Kicking the Salt Addiction in Seven Easy Steps

Do you reach for the salt shaker before you taste your food? Do you salt your food during cooking and afterward? Do you use an over sized salt shaker? Is your sweat salty tasting? Do you eat a lot of processed foods? Do you crave store-bought cookies, cakes, and white bread? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be addicted to salt. Even if you answered no but sometimes could answer yes you need to stop using salt.

Salt is sodium and our body only needs a small amount of sodium. Have you ever gotten salt in a cut? It burns, now imagine what it does inside your body. According to this article on Ezine Articles, salt has been linked to many diseases. Most serious of these is the number one killer in the world, cardiovascular disease. So have I got your attention?

Good, now let's get down to business and admit to ourselves we are addicted to salt. That's right. I am a salt addict too. Salt does not add to the flavor of food, but it masks the flavors. The gourmet cooks blend complex flavors and we dump the white stuff on and then only taste the salt. Without the salt food is not bland but a blend of wonderful flavors. However, in the beginning when you first stop the salt, food will taste like cardboard. It takes time for your taste buds to recover and you will be so happy when they do.

Any addiction is tough to break. I know from my experience from quitting the smokes. You need a plan and a darn good reason to go through the initial suffering. I've given two reasons above. First is your health and second is food will taste better. Other reasons are weight loss, you'll sweat less, better bladder control, less thirst, and for men your hair won't fall out. All right strike the last reason salt has nothing to do with baldness.

Choose your reason for kicking the salt habit and by following these seven steps you will soon be living a salt free healthier life.

Step One

Become informed. You have a good reason to stop eating salt but let's reinforce it by becoming a salt expert. I recommend two excellent articles the first is a 2005 study report by a WHO Forum on Reducing salt Intake in World Populations. The second is an article published by the Mayo Clinic on salt and nutrition. There are many more good articles, do a search and read and become informed.

Step Two

Prepare to change your diet. Start by reading the ingredients on the labels already in your kitchen. Pay close attention to anything which says "Low Fat." When they remove the fat, they pile on the sodium. You think you are helping your health only to be hurting it with the excess sodium.In our cabinet are two jars of peanut butter, the regular has 120 MG of salt and the low fat has 300 MG of salt Next you want to pay attention to processed foods, breakfast cereals, cookies, and breads.

Step Three

Purge your pantry. You don't need to throw away the food in fact its best to use it. What you need to do is dilute the sodium. Make it into something else. Use the fat-free can of soup as a base for a stir fry with fresh vegetables, pasta, or brown rice. Mix the breads into a pudding using fresh fruits and yogurt. The corn flakes can be used as a coating for a chicken breast or mix in with your scrambled eggs, sure beats salting the eggs. Be creative and use up what you have on your shelves. This way you will be cutting back on your sodium intake gradually.

Step Four

Shop around the walls. When it is time to replenish your pantry try to shop only in the aisles that touch the perimeter walls of your local grocery store. This is where the fresh food is located. The center aisles are packed with processed high sodium food so avoid those aisles. You will find everything you need for a well balanced diet against the walls.

Step Five

Penzeys Spices. This is one of my favorite stores. Penzeys has a large selection of spice blends and many of them are salt free. You can purchase 1/4 oz. sampler jars to choose a spice to help replace your need for salt. My favorite is the California Pepper Blend.

Step Six

Drink water. You are now eating better and have cut way down on your sodium. The first thing you will notice is that you have to pee all of the time. This is because your body has stored all of that excess sodium in your kidneys and now wants to get rid of it. Help your body get the sodium out by drinking lots of water. Soon you will not be running to the bathroom fifty times a day and your body will be rid of the extra sodium.

Step Seven

Treat yourself. Unlike the nicotine addiction where you cannot sneak a smoke ever again you can eat salt once in awhile. Give yourself a treat and have a pizza or a juicy bacon burger. Man does not live on skinless, boneless chicken breasts alone. Just don't overdo it. Never add additional salt to any food. Always stay away from processed low fat foods and shop around the walls of your grocery store. Then you can enjoy a treat once in awhile.