Comments

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  Christine B.

  Well, I feel ya! I didn't realize how much I liked salt until I bought my favorite soup in low sodium (Pacific brand roasted red pepper/tomato soup). I also bought unsalted butter. I literally COULD NOT taste either. The soup tasted like pureed nothing - I couldn't even taste the tomato sauce taste. The butter was utterly bland. I realize that I must be seriously salt dependent. I will follow this thread!

  over 2 years ago
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  Jane

  In my opinion, FAT FREE actually means “way too much salt!!” Any label on a package that claims their food is fat free should also be state, “we took out the fat and now our food has no taste, so we poured in extra salt to give it flavor!” I always carefully check the labels of foods labelled fat free or heart healthy.

  over 2 years ago
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  Jane

  Also, avoid ham, bacon, sausage and lunch meat in the packages. Go for fish, chicken, good cuts of red meat.

  over 2 years ago
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  Jess

  taper off gradually so your tastes change. Avoid chips at all cost because they will ramp up your cravings.

  over 2 years ago
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  Sandy (Community Guide)

  switch from table salt to a good sea salt. eventually your taste for table salt will become EWWWWW. Table salt stays in your body while the sea salt will leave your body if its not needed.

  over 2 years ago
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  Matt (Food on the Table)

  Good advice Sandy, I've been enjoying sea salt a lot more recently when cooking at home! Try some fresh ground black pepper (not just regular shaking black pepper) for some extra flavor too: it'll help you forget there's not as much salt as you're used to, and your body will become accustomed to the flavors...your body will thank you too!

  over 2 years ago
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  Patricia

  Salt is salt, cut back all the way around. Sea salt has the same chemical composition as table salt!

  over 2 years ago
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  Fred

  I agree with Matt. After awhile, if you carefully abstain from salt, you'll find that sodium tastes metallic (not good). Check the labels. Be sure you don't go over 2000 mg per day, try to hold it to 1000 mg if foods allow. If you check around, there are low/no sodium products on the shelves in better stores. I also make some use of No-Salt brand potassium chloride salt substitute. It works well. In my case, KCl is doctor approved (don't ask the nurses-most don't understand nutrition very well).
  Bottom line: we don't need as much salt as Madison Avenue would have you believe.

  over 2 years ago
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  Sara

  I've found that cooking from scratch uses MUCH less salt if the right recipe is used. America's Test Kitchen has fantastic recipes - just try the Skillet Lasagna. It's a homemade "hamburger helper" type meal that has phenomenal flavor and only a tsp of salt in the whole batch. The sauteed garlic & onion along with the thyme and just a pinch of red pepper flakes make this recipe's flavor punch not need extra salt. 2000 mg of salt a day is a fair amount of salt - isn't as hard as you think to stay close to that amount. Also check out ATK's "cooking for two" and "best light" and "best lighter" recipes. (lighter means that it's lighter than the original without going crazy on the fat-free stuff.)

  over 2 years ago
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  Sandy (Community Guide)

  The Salt Substitutes you really must be careful off that contain Potassium Chloride. Itake enough of this stuff to kill a person but it doesnt effect me. Potassium Chloride can have bad effects on people if consumed to much. Anything from upset stomach to cardiac arrest depending on if your potassium dips to low or ends up to high. Its safer just to stick with something like Mrs. Dash who has a variety of flavors and best of all you dont have the potassium taste in your mouth. To low of sodium can also result in negative effects. A lot of Medications also do NOT allow you to have a salt substitute. So talk to your doctor before doing the salt substitute or stick to something safe Like No Salt Mrs. Dash.

  over 2 years ago
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  Latisha

  I looked up KCl and will give that a try. Thanks so much for the suggestions! I realized the major spices I use are salt, pepper and lowry's so I have a lot of spices to add in. Thanks!

  over 2 years ago
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  Chef Heather (Food on the Table)

  Everyone has great suggestions and thoughts. The best thing that I can suggestion is agreeing with making your own food! Prepackaged food has a lot of extra sodium. Make your own taco, creole, steak seasoning (you probably have everything in your spice rack already). Homemade stocks and broths are extremely easy and can be frozen for several months (so make a big batch and freeze the rest). Fresh fruits and veggies taste WAY better than canned and if the fresh variety is not available go for the frozen variety. And salt food AFTER cooking as cooking can alter the taste of food, as well as the fact that so many foods are already naturally salty and don't need extra added in.

  about 1 year ago