Get the Salt Out

by Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph. D. , C. N. S.

  ON THE ROAD

  440 If you’re traveling by car, bring some low-sodium meals and snacks with you to avoid grabbing salty foods on the run. If you have a cooler, pack homemade turkey or roast beef sandwiches (or any of the other low-sodium sandwich suggestions from the section Sandwich Fixings in chapter 6). If you don’t have a cooler, take along sandwiches made with unsalted peanut butter. These are simple meals that give you plenty of staying power.

  441 When you’re out of town (particularly if you don’t know the area well), it can be a challenge to know where to eat. When in doubt, go to basic, medium-priced restaurants in the major hotel chains. You’ll usually have much more luck getting low-salt meals there than you will if you try trendy, independent restaurants. Hotel restaurants tend to feature more simple, basic meals, and they usually do their best at honoring special requests if they are able to. When you’re on the road, remember that in most cases hotel restaurants are better equipped to prepare food to order. Particularly if the hotel has room service, the restaurant usually has a full kitchen and staff that can fix food a number of different ways to cater to its many guests.

  BONUS TIP: Don’t forget to take your traveling salt shaker with you on trips. At times, foods that are prepared without salt may need a little seasoning, but you certainly don’t want to use common table salt. Carry along healthy salt with you and feel free to add a dash to bland food without feeling guilty.

  442 If you’re traveling by plane, order a special low-salt meal. Most of the major airlines in the United States now have a policy in which no MSG is added to any of their special meals, and that includes the low-sodium or low-salt entrée. Call your airline carrier to be sure of its policy, and place your order directly through the airline or through your travel agent every time you reserve your ticket. If you’re sensitive to salt or MSG, taking the time to order a special meal just may prevent you from developing uncomfortable bloating, an allergic headache, or other troublesome symptoms while traveling. To prevent any mishaps, double-check on your special meal a day before your departure.

  BONUS TIP: Though a fresh fruit plate is certain to be low in sodium, nutritious, and refreshing, an entire meal based on fruit can cause a blood sugar high followed by a blood sugar low, leaving you feeling lethargic an hour or two after eating. To give you the extended energy you need for long trips, order a well-balanced special meal that contains protein. You often will receive fresh fruit for dessert. If you’re extremely sensitive to salt or MSG, your safest choice may be a fruit plate, but eat only a small amount of fruit and make most of your meal high-protein snacks that you bring yourself. (See tip 443 for details.) Give the rest of the fruit on your plate to a traveling companion, or stuff some of the harder fruits (such as apples) in your carrying bag for later.

  443 Take high-quality mini-meals with you on the plane to sustain you if the airline gives you a meal you would rather not eat. High-protein snacks that are great for traveling are 3-ounce pop-top cans of low-sodium tuna, sandwiches made from unsalted nut butter, and the Mushroom Broccoli Cheese Muffins in tip 437.

  444 Also bring low-sodium snacks with you to replace the salty pretzels and roasted nuts commonly served on airplane flights,. Take unsalted whole grain pretzels, or an assortment of homemade, oven-toasted nuts. These choices won’t leave you feeling deprived when you pass up the overly salted snacks handed to you on planes. You’ll also cut the salt by hundreds of milligrams. Other good snacks for trips are low-sodium, low-sugar muffins (like the Wheat-Free Banana Muffins in tip 142) and trail mixes (made with a variety of nuts and unsulphured fruits). One to Two Salt Shakers.

  445 As always, the best drink to order on airplane flights is low-sodium bottled water. Proper hydration with low-sodium water is always important for getting the salt out, but it is especially important when flying. I find that having low-sodium, quality water is so crucial to my feeling my best when I’m traveling that I make it a point to take a bottle with me in my carry-on. One Salt Shaker.

  446 If you’re planning a cruise, call your cruise line ahead of time to request a special diet menu low in salt. To both keep the salt out and the weight off, your best choices on board are broiled, baked, or poached meats, poultry, or fish accompanied by steamed vegetables and a green salad.

