I think it a mistake to assume a low salt diet is responsible for excessive bloating when exposed to high salt prepared foods. In my previous remarks I was careful to note that, in general, folks over fifty years old are susceptible to high blood pressure when exposed to a high salt diet. I agree that in normal young adults there are adequate mechanisms in the body for dealing with periodic intakes of high salt. Since I am not a young man anymore I have experienced many of the problems facing our elder population and am careful to shy away from generalizations like, if you drink enough water your body will compensate for the excess salt. For some of us this just does not work under the onslaught of most prepared foods available when on vacation. At home I am not on a strict no salt diet although i do avoid excess consumption of deli meats or other mega salt foods. let me repeat, in normal healthy young and middle aged adults excessive salt consumption is less of a concern.
Just as an aside, for many, many years I have been a fitness nut and continue to this day subject to the increasing limitations time has imposed on me.
Using not a lot of salt myself and I do most of the cooking.
Usually people add some salt at the table.
On the table I put two glass grinders.
1 with the reddish Himalaya salt and 1 with seasalt mixed with blue salt (blue because of fractures in the crystals not because of minerals) , the latter because I like the looks.
We use Himalaya salt for cooking it is supposed to have lots of other minerals in there.
I think a lot of problems with too much salt is because of food that is bought and already done.
I mean there is so much cr@p inbtyere.
Mustards, honey, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and some sesame grains and i can make a whole bunch of nice salad dressings, compare that to the ingredients of ready to use and well go figure
Pre prepared stuff usually has lots of salts and different sugars to compensate the lack of real ingredients. So this knife cuts both ways, more bad stuff and less good stuff.
We eat like our grandparents did… cook all our food from scratch, using non-GMO ingredients, organic wherever possible. I believe that most (all?) of those in EU countries don’t have to be concerned with GMO foods. No manufactured meals or canned factory food. That is where most of the excessive salt is. Unless one over salts their plate at the table. Eating out can be a problem with most restaurants. We have a few small local places we have grown to like, mainly for their sources of raw food and chefs who do try to hold the added salt to a minimal amount. I can usually tell when a restaurant meal has more salt than I would have used to cook with; my lips sting.
I love salt. My wife usually tells me when I put too much salt in the food while cooking, and I usually disagree with her. :smiling_imp:
But, there are some times when I taste my food and think it has too much salt. It’s weird to me when it happens. It has happened twice this week already. I have a grinder full of Himalayan salt that I like to use when cooking, but we also sometimes use the white “table salt” (which contains sugar, for those who don’t know).
Edit: As for adding salt at the table, I almost never do that. It never tastes right to me. If it doesn’t get the right amount of salt in it while cooking/preparation, then I will suffer eating bland food, usually, rather than add salt. I’ve heard TV chefs say that adding the right amount of salt during cooking/preparation, is an essential part of making a great dish. From my experience, I agree with that wholeheartedly!
i think danger of salt is overrated, it is the sodium that increases blood pressure, salt is only 40% sodium.
some food are rich in sodium especially processed food. even if you do not touch salt, sodium rich food will bump your BP.
there are ways around it thou, foods that remove sodium, even beer makes you go often thus removing sodium, water and lowers blood pressure a little temporally, but moderation is the key
Light grey colored Celtic Sea salt and to a lesser extent Himalayan salt are the way to go. They contain about 80 trace minerals vs whitened table salt (including white sea salt) which has like 2 minerals. By weight, there’s less sodium due to the additional 80 minerals, so you can have more salt if you so desire. The taste is so much better as well, in my opinion. I’ve been trying to switch over almost completely to the grey and pink salts when cooking at home.
Prescription medications can contribute to fluid retention. My mother is on three blood pressure meds (amlodepine, metoprolol, and clonidine) and suffers from significant edema in her feet, ankles, and lower legs.
I don’t care much for salt, I make dinner for the family every day and at times forget to add salt to rice or pasta and do not even notice it at the dinner table. But my girlfriend reminds me immediately, she’s a salt freak. And our son needs a diet with lots of salt and fat. So I cook with lots of salt and in the end I eat more salt than is good for me (my blood pressure is still average luckily).
