5 Tips to Reduce Salt in Your Diet

Reducing the amount of the salt in your diet is not hard. Here are 5 simple ways you can reduce the amount salt in your diet today:

1. No more Processed foods. In general, these foods contain much more salt than natural food. Salt is used as preservative and liberally for flavor in things like TV dinners, canned vegetables, those all too handy meals in a bag and pre packaged lunch meats. Avoiding these foods altogether is a great idea, but if you just can't give up the convenience of ready made foods then look for lower sodium versions of your favorites.

2. Be condiment conscious. Condiments in general have a amount of sodium in them. Things like ketchup and many salad dressings are loaded with it. Most salad dressing makers will provide a low sodium option, "light" dressing does not fit the bill. In the absence of any low sodium options, go for olive oil and balsalmic vinegar. It contains very little sodium. Some other sodium smart condiment choices are mustard, relish and horseradish.

3. Watch the sauces. Sauces are notorious for being extremely high in sodium. Favorite dipping sauces like ranch dressing and BBQ sauce should be avoided. Look for a low sodium alternative or get creative and make your own

4. Forget Fast Food. I'm sure this will not surprise anyone. In terms of sodium (and healthy eating in general) fast food is just plain awful. You can get all your daily intake of sodium in one meal from a fast food restaurant. And it's not even that hard. Think about it, it seems like almost everything at a fast food restaurant has some kind of sauce or dressing and is most definitely a processed food. The more you can avoid fast food, the better off you'll be.

5. Eat Natural. Always pick fresh fruits and vegetables over canned ones whenever possible. Also, go for whole grain breads over other, more heavily processed, choices (like white). Get your meat and chicken fresh rather than using frozen meat/chicken.

Following these 5 simple tips is a sure fire way to reduce the salt in your diet and help you to eat healthier in general.