effects, such as rapid brain swelling, which can result in a coma and death. Premenopausal women appear to be at the greatest risk of hyponatremia-related brain damage.
“The very best thing to do is sweat,” says registered dietitian Julia Zumpano, RD, LD. “The body naturally removes sodium through sweat, tears and urine.” To even out your sodium level, get sweaty by exercising or sitting in a sauna.Drink plenty of fluids and cut out salt and salty foods right away.
These include sweet potatoes, potatoes, greens, tomatoes and lower-sodium tomato sauce, white beans, kidney beans, nonfat yogurt, oranges, bananas and cantaloupe. Potassium helps counter the effects of sodium and may help lower your blood pressure.
Introduction: My name is Frankie Dare, I am a funny, beautiful, proud, fair, pleasant, cheerful, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
