Salt Substitutes - Your Choice Nutrition (2024)

If you’re looking to decrease sodium in your diet, then you’re probably looking to decrease salt intake, too. This list (and FREE printable) of Salt Substitutes gives you many ways to flavor your food without salt and all the sodium that goes along with it!

Salt: the key to a flavorful meal…right? WRONG! I’m here to tell you that there is more to seasoning your food than plain ole’ salt. There is a plethora of spices, herbs and seasonings just waiting out there for you to discover them. Before I dive into salt substitutes, it might be a good idea to know exactly why it might be a good idea to leave the salt shaker in the cupboard.

Salt and the American Diet

Common salt is a mineral composedmainlyof sodium chloride. About 90% of Americans’ sodium intake comes from sodium chloride, or salt. Most Americansconsume around 3,400 mg of sodium daily — more than twice the 1,500 mg limit recommended by the American Heart Association and about 1 1/2 times the 2,300 mg limit recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010.

But don’t think it is all coming from the salt shaker – in fact, roughly75% of the sodium we eat comes from processed foods and restaurant foods. Yikes! While we can’t always control what goes into our food and meals purchased and prepared outside the home, we can definitely do something to control how much is added to the foods prepared in the home.

What’s Wrong with Too Much Salt?

I’m sure you have heard that salt (or sodium) can lead to high blood pressure, or hypertension. The reason for this is because sodium holds excess fluid in the body, which increases the force of blood flow in your arteries and veins, thus raising blood pressure and causingthe heart to work harder.

If this continues to happen day after day, week after week, month after month (you get the picture…), the tissue that makes up the walls of arteries gets stretched beyond its healthy limit and becomes damaged – leading to problems such as blood vessel weakness and scarring, increased risk of plaque build up and blood clots, and tissue and organ damage from narrowed and blocked arteries.

Hypertension is sometimescalled a silent disease because those who have high blood pressure often feel no symptoms – until the damage is done. This is why it’s important to have your blood pressure checked regularly.

Blood pressure generally rises as you age, sotaking inless sodium now will help decrease the rate of age-related blood pressure increase andreduce your risk not only of developing hypertension, but also of other conditions linked totoo much sodium, such as stroke, heart failure, osteoporosis, stomach cancer, and kidney disease. Sounds like a good enough reason to cut down on sodium to me!

Looking to flavor your food without all the sodium? Check out this list of Salt Substitutes. Click To Tweet