Salt is an indispensable condiment in people's lives. For many Chinese people, a dish can be made without soy sauce or MSG, but it cannot be made without salt. However, these seemingly "neither salty nor bland" problems are quietly endangering people's health. October 8 this year is my country's 10th "National Hypertension Day". Experts have called for each person to limit their salt intake to 5 grams per day as recommended by the World Health Organization. On October 16, Dr. George Kreese, a columnist for the American "Good Eats" magazine, also wrote an article to provide everyone with several tips for limiting salt.
Eating less salt equals calcium supplementation
"Our country is a country with a high-salt diet, and the amount of salt used ranks first in the world." Li Changping, deputy director of the Nutrition Department of Beijing Hospital of the Ministry of Health, told the "Life Times" reporter that when it comes to salt, people used to only think about taste issues, but not the problem of taste. Diseases are linked. There are 160 million patients with hypertension in our country, and excessive salt consumption is one of the important reasons for the frequent occurrence of hypertension. The World Health Organization recommends that healthy adults should not consume more than 5 grams of salt per day, including salt intake through various channels (soy sauce, pickles, MSG and other condiments).
A few days ago, British scientists also found that the greater the intake of salt, the greater the amount of calcium excreted in the urine, and the poorer the absorption of calcium. This means that eating less salt is equivalent to supplementing calcium. They pointed out that eating less salt is the most economical and affordable way to supplement calcium, and it is also the most beneficial to health.
Use bottle caps to limit salt
Wang Yi, director of the Diet Therapy and Nutrition Department of Guang'anmen Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, said that Chinese people have used too much salt for a long time, which has paralyzed the sense of taste, causing the amount of salt to be used farther and farther away from the health index. The World Health Organization limits the recommended daily salt intake to 5 grams. Although it seems unrealistic in the short term, everyone should be aware of approaching this health indicator. Slowly adjust the numbed taste, and the taste sensitivity can gradually improve.
To limit salt, you must first "check the entrance", that is, you should put as little salt and salty condiments as possible when cooking. Here, several experts teach you some tips.
Wang Yi said that in addition to using a salt-limited spoon, everyone can also master the "two-cover salt" rule. At first, I ate one beer bottle cap of salt per day (no more than 10 grams). After I got used to it, I switched to one toothpaste cap cap of salt per day, about 4.5 grams.
When cooking, use soy sauce, bean paste, sesame paste for seasoning, or use onions and ginger., garlic and other spices to enhance the flavor. The salt content contained in 5 grams of soy sauce and 20 grams of bean paste is equivalent to 1 gram of salt, and the dishes produced taste better than using salt directly.
The daily diet of northerners is mostly salty. The taste can be appropriately improved by replacing the salty taste with sweet, sour and spicy flavors. For example, the flexible use of sucrose to cook sweet and sour dishes, or the use of vinegar in cold dishes can not only make up for the lack of salty taste, but also increase appetite. Chris believes that lemons, oranges, tomatoes, etc. with natural sourness can be used.
You can make use of the strong flavor of vegetables, such as tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, etc., and cook them with light-flavored foods, such as scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
Add less salt to green vegetables, otherwise the soup will easily come out, resulting in the loss of water-soluble vitamins. In addition, try to change the cooking method of green vegetables. If you can eat them raw, eat them raw. If you can't eat them raw, just eat them cold. If they cannot be fried, you can save fuel, control smoke, and adjust the amount of salt used. Chris said the leftover vegetable soup can be frozen for later use.
Add salt when the dishes are out of the pot, so that the salt will not penetrate into the dishes, but will be evenly distributed on the surface, which can reduce the amount of salt intake. Or sprinkle salt directly on the dishes, which will strongly stimulate the taste buds on the tongue and arouse appetite.
Fresh fish can be steamed, soaked in oil and other methods with less oil and salt; meat can also be made into dishes such as garlic white meat and spicy white meat, which can not only improve the flavor but also reduce salt intake.
For the last soup, it is best to drink a light soup. There is no need to add salt at all. It is enough to use mushrooms, fungus, kelp, etc. to enhance the color and freshness.
Salt-containing foods are "invisible killers"
In addition, people should also be careful about the "invisible killer" hidden in salt. Li Changping gave an example. The salt content of cooked foods such as sauced meat, sausages, roast chicken, and bacon is 1-2 times higher than that of ordinary dishes. One packet of hot sauce noodles contains more than 6 grams of salt (labeled sodium content is 2,500 mg). It is easy to exceed the standard for salt in a day. Not only that, when eating preserved eggs, salted duck eggs, and even some snacks, you need to reduce salt in your meals.
When purchasing seasonings (sauce), such as MSG, ketchup, garlic salt, sand tea sauce, oyster sauce, bean paste, sweet noodle sauce, black bean paste, shrimp oil, etc., you must first read the label on the outside of the can and pay attention to the sodium content.
Restaurants often use a lot of salt, MSG and other seasonings when cooking, so you should try to avoid eating out.
Chris also suggested that it is best to rinse frozen shrimp and other foods with water before eating, and you can also reduce the amount of salt.
Finally, parents should pay special attention to limiting children's salt intake to prevent children's taste buds from forming a habit of high-salt diets, leading to continued preference for high-salt diets in adulthood.