Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee
President, Heart Care Foundation of India
As per WHO, one should not take more than 5gm of salt in a day. If salt intake is reduced, the incidence of heart attack, heart failure, will be reduced substantially.
Here are the ways:
Substitute white salt with black salt wherever possible.
Do not keep salt shaker on the table.
Do not add salt in your food except in pulses and cooked vegetables.
Do not add salt to salads.
Avoid adding salt to foods at the table.
Take stock of the sources of salt in your diet, such as restaurant meals, salt-based condiments and convenience foods. Some of these are really loaded with salt.
Read the labels when shopping. Look for lower sodium in cereals, crackers, pasta sauces, canned vegetables, or any foods with low-salt options. Or, eat less processed and packaged foods.
Ask about salt added to food, especially at restaurants. Most restaurant chefs will omit salt when requested.
Remember the word ‘Na’, which is present in many drugs, soda etc.
To cook with reduced salt, one can add more lemon, garlic, amchur (mango powder) etc.
It takes three months of salt-free diet to get adjusted to it and to ultimately start liking it.
Never add salt to milk.
Beware of salt in tooth pastes.
Replace sodium with potassium salt.
Achar, papad, chutney traditionally used in Indian diet have very high salt content. Most sauces will also have very high salt content.
