Last week oops: As Homer Simpson would say, D’oh! I was failed by both “Spell check” and husband Bill’s red cruel editing pen. In the subject line I said “DHEA, a vitally hormone.” Well DHEA is vital but saying it that way wouldn’t have been good grammar. What I meant to say was “vitality hormone”. I could as well have used other words to modify the hormone like “vigor”, “sexy”, “sleep well”, “think well”, “toned-up” or “happy”. (You can see I was impressed) In case you missed the show, learn more at this link.
Radio show this week: February is “Heart Month” and so the main interview on Healthy by Nature this week is about heart health with Frederick Vagnini, MD, author of The Weight Loss Plan for Beating Diabetes. We’ll also ask Dr. Andrew Shepherd about the ion detox bath treatment, and John Kerr about how to get a free mold test kit. With such a full slate, I’m not sure we’ll have much time for questions, but in case you have a hot one, our number is 1-800-281-8255.

HOW TO REDUCE SALT INTAKE

In the first of this sodium series we went over the health problems created by excess salt and the new government guidelines. Last week we found out where all the salt is hidden in our foods. (Review SALT 1 or SALT 2) Please understand that my mission isn’t to take all the fun out of eating. In fact, you might open up new culinary treats with new flavors used in place of salt. Here are some ways to add interest to foods without use of the salt shaker:

Add garlic and/or onions: I think that Dr. Vagnini will talk about some of the many heart health benefits of garlic on the show this week. These foods are also good for the immune system and provide sulfur compounds that help with detoxifying.

Experiment with herbs. Herbs provide a lot of antioxidant nutrients along with their gourmet flavor. This link seems to offer helpful instructions for cooking with herbs. This one is a very simplified guide. If you haven’t grown your own herbs, you might want to come hear Howard Garrett at HealthFest April 2nd. He is going to tell us what to do. (When I try to grow my favorites, Basil or Cilantro, I find that the bugs like them as well as I do but are quicker. I’ll be interested in Howard’s advice.)

Use pepper. It not only adds kick, it helps digestion. I think using a grinder to get fresh taste makes a BIG difference.

Try a commercial low sodium seasoning: Some popular choices are Mrs. Dash seasoning blends and Spike. Although it is lower in sodium, I’d avoid the flavor enhancer Ac’cent. It is MSG. For my concerns about MSG, follow this link.

Get saucy: A little bit of spaghetti sauce can provide a lot of flavor with a small amount of sodium. Tomato is high in the red carotene, Lycopene, which is thought to be protective against prostate cancer and exercise-induced asthma among other things. But, some bottled sauces are much lower in sodium than others. One I found that has a good flavor and is relatively low is Classico Caramelized Onion and Roasted Garlic. (See, they used tip number one above.)

Be careful with liquid flavorings: Soy sauce adds a wonderful flavor, but that is in part because of its load of sodium. (e.g. Kikkoman regular has 920mg in a Tbsp and the Reduced Sodium still has 575.) Soy sauce also contains naturally-occurring glutamates which are like MSG. BBQ sauce is not only high in salt it also is loaded with sugar. Worcestershire Sauce is low in both but does contain caramel coloring. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is pressing the FDA to reduce the use of that color. The amounts present in dark soft drinks may well be an issue, but I don’t think it would be possible to use so much Worcestershire Sauce that you’d have a problem with caramel color..

What about Salt Substitutes? Like Morton Salt substitute, these are usually based on potassium chloride. Most of us need more potassium, so they might be useful for the average person. (The flavor can be a little strong or bitter, so start slowly.) If you have kidney disease, heart disease or diabetes, your doctor might advise against this approach.

Which salt to use? Sometimes you just have to use salt but there are better and worse choices. All sodium labels use ¼ tsp as the serving size but the weights in those servings can be different.

– Morton “Kosher Salt” is blessed by a rabbi, but it has the highest amount of sodium per gram because there is little else in it. Real Salt and Celtic Salt below are also Kosher.

– Hain Sea Salt is supposedly made from evaporated sea water. But it apparently doesn’t have enough minerals to even talk about on the label and it has the same amount of sodium per gram as the store brand salt as well as similar anti-caking additives. Also, it contains dextrose (a sugar) which hardly seems necessary.

– Himalayan Pink Salt is trendy and a lot of health claims are made for it. However, a lot of different products claim to be pink salt. Most seem to have nearly as much sodium as table salt.

– I love Real Salt because it is colorful (the colors represent mineral content) and has a nice flavor, but most importantly because it does contain additional trace minerals and less sodium. You can use it like regular salt.

– The most healthful salt with no additives, significantly less sodium and more measurable amounts of minerals is Celtic Salt. I’m not sure if the fact that it is “hand-harvested” and “sun-dried” adds anything besides romance. Any form is fine for cooking, but for a shaker you better get the fine ground.

Celtic Salt and Real Salt are available at most natural food stores, at our sponsoring stores, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage and online at RealFoodGrocery.com. (Click on the “Foods and Spices” button.)

You can definitely acquire a taste for lower sodium food. You can use less salt by adding none in the cooking and sprinkling a tiny bit when you eat so that the salt hits your tongue rather than being buried in the food. Be adventuresome or tiptoe gradually. For example, the next time you make chili, start with a low sodium mix like Williams brand. Next batch try it also with low salt tomatoes, and then the low sodium beans. In any case avoid the saltines to go with it.

My first book : Natural Alternatives to Nexium, Maalox, Tagamet, Prilosec & Other Acid Blockers. Subtitle: What to Use to Relieve Acid Reflux, Heartburn, and Gastric Ailments.

My latest book : Aloe Vera-Modern Science Sheds Light on an Ancient Herbal Remedy

Copyright 2011 Martie Whittekin, CCN