No one in our household of two has cooked with salt for almost 23 years — since Yours Truly had life-saving five bypass open heart surgery.
The need for a low salt /no salt diet was reinforced even more five years ago when kidney disease became one of the many ailments afflicting me.
Salt is a silent killer, stoking high blood pressure, heart disease and the chances of stroke along with other lifestyle diseases.
At first, the low salt/no salt diet was difficult but one gets used to the loss of salt.
We all need a certain amount of salt to survive. The World Health Organization says 2,300 milligrams per day is enough. That is one teaspoon.
Most health information sources suggest limiting salt intake to 1,500 mg — about two-thirds of a teaspoon.
Cooking without salt is fine but what about eating in a restaurant?
Yours Truly is a zealot about salt intake and consults the smart phone almost every time before eating out to gauge the salt content.
Part of controlling salt intake while eating out is about self-discipline. If the dish has more salt than you should have, eat only part and take the rest home
Unfortunately, Yours Truly has a weakness for tasty food, thus the religious views of restaurant menu and their nutrition tables.
Some no/nos for salt content are bacon, sausage, ham, cold cuts, wieners, pizza, pasta sauces, most sauces and processed food like cheez whiz, spam, baking, and of course salty snacks. I do cheat a little bit once in a while.
All chains with a certain number of stores have to publish nutrition information by law.
The amount of salt in your food when eating out is surprising.
The following lists the salt content of some popular dishes from Subway, McDonald’s and Tim Horton’s.
The six-inch turkey breast sandwich at Subway has 700 mg salt - almost half the daily limit. The six inch steak and cheese sub has 1,090 mg — two-thirds of the limit in one meal. The 660 mg in the tuna sandwich is lowest of the sandwiches.
The grilled chicken salad has 420.
The new bowls at Subway range from 950 to 1,400 mg salt.
That order of small fries at McDonald’s has 180 mg salt. Add a Big Mac and you have another 970 for 80 per cent of daily needs in a few gulps. Just a hamburger has 490 mg salt.
An order of chicken McNuggets at 1,028 mg is over two-thirds your daily need.
For breakfast a bacon and egg McMuffin has 670 mg. Switch to sausage and you get 860. Hot cakes have 250 mg salt.
I love(d) apple fritters but the Tim’s fritters have 350 mg salt. The other yeast doughnuts have between 220 and 330 mg salt.
A Timbit will give you 40 mg. Eat 10 and you have taken one-quarter of the day’s need.
I like Tim’s chili but it has 1,180 mg salt per serving.
Tim’s soups range from 580 to 950 mg. Bagels range from 330 to 880; cookies from 190 to 250.
Chinese food and deep fried chicken are also high in salt.
All of the chain restaurants use more salt than we need. I’m all for making them disclose salt content on the menu.
Most wraps are among the lower salt content fast foods
Next column: beware the potassium content.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
