Giving salt the shake

Eating too much salt can contribute to high blood pressure. High blood pressure can increase your risk of heart disease or stroke. Most of the salt we eat comes from processed foods. Here are some tips to help you eat less salt.

Limit foods high in salt

• Limit processed and take away foods as these are often very salty. Instead, cook your own meals as much as you can, so you can control how much salt is added.
• Reduce processed meats like ham, salami, sausages and bacon.
• Avoid salted nuts and chips, instead choose unsalted varieties.

Avoid adding salt

• Some people get used to salty tasting food and think that their food needs salt to taste good.
• Your taste buds can adjust to new flavours after a few weeks. Your food may taste bland when you first stop adding salt, but your taste buds will quickly get used to it and food might start tasting better than ever.
• Avoid adding salt when you are cooking. Instead, try using:
  • wine
  • lemon juice
  • garlic
  • ginger
  • herbs and spices.

Check food labels

• Read the label on packaged food products. Salt is labelled as ‘sodium’ on the nutrition panel.
• Look for products with less than 120mg of sodium per 100g of food. These products are ‘low in salt’.
• Look for product that say ‘reduced salt’ on the packet. These may still be high in salt, so read the label; if you aren’t sure.

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