No one needs to tell you that reduced salt baked beans are less salty than the standard version. You can take this as read. Opting for the former means that in half a large 415g can you get 1.1g of salt compared to 1.5g in an original-style baked bean recipe.
There are however some less obvious ways of going about getting salt down in your day-to-day diet. As I was researching some of the five more surprising ones, which are listed below, it got me thinking.
As well as becoming less frisky with the salt in our own home cooking and avoiding adding extra at the table, when it comes to increasing our awareness of salt in foods and finding ways to therefore lower it, there are some golden rules.
First and foremost, be aware that 75 per cent of our daily salt intakes come from processed foods. By cutting these back wherever possible, the chances are, you will almost automatically lower your salt load.
Secondly, get used to checking the amount of salt in foods that have labels and try to see how much you are getting per serving, rather than per 100g, remembering that the maximum you are going for a day as an adult is 6g.
Thirdly, be wary of foods that are not labelled. Some of the saltiest offerings out there are slipping into our shopping baskets and tummies because we simply don’t know how much they contain.
If buying a property is all about location, location, location, cutting salt is all about checking labels, being aware and looking out for high salt foods that sneak in under the radar.
These are huge differences. Nobody is saying never have smoked fish again, but if you do, try to cut right back on salt from other foods over the rest of the day.
Oatibix have 0.1g of salt per two biscuits while a 50g bowl of All Bran has 0.6g of salt.
Mug up on salt levels of cereals and you can help to cut salt while still getting wholegrain goodness at breakfast.
Cut salt and lose weight! The average daily salt intake in the UK today is around 9g per adult. The aim is to reduce this down to a 6g maximum. Going one step further and halving this again to just 3g can have a surprisingly welcome effect on your weight, seeing the scales drop by 2 – 3lb within about five days, as your body releases up to 1.5 litres of excess water that has been stored in your body to dilute high salt intakes. As well as losing weight on the scales, you can often see swollen ankles and wrists de-bloat as retained fluid is gradually lost from your body!