Get the Salt Out (71 page)

448
Gradually wean yourself away from typically salty foods
by switching to lower-sodium, healthier, sea-salted products found in health food stores.

449
Stay in close contact with your doctor,
especially if you are currently taking medication. If you cut the salt in your diet in a noticeable way, your blood pressure could change dramatically, and some ailments, such as migraines or bloating from water retention, may be alleviated. Your medication, therefore, may need to be reduced or even eliminated.

450
Cut out sodium-rich medicines
such as the
antacids Alka-Seltzer and Bromo-Seltzer. With 995 sodium milligrams per two-tablet dose of Alka-Seltzer and 761 sodium milligrams in one tablet of Bromo-Seltzer, these ill-advised medicines contribute more sodium to your diet than many fast foods.

451
Get rid of other unnecessary sodium sources in your life.
Common commercial toothpaste, for example, contains sodium saccharin, a substance that has been shown to cause cancer in rats. Avoid this unhealthy source of sodium by switching to a toothpaste that has no saccharin, such as Toms of Maine.

452
Another surprising source of sodium
is the glue on the back of postage stamps. If you’re stamping a lot of letters, it makes sense to use a sponge.

453
If simply out of habit you shake more salt on your food than you should,
tape over some of the holes on your salt shaker to cut down on the sodium you consume and to gradually reeducate your taste buds to enjoy less salt.

454
Keep a food diary.
Many of my clients think their diets are healthy until I ask them to keep food diaries. Then they start to see the truth of what they’re really eating. I encourage you to try this valuable experience: jot down everything you eat and drink for a week or two and honestly appraise how low your salt intake actually is.

455
Look for patterns in your food record,
particularly in regard to when you crave and indulge in salt. Some of the patterns I have seen among my clients are that they tend to want to binge on salty junk food when they’re overworked or overstressed, and many eat more salt than they should on weekends. Knowing your body’s tendencies is tremendously useful: if you pinpoint the kinds of personal situations in which you have trouble avoiding salt, you will be much better prepared to handle them in the future.

456
If you like to keep numerical count of the sodium milligrams you ingest,
buy yourself a clear, easy-to-follow sodium counter and familiarize yourself with it. A number of books of this sort are available. One I often use for reference is
The Sodium Counter
by Annette B. Natow, Ph.D., R.D., and Jo-Ann Heslin, M.A., R.D.

BONUS TIP:
Sodium counters can help you understand why you should eat naturally because they statistically show you how much higher in sodium processed and fast foods are than natural foods. The biggest drawback of sodium counters, however, is that they usually don’t list the sodium content of the healthier food options carried in natural food stores. You can use them to learn about the sodium content of commercial foods (the ones you want to avoid), but understand that they don’t represent many of the lower-sodium foods available to you.

457
Use cookbooks that support your conviction to get the salt out.
When you do something new, it always helps to have references that show you how to do it. Although you can adapt your old recipes to lower their salt content, you may find it easier to keep to your new way of eating if you start anew with low-salt cookbooks in combination with the recipes in this book.