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Do you watch your salt intake?


Randomguy

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Just in the last six months. My PCP came up with the idea after she thought my blood pressure was a little high. She referred me to a cardiologist who agreed with her and he referred me to a nephrologist who agreed with the other two doctors. If your kidneys are working properly they do just fine regulating your salt. Mine are not working as well as they should anymore.  I put a salt shaker on my wife’s tray when I serve her meals, I warn her that I haven’t used salt in cooking and she might need to add some. She sometimes adds a little.

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Not really, but it is more lifestyle lack of usage. I never was one that salted before tasting and almost never salt after tasting. Tend to avoid high salt prepared foods, the worst offender being commercially prepared soups which one would generally consider to be a health food. Salt is a cheap way to extend the shelf like and way overused by manufacturers as a preservative. 

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11 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Do you watch your salt intake?

Nope. And like PZ, my wife uses more salt than me, but also does more of the cooking, so I get plenty of salt - except in the summer when I ought to supplement with the Lite Salt like Jerry.

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2 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

(she even salts her pizza which I find bizarre).

Salting pizza makes it so much better.  I used to do it years ago, but then switched to Louisiana Hot Sauce for some pizza and weened off the salt.  Some cheese is namby-pamby and needed the extra flavor is what I thought.

Salt is in every damn thing, though, and in large quantities.  I previously felt that I didn't really have to watch my intake because of the exercise and sweating and such, but I haven't been exercising and sweating at all, so there goes that out the window.

I am going through my salty processed foods, and am getting closer to having little of it on the way to none of it.  Sauerkraut may be the exception, though.

What do you use instead of salt?

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Salt is a necessary ingredient in some foods (bread) and overused in others (processed). I cut back on salt intake about ten years ago so I wouldn’t have to go cold turkey when I got older.  It sure if it helps or not, but I believe it’s better for long term health. Don’t miss it and can tell when it’s overused.

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For many foods, I don't use salt at all, but I do want some on fresh veggies and beef.  Sometimes I'll use alternatives or things that lessen salt. On french fries, I'll often drizzle them with vinegar and use just a little salt.

I mainly try to keep my salt down by using commercial light salt, which is 33% to 50% sodium chloride, the rest beneficial potassium chloride. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating (©2005) says: "Getting extra potassium in your diet, from food, from potassium salt, or from supplements, can lower blood pressure. In so doing it also reduces the chances of having the kind of stroke caused by the blockage of blood flow to the brain. Bananas are famous for the amount of potassium they contain. But many other fruits and vegetables are also good sources. These include apricots, dates, kidney beans, oranges, and spinach. Although the best way to ensure an adequate potassium intake is by eating lots of fruit and vegetables, potassium salt can be helpful to people with hypertension, those who take diuretics, or heavy coffee drinkers. Don’t take potassium supplements unless you have discussed this with your physician, because they can be deadly when the kidneys aren’t working properly."

A study by the National Institutes of Health:

Impact of Light Salt Substitution for Regular Salt on Blood Pressure of Hypertensive Patients

 In conclusion, potassium-enriched light salt substitution for regular salt was efficient in reducing hypertensive patients' BP in this study. Thus, the long-term implementation of that change could be interesting to reduce population hypertension and even mortality due to CVD. Health care professionals could use these results to explain to their patients how sodium intake can raise BP and encourage them to reduce it by using light salt. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375656/

I usually used Morton Lite Salt - I rarely see Lo Salt in the stores .I haven't seen Morton Salt Substitute in the stores but I'll look for it - it's ridiculously priced online. It has no sodium, is roughly 50% Potassium Chloride and some other stuff including silicon dioxide - which is sand!  Note that salt is called for in some cooking to regulate rising in breads, regulate the gain or loss of water by things being boiled, etc. Lite Salt should be ok but a salt substitute would not provide the right ionic strength.

1925969180_MortonLiteSalt.JPG.ae7a408e3e842848e9a51e02490bcda9.JPG82615097_LoSalt.JPG.e94e9a86f8c0dacc647dd602eca7c523.JPG  242367960_MortonSaltSubstitute.thumb.jpg.c65f77857c5db691ffd010ecaacb963a.jpg  992764384_MortonSaltSubstituteIngredients.thumb.jpg.fa7aca8209dbaf2329171d9e10d28314.jpg

Note that scientists agree that too much salt promotes high blood pressure, but they do not agree if reducing salt lowers blood pressure.  Mine is typically 130/80 and if it ain't broke, I'm not going to try to fix it!

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating is very careful not to promote fads, so it's warnings about too much salt should be taken seriously:

SODIUM
 Most of us get more sodium than we need. It’s hard not to. Prepared foods are often loaded with table salt, which is one-third sodium. A cup of boxed macaroni and cheese or an order of Burger King salted French fries can deliver more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium. And it’s often found where you least expect it—a cup of pasta sauce can have almost half of a healthy daily salt allotment. (See the table on page 200.)
 Although the “Daily Value” for sodium listed on food labels is 2,300 mg, the average person needs less than 1,000 mg/day to keep systems in good working order. That’s less than 1/2 teaspoon of salt. The average American gets 3,500–4,000 mg of sodium. The excess is excreted, but not always before it can do some damage. Excess sodium mainly pulls water from cells and thus increases blood pressure, especially in people whose genes make them more sensitive to salt.
 While scientists agree that too much salt promotes high blood pressure in some people, there has been curiously little agreement over whether reducing dietary sodium lowers high blood pressure. Cutting back on sodium is often one of the first things that health care providers suggest to people who have just been diagnosed with high blood pressure, along with stopping smoking and getting more exercise. The results of salt reduction studies have been inconsistent, but the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) II study, which carefully controlled the amount of salt in diets, showed that aggressively cutting back on salt had an important impact on blood pressure. As described in chapter 7, the first DASH trial clearly showed that eating more fruits and vegetables can substantially lower blood pressure. Thus, the most effective means of keeping blood pressure low combines weight loss, abundant intake of fruits and vegetables rich in potassium, and avoiding foods high in salt.

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