Get the Salt Out
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140 Yogurt cheese is a delightful spread for bread as well. To make it, simply line a colander with cheesecloth and place a bowl underneath. Pour 2 cups of plain nonfat yogurt (by itself or mixed with a dash of nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, or vanilla extract) on top of the cheesecloth. Put everything in the refrigerator, cover the yogurt, and let it drain overnight. What remains is a delicious cheese that is low in sodium and a good source of calcium and potassium. One Salt Shaker.
BREAKFAST GOODIES
141 A whole grain, low-sugar muffin is better for your blood pressure than a couple of slices of whole grain toast. Even if both the muffin and the toast have the same sodium content, the sodium contained in most baked goods (sodium bicarbonate) is less “dangerous” to the body than the sodium chloride (or salt) found in bread. In both human and animal studies, researchers have found a greater increase in blood pressure among those receiving isodium chloride than among those receiving other forms of sodium like sodium bicarbonate. To raise blood pressure, you need both the sodium ion and the chloride ion, as in table salt. Sodium chloride raises blood volume, increases urinary excretion of calcium, and induces increases in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure—all of which can double or triple the risk of heart attack and stroke. For all of these reasons, a muffin is better for you than toast as long as the muffin you eat is low in sugar. (Too much sugar has been found to contribute to both high blood pressure and heart disease, just like too much salt.)
BONUS TIP: If you need help reducing the sugar you consume in muffins and other foods, you may want to read my book Get the Sugar Out, which provides 501 tips on how to do exactly that.
142 Use mashed sweet vegetables and fruits—like mashed sweet potato, winter squash, or applesauce—when you use sodium-rich leavening agents like baking soda and regular baking powder in baked goods. Mashed vegetables and fruits provide potassium, which counteracts the sodium content of the leavening agents. They also make muffins naturally sweet and moist. The following muffin recipe, from Back to Health by Dennis W. Remington, M.D., and Barbara W. Higa, R.D., uses high-potassium mashed banana in this way. Two Salt Shakers.
WHEAT-FREE BANANA MUFFINS
1 cup rolled oats
½ cups oat bran
½ cup chopped nuts
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 banana, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons cold-pressed oil 2 tablespoons honey
¾ cup milk
Combine the dry ingredients [oats, oat bran, nuts, salt, and baking powder] in a bowl. Mix together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, honey, and milk. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and combine only until moistened. Fill 12 oiled or paper-lined muffin cups ⅔ full. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.
143 Stay away from foods like toaster pastries, fruit turnovers, and danish pastries. Although you may know that these foods are high in nutrient-depleting refined carbohydrates and sugar, you may not realize that they also are surprisingly high sources of sodium.
144 Make your own pancakes and waffles. If you make homemade breakfast goodies instead of relying on high-sodium, highly processed mixes, you’ll eat much less sodium. According to The Sodium Counter (Pocket Books, 1993), three pancakes made from Aunt Jemima Whole Wheat Pancake and Waffle Mix contain a whopping 950 milligrams! The same number of pancakes made from scratch at home usually contains only a few hundred.
145 To reduce the sodium content of baked goods even further, use Featherweight or Cellu low-sodium baking powder in place of regular baking powder. The pancakes that follow are simple to make and nutritious but contain only 14 milligrams of sodium each. This recipe comes from Salt: The Brand Name Guide to Sodium Content by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). One Salt Shaker.
WHOLE-WHEAT PANCAKES
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons low-sodium baking powder
2 teaspoons honey or frozen apple juice concentrate
1 ½ egg, beaten
1 ½ cups skim milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, or oil
In a bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, mix together the honey or apple juice concentrate, egg, and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until the batter is lump-free. Place a nonstick griddle over medium-high heat, and when it is hot, grease it with a small amount of the melted butter or oil. Ladle out a small amount of the batter and carefully pour it onto the griddle to form a pancake. If it is under 3 inches wide, add more batter; if it is larger, ladle on less batter for the other pancakes. When the batter bubbles lightly and the edges seem firm, flip the pancakes over with a spatula. Cook for another minute or so. Continue cooking the pancakes, greasing the griddle if it gets too dry and adjusting the heat if the pancakes seem to be cooking too quickly. Makes sixteen to eighteen 3-inch-wide pancakes.
