Get the Salt Out (25 page)

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Seek out low-sodium or very-low-sodium ready-to-eat cereals.
Hidden in some of the healthiest-looking cereals is sodium in every disguised form imaginable. Since cereals are made with grains (and sometimes with dried fruits and nuts), they should contain very little sodium. Most commercial brands, however, are made with so much salt and sodium
preservatives that they often contain between 200 to 300 milligrams or more of sodium per serving. (A ¾-cup serving of Ralston Wheat Chex contains 390 milligrams!) Review the list of sodium names in tip 78 before you shop for cereals, and don’t be fooled by cereals that look healthy just because they are labeled “low-fat” or “fat-free.” Many of these cereals supply more sodium per ounce than potato chips! When in doubt, stick with basics like salt-free, sugar-free, low-fat shredded wheat or oatmeal.
One Salt Shaker.

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Take a trip to your local natural food store
to find healthier, lower-sodium alternatives to your favorite cereals. If you start your day with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, the most popular cereal worldwide, I bet you didn’t know that you consume 300 milligrams of sodium in every one-cup serving. If you make just one change—switch to Arrowhead Mills Corn Flakes—you’ll reduce your sodium intake at breakfast by 80 percent! (In addition, you’ll eat a cereal made with organically produced corn and sweeteners and one that is preserved with vitamins C and E instead of harmful BHA and BHT.)
One Salt Shaker.

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Choose hot, whole-grain cereals that have no salt added.
Once again, Arrowhead Mills is a good brand. It makes a complete line of organically produced hot cereals that are sodium-free.
One Salt Shaker.

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Make hot cereals with little or no salt,
even though package instructions usually call for it. If you make regular oatmeal without salt instead of with salt, the savings in unnecessary sodium is substantial.: one milligram instead of 374.
One Salt Shaker.

162
Add dried herbs or herb seeds to hot cereal instead of salt.
One addition that will delight the senses is crushed anise seeds or caraway seeds in cooked cream of rye cereal.
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Also try chopped fruits and toasted, chopped nuts in hot cereal.
These additions are tasty and filled with nutrients but extremely low in sodium. Fruits and nuts also can be mixed and matched in many different ways to create inventive, enjoyable cereals. One client of mine likes to start her day with oatmeal topped with chopped apple, toasted walnuts, and a light sprinkling of cinnamon. Another one opts for cooked cream of brown rice cereal mixed with plenty of flavorful toasted pecans and a few raisins.
One Salt Shaker.

S
oups and salads are handy foods. They can be snacks, starters before a main course, or meals in themselves. They also can range in flavor from cool to mild to spicy hot. Salads can satisfy our need to crunch and chew, while soups are the ultimate comfort foods, allowing us to sip easy-to-digest liquid nutrition.

At their best, soups and salads showcase the wonderful flavor and nutrition of fresh vegetables (and sometimes of fresh meat and grains) with very little sodium. At their worst, however, soups and salads are salt-laden nutritional disasters disguised as healthful foods. The difference depends on what kinds of ingredients go into your soup pot or salad bowl. Is the soup made from low-sodium homemade stock or high-sodium commercial stock? Are a variety of fresh vegetables and herbs added to flavor the soup, or loads of salt and sodium-containing ingredients that sound as if they belong in a chemistry experiment? Is the dressing on your fresh low-sodium salad a homemade vinaigrette or a store-bought blue cheese? Start asking yourself questions like these and you will be well on your way to mastering the challenge of getting the salt out of soups and salads.

Reducing salt in soups and salads while enhancing their flavor
is a little-known art. In this day and age when reducing fat is the main health buzz Americans hear, extra salt is often added to soups and salads for flavor. The tips in this chapter will help teach you the secrets of how to make soups and salads with less salt but plenty of zest.