Eating too much salt can lead to weight gain. Here's how to control your salt intake. Who doesn't add salt when cooking? Salt is an essential condiment in our daily lives. Some people prefer a stronger flavor and always add extra salt to their dishes or soups. But did you know that eating too much salt can make you gain weight? So, how can we control our salt intake in our daily lives? Let me explain in detail below:
Excessive salt intake can make us gain weight
Too much salt in the body can alter the body's "habit" of producing and metabolizing fat. Studies have shown that a high-salt diet can promote insulin secretion. Excess insulin makes your body think that its current sugar reserves are insufficient. As a result, the body continues to store sugar as per insulin's instructions, and this excess sugar is converted into fat and stored. Consequently, your body weight will inevitably increase.
Is our salt intake really excessive?
You might not think your diet is too high in salt, but let's look at an example. Consider this weight-loss meal plan: For breakfast, oatmeal with raisins; for lunch, a turkey and cheese sandwich; for dinner, a whole-wheat pasta with tomato sauce and a little chicken sausage, plus half a cup of non-fat yogurt. This meal plan looks low-fat and healthy, yet it contains as much as 3300mg of sodium, exceeding the maximum daily recommended intake by 44%! And you haven't even touched the salt shaker!
In fact, our body only needs about 1500mg of sodium, which can be easily obtained from natural foods. Milk, meat, shellfish, and even vegetarian dishes contain sodium. Yet, most of us consume over 3000mg of salt daily. Excessive salt not only ruins your figure but also brings many health problems. Therefore, a low-salt diet is absolutely necessary from every perspective!
A person's total daily sodium intake = sodium from natural foods + sodium from processed foods and artificial seasonings. In modern society, people eat out more often, and most restaurant food is salty. Coupled with various dipping sauces, this leads to an excessive sodium intake for most people.
Methods to Control Salt Intake
1. When cooking, try to use less high-salt cooking methods like pickling, smoking, saucing, and braising. Instead, use grilling, steaming, and stewing to preserve the natural flavor of food.
2. Use natural ingredients to add flavor instead of high-salt dishes. For example: Add acidity to dishes with vinegar, lemon, apple, pineapple, tomato, kiwi, or citrus. Enhance the umami of food with cilantro, Thai basil, celery, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, ginger, and garlic. Use Chinese herbs and spices for seasoning; ingredients like angelica, goji berries, lovage, red dates, cinnamon, five-spice powder, star anise, and Sichuan pepper are great alternatives.
3. Soup contains more salt than regular food. When drinking soup, take small sips. People who eat out should avoid drinking soup. Avoid drinking the broth from hot pots, which are high in oil, fat, and salt. The food in the hot pot also absorbs the broth, so its intake should be controlled.
4. Most processed foods are high in salt, so they should not be eaten frequently. Before consuming them, try to rinse them with hot water or dilute them.
5. Make your own stock from natural ingredients instead of using commercially available instant soup bases. Burdock, tomato, soybean sprouts, onion, cabbage, corn, sweet potato, napa cabbage, and white radish are all excellent ingredients for making flavorful stocks.
6. For dipping sauces, use more green onions, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, grated radish, Japanese sauce, and light soy sauce. Avoid using satay sauce, sesame paste, fermented tofu, or broad bean paste.
7. Fruits and vegetables are rich in potassium ions, which can neutralize sodium ions. Consuming plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is a great beauty secret.
8. When cooking instant foods, use at most half of the seasoning packet.
9. Before buying any food, always read the ingredient list carefully. Pay attention to the sodium content and check whether the label is for "per 100g" or "per serving." Make sure you understand it.
10. Even when using low-salt salt or light soy sauce, you should still reduce the amount you add.