Get the Salt Out (64 page)

395
Patronize restaurants where food is cooked to order,
and request that your meal be simply prepared—baked, broiled, or grilled—without salt or seasoning salts.
One Salt Shaker.

396
Also ask that your entrée be served without sauces or gravies—
or ask for them on the side and use them sparingly.
One to Two Salt Shakers.

397
To prevent bland food from arriving at your table,
tell the server that you’d prefer herbs to be used liberally in your order.
One Salt Shaker.

398
Or ask if chopped chives or other fresh herbs can be served on the side with your meal.
If you see on the menu that fresh herbs are listed as seasonings or garnishes in other entrees, this request almost always can be granted.
One Salt Shaker.

399
Ask for lemon wedges with your entrée.
Lemon juice always gives salt-free food more kick.
One Salt Shaker.

400
Pick and choose from the menu.
If a particular item appears somewhere on the menu, you should be able to get it with whatever entrée you want. If you see a romaine lettuce salad topped with teriyaki chicken strips on the menu and you also see a plain grilled chicken breast sandwich, there’s no reason
you should not be able to combine the lower-sodium components of both entrees and get a romaine lettuce salad topped with plain grilled chicken strips.
One Salt Shaker.

BONUS TIP:
Be bold yet polite when asking your server for special favors. If you have a hard time doing this, remember that you’re the customer and its in the restaurants best interests to have a satisfied one. After your meal, reward your server accordingly: if he or she worked especially hard to accommodate your wishes, express your thanks to that person and be especially generous with your tip.

401
Consider carrying a small salt-free herb shaker to the restaurant with you.
(It’s easy to carry a shaker to the restaurant in a purse or coat pocket.) If you’re used to using salt-free blends at home, you’ll probably enjoy low-salt foods in restaurants much more if you can season them to taste with your favorite herbal blend.
One Salt Shaker.

402
Carry “good” salt with you.
As I’ve mentioned throughout this book, the kind of salt you use is extremely important to your health. If you are careful to ask that your meals in restaurants be prepared without salt (which is always the refined variety), then adding a few shakes of natural salt is hardly ever a problem and, many times, can even enhance your health. (As I mentioned in the Preface, for many of my clients, especially those who have low-sodium blood levels, they actually need a little bit of natural salt added to unprocessed foods to achieve their best health.) Some herbal salts such as Bioforce’s Herbamare and Trocomare (mentioned in tip 59) are available in 3.2-ounce shaker bottles that can be carried like salt-free herb shakers in a purse or coat pocket. The most helpful traveling salt shaker I know of, however, is an ultra-small, refillable, plastic shaker available from Real Salt. (See tip 55.) With dimensions of 1½ inches by 2 inches by ½ inch, this salt shaker can be carried anywhere because it can easily fit into any pocket. I myself carry one with me wherever I go, and I recommend
this handy shaker full of healthy salt to all of my clients. See the Resources section for information on how you can order this convenient product.
Two Salt Shakers.

403
Seek out natural food restaurants.
By now, you probably know the rule: the more natural the foods are that you eat, the better. When you eat at natural food restaurants, you automatically know that the selections offered are made with fresh, natural ingredients and that the use of prepackaged or processed foods is minimal. Consequently, hidden salt in the food isn’t as much of a problem. (Don’t let down your guard though: even when you eat in natural food restaurants, you still need to be savvy about salt.)

BONUS TIP:
An unexpected bonus on the tables of some natural food restaurants is shakers of herbal blends or healthy salt like sesame salt instead of common table salt.