Low Sodium Diet

by Gabriele Muellenberg
(Los Realejos, Tenerife, Spain)

My internist gave strict orders to cook salt less. He says that many foods contain natural salt, already. However, other doctors are of the opinion that this is practically never enough in our modern times.

So that means that I correct my heart valve deficiency by seasoning with more herbs and spices and by using herbal salt sparingly, on occasion.

Reason being for my consuming less salt is to prevent too much water storage in the system which would overload my heart. However, I must take special medicine for the rest of my life to complement this strict diet.

Gabriele from www.tenerife-holiday-home-insider.com

Thank you, Gabriel for introducing the:

Low Sodium Diet

Controlling salt intake is often recommended by a GP when their patients show signs of storing excess water in the body. This in turn sets off a reaction that can result in rheumatism, arthritis, gout or even in developing kidney or gallbladder stones.

In short the outcome is pain and discomfort.

The culprit is salt.

On the other hand it is said salt is necessary for any life on earth. This is also true.

What happened?

The common table salt most people know is refined. Refining salt means that it is purified and evenly sized. The result is 97% to 99% of sodium chloride that has components added that support flow ability and anti-caking. Some areas even add fluoride and iodine to supposedly prevent their deficiency. Apart from the intend is the fact that anything refined, purified and industrially processed is taken out of context and transformed so that our bodies often can no longer recognize what we are feeding it.

Do you use the salt shaker on the table?

Our body needs about a ¼ teaspoon of salt per day. The trouble is with the convenience of processed food a lot more salt is digested. A general advised remedy is to study the labels and make informed and smarter food choices. While studying the labels it will come to no surprise that salt as a preservative and powerful flavour enhancer is listed in many sweet and savoury products that are readily available. More on this topic is conscientiously researched by the author Michael Moss in his book "Salt Sugar Fat". These three ingredients play a major role in our food industry.

Our bodies’ cry for help could easily be recognized as a blessing to rediscover cooking food with natural ingredients and from scratch.

Like this, it is up to the cook how much goes in and of what. Using herbs and spices opens a whole new palette of flavours that can enhance breads, curries, and many more recipes.