  BONUS TIP: Whether you take the time to order a special menu or not, be careful not to let eating become a full-time occupation while you’re on board. Relax and enjoy yourself during the cruise, but eat simply and exercise a lot to prevent gaining weight. Taking a cruise should be a relaxing, health-enhancing experience, not an excuse to overindulge in salty foods and come back feeling worse than you did before you left.

  Get the Salt Out of Your Life

  Making a commitment to keep unhealthy sodium out of your diet is a challenge. Although your sodium needs may change during different stages of life, your resolve to avoid unhealthy sodium should remain constant. Keeping that resolve isn’t always easy, of course. Physically, your body may crave salt because it’s deficient in nutrients. Emotionally, you may be tempted by salty snacks when you’re stressed. Socially, everyone from your kids to your best friends may try to coax you into eating salty foods because “everyone else does.” Also, because the issue of dietary salt doesn’t yet have the widespread media attention that fat and sugar do, you may sometimes feel a bit different from the rest of the public because you have more awareness than most people do of the hazards of refined salt. Learning to cope with these various pressures is difficult, but it is something you need to learn. So important are these personal concerns that if you know how to avoid salt in the foods you eat but never address the personal pressures you face, the chances are not good that your dietary change will last.

  That’s because your beliefs, thoughts, and feelings influence your actions. The mind-body connection is so strong that some researchers say altering attitude does, in fact, alter behavior. My professional experience bears this out. Thinking back about the thousands of clients I have seen, I can honestly tell you that those who have made the most positive and lasting dietary changes were the ones whose attitudes underwent health-enhancing transformations as well.

  This final chapter discusses how to cope with all the impediments you may face in your journey to get the salt out. It includes ways to overcome problems with others as well as troubles with yourself. It also covers other important health topics like stress, exercise, and weight loss. Although these subjects seem unrelated, you will see that they all play a part in your keeping the salt out and staying healthy in general.

  GETTING STARTED

  447 Start by eliminating the sodium sources that you are the least apt to miss. This means processed and packaged foods that contain hidden sodium additives as well as those that contain hidden salt in combination with hidden sugar.

  448 Gradually wean yourself away from typically salty foods by switching to lower-sodium, healthier, sea-salted products found in health food stores.

  449 Stay in close contact with your doctor, especially if you are currently taking medication. If you cut the salt in your diet in a noticeable way, your blood pressure could change dramatically, and some ailments, such as migraines or bloating from water retention, may be alleviated. Your medication, therefore, may need to be reduced or even eliminated.

  450 Cut out sodium-rich medicines such as the antacids Alka-Seltzer and Bromo-Seltzer. With 995 sodium milligrams per two-tablet dose of Alka-Seltzer and 761 sodium milligrams in one tablet of Bromo-Seltzer, these ill-advised medicines contribute more sodium to your diet than many fast foods.

  451 Get rid of other unnecessary sodium sources in your life. Common commercial toothpaste, for example, contains sodium saccharin, a substance that has been shown to cause cancer in rats. Avoid this unhealthy source of sodium by switching to a toothpaste that has no saccharin, such as Toms of Maine.

  452 Another surprising source of sodium is the glue on the back of postage stamps. If you’re stamping a lot of letters, it makes sense to us
e a sponge.

  453 If simply out of habit you shake more salt on your food than you should, tape over some of the holes on your salt shaker to cut down on the sodium you consume and to gradually reeducate your taste buds to enjoy less salt.

  454 Keep a food diary. Many of my clients think their diets are healthy until I ask them to keep food diaries. Then they start to see the truth of what they’re really eating. I encourage you to try this valuable experience: jot down everything you eat and drink for a week or two and honestly appraise how low your salt intake actually is.

  455 Look for patterns in your food record, particularly in regard to when you crave and indulge in salt. Some of the patterns I have seen among my clients are that they tend to want to binge on salty junk food when they’re overworked or overstressed, and many eat more salt than they should on weekends. Knowing your body’s tendencies is tremendously useful: if you pinpoint the kinds of personal situations in which you have trouble avoiding salt, you will be much better prepared to handle them in the future.

