In an article put out by Chatelaine (June /08, How to Cut Your Sodium Intake) , I was interested to learn among oher things,  that men consume more salt than women- 60% for women, 85 % men. Whether male or female, we all get more sodium than we need, often excess amounts.

In my presentation ‘ Seven Steps to Building a Healthy Muffin, I told my audience salt is the one ingredient which is missing in my recipes in my book ‘Muffins From the Heart’ . In fact salt is needed only when bread making as it controls the rising process, but we have been programed to put it in and on everything we eat.  With the negative effect too much sodium can have on blood pressure, there is an effort by some manufacturers to cut back on the use of salt but commercially prepared foods are often the worst offenders and many manufactureres still have a long way to go.

Last weekend when I was demonstrating gluten-free pizza, I had searched for a healthy, low sodium tomato sauce. I was thrilled to find a can of Heinz Tomato Sauce with O % sodium. True it was plain but  was perfect with all the various pizza toppings.

Obviously fresh food is the way to go to get away from added salt but here are a few tips for reducing sodium from commercially prepared foods that still have too much sodium but ones you still enjoy.

1. Compare labels-Look for less than 10% of your daily value of sodium/serving .

2. Dilute the amount of sodium /serving by adding extra fresh ingredients.

3.Rinse off canned vegetables and fish in water  before seving.

4.Use spices, garlic, pepper and lemon juice to substitute for the salt shaker. In fact, don’t put the salt shaker on the table. Better still, don’t have a salt shaker.

5. Cut back. Your taste for salt will actually get less. Try it and see!