Health and nutrition: How to cook with less salt without compromising on flavour?
updated the 6 October 2015 à 23:39
From small home tips to pro chef techniques… we recap all that is necessary to master cooking and eating healthier food with less salt.
“For your health, eat less fat, less sugar and…less salt.” We know the message by heart, but we have difficulty in respecting these sacrosanct three commandments of nutrition. Especially, we do not particularly have the impression that we consume salt in an excessive way. This is because salt is hidden, especially in processed products.
Also, even if the manufacturers made big efforts to reduce the salt content of food, it is not enough. We consume on average 8 to 10 grammes a day, while the World Health Organization recommends not exceeding 5 grammes (equivalent of 2000 mg of sodium).
This excess of sodium chloride, “The classic salt”, is at the origin of 9 to 17% of arterial high blood pressure cases and also increases the risk of stomach cancer. So finding ways to cook with less salt is really necessary for our health regardless.
To start with, limit your consumption of processed food dishes, but also try things like replacing feta cheese with mozzarella (which has six times less salt) and exchanging ketchup for some classic tomato sauce. In cooking, banish salt in favour of other products that bring taste and balance to our plates.
TRAPS TO AVOID:
Forget snacks like peanuts, chips, mini-pizzas, green olives, surimi (crab meat stick), dry sausage and other cold cuts. Replace the bread in sandwiches with delicious spelt flour organic pancakes, rice or cereal cakes, which have four times less salt in equal weight (sometimes they weigh less, have a look at the labels). Consume but do not over-consume any monosodium glutamate in your meat or fish marinade. Finally, beware of celery salt in tomato juice. It contains only 20% of celery for 80% of salt!
Rica ETIENNE