  456 If you like to keep numerical count of the sodium milligrams you ingest, buy yourself a clear, easy-to-follow sodium counter and familiarize yourself with it. A number of books of this sort are available. One I often use for reference is The Sodium Counter by Annette B. Natow, Ph.D., R.D., and Jo-Ann Heslin, M.A., R.D.

  BONUS TIP: Sodium counters can help you understand why you should eat naturally because they statistically show you how much higher in sodium processed and fast foods are than natural foods. The biggest drawback of sodium counters, however, is that they usually don’t list the sodium content of the healthier food options carried in natural food stores. You can use them to learn about the sodium content of commercial foods (the ones you want to avoid), but understand that they don’t represent many of the lower-sodium foods available to you.

  457 Use cookbooks that support your conviction to get the salt out. When you do something new, it always helps to have references that show you how to do it. Although you can adapt your old recipes to lower their salt content, you may find it easier to keep to your new way of eating if you start anew with low-salt cookbooks in combination with the recipes in this book.

  458 Learn all you can about herbs and spices. Take a cooking class that emphasizes using herbs or treat yourself to books or magazines that give you insights on how to use herbs. Think about your new way of cooking not so much as a way to get the salt out but as an opportunity to learn an important new skill: how to put more flavorful seasonings in!

  DEALING WITH STRESS

  459 The body’s response to stress is intimately connected to the body’s use of salt. As I explained in the Preface, it is possible to eat a diet extremely low in sodium diet and yet have high levels of sodium in the body. This is because stress alone can cause the body to retain sodium. To really get the salt out of your life and prevent it from harming your body, you must do more than limit salt, in your diet: you also must conquer the stress you feel in your life. If you overcome or reduce stress, you give your adrenal glands a break so they can better balance the body’s sodium levels. The following are some tips to help you do this:

  460 Continually remind yourself that worrying won’t change what’s happening in your life, but it will take its toll on your health. (It may be as harmful to you as consuming excess sodium.) The best way to alter the physical effects of worrying is to change your attitude: do your best in a given situation, but then put the subject out of your mind and trust that things will work out in the end.

  461 Take some time every day for R and R (rest and relaxation). Reflection is also helpful, too. You need to nourish the spirit as much as you do the body.

  462 If you have high blood pressure or have trouble letting go of tension, it’s particularly important to learn a relaxation technique. Popular forms of relaxation include: yoga, deep-breathing exercises, biofeedback, progressive relaxation technique, and meditation.

  463 Treat yourself to a massage. Whether given by a professional or your lover, a massage can do wonders for releasing stored tensions.

  464 Learn to share your feelings, both negative and positive, with your family, friends, and health-care providers. Releasing pent-up anger and frustrations makes you feel better emotionally, and it sometimes improves physical conditions like high blood pressure as well.

  465 Try homeopathic and Bach Flower Remedies, which can be found in health food stores. During times of stress, these safe, gentle, natural aids can offer relief, and some of my clients swear by them. One particular product worth noting is Rescue Remedy, which is made from a combination of distilled flower essences. Taken under the tongue or in water, Rescue Remedy helps during any type of trauma, be it emotional, mental, or physical.

  466 Use fragrances to relax you. Several clients have told me that the smells of lavender and chamomile help calm them.

  467 Soak in a sudsy, warm bath and let your troubles wash away.

  468 Or commune with nature. It’s healing for many people.

  469 It doesn’t matter how you relax, only that you do. Determine which relaxation techniques work the best for you and use them often. Just as your diet should be personalized, so too should your stress-reduction program.

  470 Avoid substances that infringe on the adrenal glands’ ability to cope with stress. The top three dietary substances that do this are caffeine, alcohol, and sugar.

  471 Nourish your adrenal glands with supplements. Many people (including myself) find they cope with stress far more effectively when they provide the hard-working adrenal glands with extra support. One product I have found particularly helpful in this regard is an adrenal glandular complex called the Uni Key Adrenal Formula. With vitamins, minerals, and adrenal glandular tissue, it contains all the elements the body needs to deal with stress more effectively.

