Pleading with the Salt Gods
 

I've never paid any mind to my sodium intake before. I've repeatedly promised myself whatever else I do - I'll allow myself to keep salt and caffeine in my diet - as I pretty much exist on them.

I love salt. Salt is what I use when I don't like the taste of things. I don't like the taste of most food - especially the healthy stuff!

During the past few weeks - I seem to be doing everything right, yet not loosing so - after reading many many posts where people indicated that they watch their sodium intake I thought I'd try it.

Bloody ****, I am so screwed.

Seriously.

I use calorieking.com to count calories. I decided to add my sodium to the diary to track it. Hahahaha. My sodium intake for the day is a little over 3600mg... and that's just what's in the food. I tend to pour salt on everything too - so add probably the equivalent of a tablespoon of salt through out the day (on a good day) and... voila! :o

(1 tsp = 2300 mg of sodium. So 1 tbsp would be 6,900 mg - ontop of my 3,600 mg... :censored:)

Back to me being screwed!

Sigh. For those of you who have broken the salt addiction - what seasonings out there work for making non-tasty foods bearable? Is there a salt substitute that actually tastes like salt?

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum - I add no salt to anything and don't use prepared foods. I get plenty of flavor in my foods from herbs and spices and lemon juice. Mrs. Dash has about 25 different seasonings and they are all great.

I need to get where you are! And I have a feeling I'm going to be whining about it the whole way.

Good thing my momdoesn't live with me anymore, she can't remind me I wasn't raised to be a whiner. :s:

It will take time to wean yourself off the salt. My family has built up such a tolerance to salt that my sister and her family when they come to visit say we use enough to salt to choke a horse. They are on a low salt diet for high blood pressure.

Sarah in MD

It is definitely a tolerance that you have built up over time. If you start to cut back and use different seasonings/spices, it'll get better. Now I can definitely taste salt in things because I don't use it.

I used to be a serious salter... It went on everything before I even tasted it and was a key ingredient in all of my cooking... I salted fruit, raw veggies, everything... My grandmother used to give me salted ice cubes in the summer when it was hot...

I went cold turkey on adding salt to prepared foods, and upped spices in my cooking dramatically - my rack currently has cayenne, paprika, basil, two hotness levels of crushed red pepper, mexican oregano, thyme, rosemary powder, fennel, bay leaves, cinnamon, parsley, chili powder, a few spice blends that I've purchased, whole black pepper, sea salt grinder that I use very seldom. I know there are others I just can't remember... I also use a lot of hot sauces, and chopped peppers in my entrees. I can definitely taste added salt now, and if there is too much salt in a recipe I can't stand it.

It didn't take a long time to get past the craving for the salt, I just had to push though it.

Good luck!

Oh one thing I did read is if you do add salt, don't add it to your cooking. Add it later as salt is diluted somewhat while cooking.

Try Himalayan Pink Salt Crystals. I love it, my husbands bp is normal now with no meds being taken at all. It has no pollution in it like other salts and it tastes good.