X-Treme X-Training: Shaking the Salt Habit

One thing that I tend to go a little over board with is SALT. When you think about it, any store brought food item, unless raw and in its natural state, is likely to have salt added to it. Why? Well salt is part of our human heritage as an essential macro-mineral needed for proper electrolyte balance. Back in Roman times, men were paid their wages in salt, hence the word "salary" which is still used today. Salt has also historically been used to keep or "cure" meats and fish, preserving them even in hot, tropical climates.

Roman soldiers were paid in salt which gives us the word "salary" today.

Dietary Needs Have Changed
So even if you ate a diet of salted cod, picked vegetables and cured meats, the rest of your diet would still be rather bland. You often ate what was locally harvested so salt was not necessary to preserve the bulk of foodstuffs in the diet. Also among most of the population in Europe during the Middle ages, meat was a rare treat. Ham, turkey, chicken and beef was only eaten on special occasions. Today we have such foods available on a daily basis. Add in our accessibility to fast foods, frozen, canned, boxed and salty snacks, well... you can see where this salty tale is going.

A LoSalt Diet
I've tried a few low sodium salt alternatives and have never liked the after taste or weird sensation they left on my tongue. I guess that's one way to make you drop your salt intake. Make it taste so bad that you're turned off from it all together! I think there's another way of handling this. I tried LoSalt and have been pleasantly surprised how similar to regular table salt in flavor. In fact I replaced nearly all the salt shakers in my kitchen with it and have had NO complaints or negative comments.

LoSalt has replaced the regular table salt in my kitchen

Health Benefits
High sodium intake has been linked to: hypertension, renal distress, retaining excessive water weight, headaches, increased thirst and a host of other problems. Why wait until you develop these conditions before cutting back? LoSalt gives you 66% less sodium than regular salts: Regular table salt has 518mg sodium per 1/4 tsp. LoSalt has only 171mg sodium per 1/4 tsp. You really can't tell the difference. What I like to do is cook my meals without salt and use Mrs. Dash or natural salt free herbs and spices. Once the meal is served, people can add salt to taste if they like. Now that all the salt shakers are filled with LoSalt, I'm sure the sodium consumption has dropped dramatically! Visit LoSalt online for more information and details on cutting the sodium in your diet.