All salt, no flavour

Convenience foods: the enemy in disguise

Cutting out salt is not necessarily as straightforward as it seems. For instance, you might think that cutting out crisps would be a good place to start, and yet an equivalent amount of corn flakes has much more salt than most crisps.

Staples like bread make a significant salt contribution at nearly one gram of salt per two slices, and although salt levels in bread have recently been reduced, the sheer volume we consume means bread is a significant source of salt in our diets.

Foods like sausages, cheese and tinned pasta take levels sky-high. And, believe it or not, products such as spaghetti hoops, marketed specifically at children with cartoon characters, are often higher than equivalent products not specifically aimed at kids.

Take-away and convenience foods, such as burgers, pizza or Chinese food, smoked and preserved foods are other familiar sources of high salt intakes.

Kicking the habit

Check food labels
The Food Standards Agency's traffic light labelling system highlights foods high, middling or low in salt (as well as sugar and fat). Not all brands subscribe to this system, but look out for those foods with salt levels indicated as green (for 'go') over red (for 'stop').

If the label doesn't do the work for you, you can use the following information: You'll need to convert the sodium figure per portion or per 100g. To get the salt figure, multiply the sodium figure given by 2.5:

Stop sprinkling it on
Apart from reducing salt in packaged foods the other important step is to eliminate adding salt yourself. Get out of the habit of adding salt to cooking, such as to pasta or vegetables. Stop putting salt on the table, and just put out the pepper mill or some ground herbs.

Sea salt has slightly less sodium, but not much less, so perhaps get rid of that as well. Low-sodium salt is based on potassium and is a better alternative to normal salt. Remember that stock cubes, unless they specifically say otherwise, are basically very high in salt.

What's the alternative?

Try these low-salt substitutes (per 100g):

• A good savoury option for table salt is seaweed, which you can buy from health food shops. This can be put in a grinder just like salt, but has much less sodium.
• A taste for salt can be curbed over time by gradually reducing dependency on salt and salty foods. Using chopped herbs and ground spices in your cooking instead of salt is a great way to 'divert' taste interest elsewhere.
• Try experimenting with a sprinkle of lemon, balsamic vinegar, tomato puree (salt-free), parsley, basil, chives, garlic, coriander, cumin, curry powder, tarragon and others. You might just find that your meals take on an exciting array of fresh, undiscovered flavours.

Useful links:

• At-a-glance meal guide
• www.hyp.ac.uk/cash - CASH (Consensus on Salt and Health)
• www.salt.gov.uk/cash - Food Standards Agency dedicated salt website