Step 5. Reduce salt; check sodium on food labels

Most of us eat far too much salt – in fact, one and a half times the recommended maximum intake.  Back in hunter-gatherer days, salt wasn’t added to food.  Enough salt was obtained from the small amounts naturally occurring in foods, and still would be today.  It is in the last few thousand years that use of salt has increased, driven by the need to preserve food.  Over this time, our tastebuds have become used to being inundated with salty flavours.  The good news is that it doesn’t take long for our tastebuds to get used to less, and to like less salty foods again.

So try taking a lighter hand to the salt shaker, or better still, ditch the salt altogether.  Even more importantly, check food labels for the salt content (salt is listed as sodium on labels), and go for lower sodium options. 

Three tips to ditch the salt:

1. Read food labels and choose lower sodium options – three-quarters of the salt we eat is from processed foods
2. Eat less of foods that are high in salt or sodium
3. Use herbs and spices for flavour instead of salt

Using herbs and spices:

• Beef tastes great panfried with a choice of mustard powder, sage, thyme, rosemary, garlic, curry powder, bay leaf, or nutmeg
• Lamb roasts well with garlic, curry powder, oregano, thyme, rosemary, or served with mint jelly
• Chicken tastes fantastic pan- or stir-fried with a choice of lemon or lime, garlic, ginger, rosemary, paprika, parsley, sage, thyme, marjoram, basil or tarragon
• Fish works perfectly baked, steamed or panfried with bay leaf, curry powder, mustard, lemon, paprika, dill, lemongrass or ginger
• Pork can be braised or stewed with onion, sage, thyme, oregano, black pepper or served with applesauce
• Scrambled eggs get extra flavour from chopped chives, parsley or black pepper
• Potato gets a fresh twist from onion, garlic, parsley, dill, chives or a sprinkle of paprika
• Stir fry veges get an Asian touch with onion, garlic, fresh ginger, chilli, and sesame oil or sesame seeds
• Cabbage stirfries well with caraway seeds and allspice; or lime juice,and fresh coriander