Get the Salt Out (39 page)

246
Be sure to eat cold-water fish rich in Omega 3 essential fatty acids (EFAs)—
fish like salmon, mackerel, trout, haddock, and tuna. Omega 3 EFAs are protective for the heart and known to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. One low-sodium
entree that’s rich in Omega 3 EFAs as well as delicious and easy to prepare is trout almondine. Make it by topping each baked or broiled piece of trout with a drizzle of almond oil and a few teaspoons of home-toasted slivered almonds.
One Salt Shaker.

247
Avoid breaded commercial fish fillets.
Not only are they fried, but the breading used to coat them is also high in salt. (Two Gorton’s Breaded Fish Fillets, for example, contain 480 milligrams of sodium.) In this recipe from
Cooking for Healthy Healing,
Linda Rector-Page has developed a healthier “fried” fish that has a crunchy, nutty coating made out of sesame seeds.
Two Salt Shakers.

Lightly season fish pieces with pepper and sesame salt, then dust them with whole grain flour. Combine the bread crumbs and sesame seeds. Separately mix the egg and water or wine. Dip the fish pieces in the egg mix, then in the crumb mixture to coat well. Cover the bottom of a shallow baking dish with olive oil. Lay the fish pieces in a single layer and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until the fish is firm and white. If you’d like a simple, low-sodium sauce, mix together ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley, ½ cup lemon juice, and ½ cup chopped green onions and spoon it over the fish when serving.
Serves 6.

248
Keep down the sodium content of meals that contain shellfish
by preparing foods like shrimp and scallops with low-sodium ingredients. (Especially avoid using salted butter sauces or soy sauce.) Try tasty, low-sodium combinations such as herbed oil, lemon juice, and minced garlic; low-sodium tomato juice, onions, green peppers, and Italian seasonings; or Herb Butter (see tip 42) and white wine.
One to Two Salt Shakers.

249
Although it has become a favorite in much of America,
commercial white pasta is a poor food choice when you’re getting the salt out of your diet. It is true that pasta is quite low in sodium, but it also is exceedingly low in most other minerals, especially minerals that balance sodium. When whole wheat grain is refined into white flour, 60 percent of its calcium, 77 percent of its potassium, and 84 percent of its magnesium are removed. Pasta made from white flour, therefore, is light on nutrition as well as being so bland that it almost requires salty sauces to give it some taste. Whole grain pasta, on the other hand, is more nutritious and has a unique, almost nutty flavor that stands well on its own.

BONUS TIP:
It bears repeating that pasta is not the wonder food some low fat diet gurus have made it out to be. Although pasta has been deemed a low-fat food that will help you keep the weight off, this idea recently has been refuted, even by notable publications like the
New York Times.
It’s now known that high-carbohydrate meals like those centered around pasta cause the
pancreas to secrete insulin, which is a
fat-storage hormone.
For an increasing number of people, eating too many carbohydrates like pasta can cause not only weight gain but also an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. My books
Get the Sugar Out
and
Your Body Knows Best
cover this complex topic more thoroughly, but the most important thing to know is that its best to eat whole grain pasta as a side dish with some protein instead of as a meal by itself.

250
Skip sodium-rich Parmesan or Romano cheese on grains and pasta,
and replace it with the flavorful, low-sodium combination of lemon zest and minced garlic.
One Salt Shaker.