Why is it that the very food we love is the exact same thing that can kill us? There you go, sweets, greasy, salty—they are the very ones our doctors advise us against! If you’re like me, which I think is half of the senior population, whose mouth waters everytime the dessert cart passes by or perhaps get a little teary eyed when meeting a bag of chips like it was first time, then it’s time you look into your salt-less diet more closely.
Experts say that a salt-less diet need not be painful. However, for a senior like me who have led a convenient life wherein meals are made delicious by seasonings, it’s quite hard to do a make-over without hurting the way we eat. It’s like having to choose between flavorful dishes or your own life which if it were just me, I would go for the former.
But before we go all emotional, let me just remind you all seniors out there that a saltless diet means you are saving your heart. That’s how important it is. If it isn’t as bad as one day finding yourself just dropping dead, what else can you call waking up one day just to find half of your body not responding to your calls anymore? Bad, isn’t it?
If you are aiming to lessen your salt intake, the first thing you should raid is your food shelf/cabinet. Get rid of all those salty things in there, particularly canned and processed foods since they are found out to be the culprit why Americans have higher than average everyday salt intake. You don’t have to throw them away if you don’t want to but do rinse them before eating (if they can be rinsed) to lessen salt content.
When you go to a grocery store, buy your foods raw or frozen because they are unseasoned, never in cans. Don’t even reach for those labeled “less salt” instead go for unsalted ones. For extra safety measures, don’t buy ready-mades since you wouldn’t know what went in there especially for sauces. Making your own from scratch is still the best way to go. With a little imagination, I bet you can come up with a signature sauce made just by using herbs and spices and without salt.
You can also neutralize salt intake by adding potassium into your diet and drinking lots of water. However, when dining out, always make a conscious effort of ordering a non-salty dish but also be aware that even healthy options can pack salt. For one, when ordering a salad, have the kitchen separate the sauce from the salad itself since the salt is most likely to be in the sauce.
