Get the Salt Out (50 page)

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High quality whole grain bread
is delicious, but it can make your sandwich unusually high in hidden salt unless you choose bread carefully. One common whole grain bread I recently saw in a health food store contained 380 milligrams of
sodium per slice! If you use two slices of a bread like that along with a couple of slices of deli meat, the sodium content of your sandwich can escalate to well over 1,000 milligrams. The bread that usually makes it into the sandwiches I prepare at home are any of the many varieties from French Meadow Bakery. Its spelt sourdough, which contains 55 milligrams of sodium per slice, is a personal favorite of mine.
One to Two Salt Shakers
(depending on the variety).

BONUS TIP:
If you aren’t yet familiar with spelt, you should be. Its a grain that is a close cousin of wheat and is loved as a gourmet food in many parts of Europe. Like wheat, spelt does contain gluten, but it seems to be more easily digestible and better tolerated than wheat (even by some who are allergic to wheat). Many of my clients who have given up white bread but are not yet used to the taste of whole wheat bread prefer the pleasant, almost nutty taste of spelt bread.

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A lower-sodium choice for sandwiches
is Garden of Eatin Very-Low-Salt Bible Bread, a whole-wheat pita bread that contains only 30 milligrams of sodium per pocket.
One Salt Shaker.

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Or lower still is salt-free rye bread
made by both French Meadow Bakery and Rudolph’s. If you’re on a very-low-sodium diet, look for either of these brands in health food stores.
One Salt Shaker.

310
Steer clear of cold cuts,
those convenient sandwich fillers that have the nasty habit of containing unwanted salt and sodium additives. (Even Healthy Choice Oven-Roasted Turkey Breast has 240 milligrams per slice!) Use instead:

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Leftover home-roasted chicken, turkey, or beef slices.
One Salt Shaker.

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Or canned low-sodium tuna. Buying low-sodium tuna offers a substantial reduction in salt and a greater likelihood
that if MSG is added, it will be added in much smaller quantities than it is in regular tuna. (However, buying low-sodium tuna does not guarantee that the tuna will be free of MSG.) Be sure to rinse even low-sodium tuna well. Fortunately, just one minute under the tap rinses away about 75 percent of the sodium.
One Salt Shaker.

313
Try hard-boiled egg slices on your sandwich
and add a potpourri of healthy vegetables like avocado and tomato slices, green pepper strips and spinach or dark lettuce leaves.
One Salt Shaker.

314
Spread your bread with unsalted peanut butter
or any other unsalted nut or seed butter of your choice. For a real treat, try thin slices of apple or pear on your sandwich in place of sugar-rich jelly.
One Salt Shaker.

315
If you buy deli meats
from a supermarket or deli that has its own oven, request “freshly cooked” turkey or roast beef slices. Some places will cook their own meat (which is much lower in sodium) if enough people ask for it.
One to Two Salt Shakers.

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A healthy substitute for bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches?
You bet. In the following recipe, natural-food recipe developer Holly Sollars makes an alternative for bacon with a soy food called tempeh (a vegetarian protein alternative that you can find in health food stores). You’ll be amazed at what a close facsimile Holly’s T.L.T. Sandwich is to the traditional B.L.T.
Three Salt Shakers.