146 You also can skip baking powder and baking soda altogether and use the natural leavening action of eggs to help foods like waffles rise. That’s exactly what Dr. Remington and Barbara Higa did in this recipe from their book, Back to Health. One Salt Shaker.
ANNETTE’S OATMEAL WAFFLES
2 eggs
4 tablespoons cold-pressed oil
3 cups warm milk 3 cups rolled oats Dash of salt
Whip the eggs and oil together in a blender until thoroughly mixed. Add warm milk, rolled oats, and salt and process in the blender until smooth. Place in a preheated, lightly oiled waffle iron and bake approximately 10 minutes. Makes six 7-inch waffles.
147 If toasting a frozen waffle is more your style than making waffles from scratch, have on hand frozen waffles by Vans International, which you can find in health food stores. Van’s waffles are made with wholesome ingredients and are much lower in sodium than commercial brands. Two Vans Multi-Grain Toaster Waffles contain only 135 milligrams of sodium compared to 400 milligrams of sodium in two Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Multi-Grain Eggo’s. One to Two Salt Shakers (depending on the variety).
148 Reach for very-low-sodium or sodium-free natural sweeteners to top pancakes instead of artificially flavored pancake and waffle toppings. I never have been able to understand why salt is in pancake syrups anyway, but it often is—along with other sodium-containing additives. Remember, when in doubt, opt for the more natural choice. For pancake toppings, that means a small amount of 100 percent pure maple syrup or honey. One Salt Shaker.
149 Better yet, top pancakes with unsweetened applesauce or fresh fruit. These sweet toppings are much lower in sugar than maple syrup or honey, and they are rich in potassium and virtually sodium-free. One Salt Shaker.
BREAKFAST ENTRÉES
150 Make eggs without salt or at least don’t add salt until after the eggs have cooked. Salt makes egg whites tough and will cause them to break up in poaching water. It also causes scrambled eggs to turn out drier and less fluffy than if they are made without salt.
151 Enjoy a poached or hard-boiled egg with a dash of salt-free herbal seasoning like The Spice Hunter All-Purpose Blend. (See tip 68.) If you’re concerned that eating the egg yolk is unhealthy, don’t be: it is one of the richest sources of pantothenic acid, a vitamin that promotes healthy adrenal function and, therefore, healthy sodium metabolism. In addition, though it contains some cholesterol, the yolk is high in lecithin, which is a cholesterol-lowering agent. One Salt Shaker.
BONUS TIP: If you have bitten into the common misconception that eggs should be avoided because of their cholesterol content, you should know that only one study has ever found eggs to be dangerous. That study was sponsored by the Cereal Institute, which had good reason to interest Americans in eating cereal for breakfast instead of eggs. It also was conducted using dried egg yolk powder instead of whole eggs. Dried egg yolk powder is much different from freshly cooked eggs because the fats in the yolk are altered during the drying process. The bottom line is that no studies have ever found an increase in dea
ths from heart disease—or proven any other kinds of dangers—from eating freshly cooked eggs.
152 Scramble eggs or egg whites with flavorful fresh herbs and vegetables. Combinations like fresh basil, parsley, and chopped green onion—or diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning—definitely give new salt-free taste twists to ordinary scrambled eggs. One Salt Shaker.
153 Use lower-sodium natural cheeses like Swiss, baby Swiss, or mozzarella in omelettes, fritattas, and other egg dishes and use them sparingly (about one ounce per serving). Two to Three Salt Shakers.
154 Or lower the sodium content further by using sodium-reduced cheese. One to Two Salt Shakers.
155 Or eliminate cheese altogether and use lots of vegetables for flavor. One Salt Shaker.
156 Skip breakfast meats like ham, bacon, Canadian bacon, and sausage. These foods are high in salt and sugar, which both contribute to heart disease. They also contain sodium nitrite, which is known to increase the risk of stomach cancer.
