Salt is a very valuable part of our diet and has been used for thousands of years as a preservative and to add taste to our food. Indeed, although many people in the West take it for granted, in many countries it is a vital economic commodity and people of a certain age will no doubt remember the important role played by salt in bringing British rule in India to and end in the middle of the last century. Unfortunately however salt can also be a major contributory factor to the problem of high blood pressure. Salt is a compound of sodium and chloride and when it comes to high blood pressure it is the quantity of sodium which we consume that needs to be watched. At first sight it might seem that controlling your salt intake is simply a question of limiting the amount of salt which you put into food while you are cooking and which you add to your food at the table. However, the real problem lies in the fact that most of the salt in our diet is contained in the processed foods which nearly all of us buy and consume every day. In order to ensure that you minimize your risk of high blood pressure you need to keep your intake of salt below the government's recommended daily intake figure of 2,400 milligrams and here are a few tips to help you do just that: Remove salt from your table. If you are eating a properly balanced diet your food will contain sufficient salt without any need to add more while eating, so remove the salt shaker from your table. Learn to read food labels. Food labeling laws are much improved these days and most foods now carry nutritional information which includes the amount of sodium which the food in question contains. You need to read the label carefully though as sometime the sodium figure given will apply to the whole pack or tin and sometimes it will apply to a single serving. Buy sodium free or low sodium products. Many foods today come in sodium free or low sodium options and, wherever possible, you should choose these in preference to the regular product. Eat low salt snacks. Most of us like to snack but try to stick to things like fruit and vegetables and, if you can't live without your crisps, choose varieties which are salt free or low in sodium.
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