  NUTRIENT NECESSITIES

  472 If you get salt cravings occasionally, they probably are due to stress. To stave off stress-induced cravings, try taking 500-miHigram tablets of pantothenic acid several times daily. Pantothenic acid, the official name for vitamin B-5, is food for the adrenal glands, and during times of stress, the adrenals’ need for pantothenic acid skyrockets. In his book No More Cravings (Warner Books, 1987), Douglas Hunt, M.D., reports that pantothenic acid supplementation gives immediate relief to his patients who suffer from stress-related salt cravings.

  473 Other nutrients that fight stress and can be helpful are the B-complex vitamins (known as the “antistress” vitamins), vitamin C, zinc, and manganese. For nutritional fortification against stress, choose an adrenal-supportive supplement that contains a combination of these beneficial nutrients.

  474 If you have trouble tasting salt, it may be because your diet is lacking in zinc. Zinc deficiency is much more common than once thought, appearing in 68 percent of the American population and in a much higher percentage of the senior citizen population. Zinc is a mineral that is essential for developing a keen sense of taste and smell, and when it is lacking, many individuals need to add more and more salt, to be able to taste their food. I believe this deficiency is a primary reason for our country’s overconsumption of salt, so I recommend at least 30 milligrams supplemental zinc daily.

  475 If you take calcium or other bone-building supplements because you want to prevent osteoporosis, remember that one of the most effective things you can do for your bones is to reduce your salt intake. Several studies have shown that excessive salt causes a breakdown of bone and an increased loss of calcium in the urine. These two factors greatly increase the risk of developing osteoporosis.

  BONUS TIP: Besides cutting down your salt intake, you can also improve your calcium status by avoiding the following: soft drinks; caffeine; smoking cigarettes; eating an excessively high-protein diet; and eating a diet high in grains and foods that contain oxalates (cocoa, asparagus, sorrel, rhubarb, spinach, and dandelion greens). As I explained in my book Super Nutrition for Women (Bantam Books, 1991), all of these factors adversely affect calcium metabolism a
nd absorption and increase the chances of developing a calcium deficiency.

  476 Watch out for supplements that contain salt. Glucosamine sulfate, for example, is a popular product taken by many arthritis sufferers and athletes with injuries, but many brands of this supplement contain a hidden dose of sodium chloride in addition to the glucosamine. (The hidden sodium is disguised as the ingredient NaCl sulfate on the label.) If you use glucosamine sulfate, look for brands that are sodium-free and that list 2 KC1 instead of 2 NaCl in the ingredients. When you look for a multiple vitamin, select one that is salt-free.

  BONUS TIP: The only kinds of supplements in which sodium is necessary are electrolyte replacement supplements, which are often needed by those who exercise strenuously. See tip 479 for more information.

  THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT

  477 Exercise gets the salt out. Any activity in which you work up a sweat causes you to lose sodium through perspiration. If you accidentally overindulge in salt, you can use exercise as a way to normalize your sodium levels.

  478 Exercise increases your need for sodium, but don’t use it as an excuse to eat junk food high in refined salt and sodium additives. Sensibly replenish the extra sodium you need for exercise by emphasizing the higher-sodium vegetables listed in tip 67 or the seaweeds listed in tip 61, and by adding a few extra shakes of unrefined sea salt or Real Salt to your food.

  479 Better yet, increase your intake of all electrolytes (minerals that are necessary for proper muscle functioning and fluid balance). Because exercise increases your need for other minerals like calcium, magnesium, and potassium, adding extra salt alone to your diet may not be enough to replace what is lost during heavy exercise. (As you know, imprudent use of salt also can create mineral imbalance in the body.) If you are involved in strenuous athletics, if you exercise frequently, or if you do heavy work outside in a hot climate, I recommend electrolyte replacement supplements. They supply other necessary minerals, such as potassium, which help balance the extra sodium athletes require.