BONUS TIP: I highly recommend eliminating breakfast meats for optimal health. If you decide to eat them occasionally, however, choose a brand with the lowest amount of salt, sugar, and additives that you can find, and be sure to take 1,000 milligrams of supplemental vitamin C when you eat them. Vitamin C has been shown to block some of the carcinogenic effects that sodium nitrite can cause in the body.
157 If you long for sausage, make your own. By combining ground turkey with herbs and spices, you get lots of flavor in homemade sausage patties, but much less fat and sodium—and no salt, sugar, or additives. One Salt Shaker.
LOW-SODIUM TURKEY SAUSAGE*
2 pounds lean ground turkey (Shelton’s brand preferred)
1 tablespoon dried sage, crushed
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly and form into 12 patties. Bake [at 350°] or broil on both sides until done. Makes 12 patties.
BONUS TIP: Make these patties ahead and freeze them in individual plastic bags, as cookbook author Jeanne Jones likes to do. If you do this, you have handy, individual, low-sodium sausage patties that can be ready in a flash.
CEREALS AND MILKS TO TOP THEM
158 Seek out low-sodium or very-low-sodium ready-to-eat cereals. Hidden in some of the healthiest-looking cereals is sodium in every disguised form imaginable. Since cereals are made with grains (and sometimes with dried fruits and nuts), they should contain very little sodium. Most commercial brands, however, are made with so much salt and sodium preservatives that they often contain between 200 to 300 milligrams or more of sodium per serving. (A ¾-cup serving of Ralston Wheat Chex contains 390 milligrams!) Review the list of sodium names in tip 78 before you shop for cereals, and don’t be fooled by cereals that look healthy just because they are labeled “low-fat” or “fat-free.” Many of these cereals supply more sodium per ounce than potato chips! When in doubt, stick with basics like salt-free, sugar-free, low-fat shredded wheat or oatmeal. One Salt Shaker.
159 Take a trip to your local natural food store to find healthier, lower-sodium alternatives to your favorite cereals. If you start your day with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, the most popular cereal worldwide, I bet you didn’t know that you consume 300 milligrams of sodium in every one-cup serving. If you make just one change—switch to Arrowhead Mills Corn Flakes—you’ll reduce your sodium intake at breakfast by 80 percent! (In addition, you’ll eat a cereal made with organically produced corn and sweeteners and one that is preserved with vitamins C and E instead of harmful BHA and BHT.) One Salt Shaker.
160 Choose hot, whole-grain cereals that have no salt added. Once again, Arrowhead Mills is a good brand. It makes a complete line of organically produced hot cereals that are sodium-free. One Salt Shaker.
161 Make hot cereals with little or no salt, even though package instructions usually call for it. If you make regular oatmeal without salt instead of with salt, the savings in unnecessary sodium is substantial.: one milligram instead of 374. One Salt Shaker.
162 Add dried herbs or herb seeds to hot cereal instead of salt. One addition that will delight the senses is crushed anise seeds or caraway seeds in cooked cream of rye cereal. One Salt Shaker.
163 Also try chopped fruits and toasted, chopped nuts in hot cereal. These additions are tasty and filled with nutrients but extremely low in sodium. Fruits and nuts also can be mixed and matched in many different ways to create inventive, enjoyable cereals. One client of mine likes to start her day with oatmeal topped with chopped apple, toasted walnuts, and a light sprinkling of cinnamon. Another one opts for cooked cream of brown rice cereal mixed with plenty of flavorful toasted pecans and a few raisins. One Salt Shaker.
* This recipe was adapted from a recipe for Low-Sodium Sausage that appeared in Secrets of Salt-Free Cooking by Jeanne Jones.
Get the Salt Out of Soups and Salads
Soups and salads are handy foods. They can be snacks, starters before a main course, or meals in themselves. They also can range in flavor from cool to mild to spicy hot. Salads can satisfy our need to crunch and chew, while soups are the ultimate comfort foods, allowing us to sip easy-to-digest liquid nutrition.
