Get the Salt Out (47 page)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, cover, and chill for a few hours.
Makes about 1 cup.

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Don’t be fooled into thinking a few tablespoons of a high-sodium sauce
like barbecue sauce couldn’t hurt you. Commercial barbecue sauces contain exactly the kinds of sodium you should avoid, and some brands contain as much as 260 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon. That may not sound like a lot, but if you use three tablespoons of sauce on your chicken, you receive 780 milligrams of sodium—just from three spoonfuls of liquid! That many milligrams is almost the amount you would receive from eating half a days worth of food on a low-salt diet. Make no mistake about it: all commercial barbecue sauces should be avoided.

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If you really enjoy barbecue sauce,
don’t give it up; just make your own. It’s actually quite easy to do. And by making your own barbecue sauce, you can season it exactly to your taste and avoid the unhealthy refined salt and sugar found in commercial brands. Here’s one basic recipe I like.
One to Two Salt Shakers.

Combine all the ingredients except the salt in a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until the mixture boils. Cover, reduce the heat, and allow the sauce to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add Real Salt or spicy herbal salt to taste, if desired. Cool and refrigerate the sauce for future use. (Note: Both tomatoes and molasses can burn if heated too long. For best results when using this sauce, bake or grill plain chicken pieces and brush the sauce on the chicken during the last 5 minutes of cooking. A dab of extra sauce can be added after cooking if desired.)
Makes about 1⅓ cups.

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Want something more simple? Is opening up a bottle and spreading the sauce on more your style than cooking a barbecue sauce from scratch? If so, here’s good news: Robbie’s Barbecue Sauce, available in either mild or hot, is a convenient sauce that has no salt added, no MSG, and no preservatives. It contains only 15 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon. Mr. Spices Honey BBQ Sauce, which also contains no salt, MSG, and preservatives, is sodium-free.
One Salt Shaker.

G
rain-based casual foods—such as pizza, nachos, and cheese crisps—are the second fastest-growing group of foods consumed in the United States, behind only snack foods such as pretzels, popcorn, and crackers. According to a 1994 U.S. Department of Agriculture survey, Americas consumption of “grain-mixture” foods has increased 100 percent in the last twenty years, and its intake of snack foods has risen 200 percent. Its no coincidence that as our intake of processed carbohydrates like these has increased, Americans have gotten fatter. As I explained in the Bonus Tip to tip 249, too many carbohydrates, especially too many refined carbohydrates, can cause the pancreas to secrete excess insulin, and insulin is a fat storage hormone par excellence. But the refined salt content is as troublesome as the processed state of all the carbohydrates Americans eat. A typical serving of pizza (¼ pie) easily can have 1,000 milligrams of sodium, and the sodium content of a sandwich—even what seems like a healthy sandwich with deli turkey slices on whole grain bread—sometimes can rival that amount. Add in a handful of pretzels for a snack, and with just those three foods alone, you often can exceed the maximum daily recommended amounts for sodium.

Make no mistake about it: typical varieties of casual foods, sandwiches, and snacks are laced with refined salt. If your diet is based on these foods, you’re probably unknowingly consuming at least double the amount of sodium you should be. To change this unhealthy pattern, study this chapter well and get back to basics: eat three natural, square meals a day; munch on crunchy, fresh vegetables for snacks; and allow yourself fun foods like pizza as long as you prepare them in salt-smart ways.

The tips in this chapter will remind you just how important it is to eat healthful, satisfying, low-sodium snacks. Refer to this chapter often to reinforce the idea that salt does not need to come as part of the package just because a food is eaten by hand instead of with a fork and knife.