At their best, soups and salads showcase the wonderful flavor and nutrition of fresh vegetables (and sometimes of fresh meat and grains) with very little sodium. At their worst, however, soups and salads are salt-laden nutritional disasters disguised as healthful foods. The difference depends on what kinds of ingredients go into your soup pot or salad bowl. Is the soup made from low-sodium homemade stock or high-sodium commercial stock? Are a variety of fresh vegetables and herbs added to flavor the soup, or loads of salt and sodium-containing ingredients that sound as if they belong in a chemistry experiment? Is the dressing on your fresh low-sodium salad a homemade vinaigrette or a store-bought blue cheese? Start asking yourself questions like these and you will be well on your way to mastering the challenge of getting the salt out of soups and salads.
Reducing salt in soups and salads while enhancing their flavor is a little-known art. In this day and age when reducing fat is the main health buzz Americans hear, extra salt is often added to soups and salads for flavor. The tips in this chapter will help teach you the secrets of how to make soups and salads with less salt but plenty of zest.
TAKING STOCK
164 Good stock can make the difference between extraordinarily tasty soup and mediocre soup. Unfortunately, most stock used in today’s cooking is only given flavor with outrageous amounts of refined salt. To avoid all that salt—as well as the MSG so common in commercial stock—make your own. Here’s an idea for an easy-to-prepare, savory stock based simply on herbs. It comes from George R. Schwartz, author of In Bad Taste: The MSG Syndrome. One Salt Shaker.
QUICK HERB STOCK
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
10 black peppercorns, crushed
4 bay leaves
1 medium onion, sliced thin
2 quarts cold water
Place all the ingredients in a soup pot. Bring to a boil and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Pass through a fine strainer and cool. Refrigerate or freeze. Makes 1 quart.
165 Save the peels and trimmings from vegetables you chop during the week and use them to make one-of-a-kind vegetable stock. Those vegetable peelings may be “leftovers,” but the broth they can produce is first-rate. Be sure to include the skins of vegetables like onions in the stock. These little-used parts of vegetables are secrets for imparting extra flavor without the salt. To make vegetable stock, add to a soup pot whatever vegetable odds and ends that you have (for example, well-washed celery leaves, onion skins, carrot trimmings, cauliflower leaves, broccoli stalks, etc.). Add at least twice as much water as vege
table pieces, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for an hour. Strain the stock through a triple-mesh strainer and press the vegetables to release their juices. Cool and refrigerate or separate into individual containers and freeze. Yield will vary based on the amount of vegetables and water added. One Salt Shaker.
166 Add ¼ to ½ cup dry white wine and one bouquet garni to the stock pot for extra flavor. To make a bouquet garni, combine herbs like bay leaf, a few sprigs of parsley, and a sprig of thyme and wrap them in a tied cheesecloth or put them in a metal tea ball. Add to your stock and simmer. One Salt Shaker.
167 Add garlic to your stock or, better yet, make Garlic Broth to use as a fabulous base for bean or vegetable soups. Garlic, of course, packs a powerful flavoring punch and is well known for its ability to lower high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, enhance the immune system, and ward off bacteria, yeasts, and fungi. The following recipe for Garlic Broth was developed by Holly Sollars. By using this broth in cooking, you have not only an enjoyable way of using less salt but also a handy way of receiving garlic’s remarkable medicinal benefits. One Salt Shaker.
GARLIC BROTH
5 to 6 unpeeled garlic cloves
4 carrots, cut in half, then cut into eighths
3 celery stalks, cut in half, then cut into eighths
1 small onion with skin on, cut into eighths
½ bunch fresh parsley (no need to chop)
¼ teaspoon black pepper
5 fresh thyme sprigs (optional)
3 bay leaves
Combine all the ingredients with 16 cups of water in a large pot over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about an hour. Pour the stock through a strainer into a heat-resistant container. Press as much liquid from the vegetables as possible. Cool the stock, then refrigerate or freeze. Makes approximately 1 gallon.