Take Salt in Moderate Quantity We must have heard this story in our childhood that ‘Salt is the sweetest thing in the world’. You can live without sweet, but without salt you cannot dream of any food or any dish. But as we all know that excess of everything is bad.
If you take salt in limits, it is ok, excess of salt increase the blood pressure which also affects the other systems of the body and thus becomes the cause of so many ailments. Excessive salt intake regularly weakens your body. If you want to save yourself from becoming a patient.
start adopting following tips to control the quantity of salt in your diet. You would appreciate that naturally we take sweet in limits, since there are counted number of sweet dishes, but every item of the food we take has salt in it. Moreover in the past there was simplicity in our life. Only one dal or vegetable used to be in the food with chapatti or rice and that too without salt. Only boiled and plain rice.
To compensate to it there was curd and other things without salt. With the change of life style, bad effect of food habits have worsened the situation. With the introduction of thali system, we have switched over to dal, two vegetables, Pulao, paranthas, rayata (in place of curd), two three types of pickles, papad and salad also with more and more salt and spices. In our simple food also the salt quantity has increased tremendously. This is the time we have to learn the benefits and drawbacks of excessive salt.
Table of Contents
Why salt is necessary
In moderate quantity salt is necessary for nerve impulses in body, stiffness in muscles and to maintain balance of water in the body.
Salt deficiency is dangerous too
If you work hard, you sweat more, or you take less salt. Hence the quantity of salt must be increased a little bit in the summers. The deficiency of salt also affects badly. With this you can have abortion, mental tension/confusion, lack of vigilance, stiffness in muscles can also be the symptoms. Some more problems also arise due to less intake of salt. Low BP is the main reason behind less salt intake.
Consume salt as per advice
As per the specialists, the patients of diabetes, heart and kidney problems, and the patients of high blood pressure should always take the salt quantity in consultation of the doctor. Your body itself indicates the quantity of the salt we should take.
Other options are also there
Fully knowing about the problems of excessive salt intake, we cannot leave the taste of the salt. If you are also accustomed to this, try to adopt its alternates. For salty taste, black cardamom, cumin and coriander powder. Garlic powder, black pepper, lemon drops, vinegar, sunflower seeds, onion, tulsi leaves, cinnamon can also be used. When you are taking fresh food cooked then and there, even less salt also does bring a lot of taste.
We already take salt in excess
The specialists fix 4-5 gram (2400 mg. of sodium) per day whereas most of the people consume 7-8 gram of salt regularly. Bread Biscuits, namkeen, chips, soup powder and through packed food, we are consuming excessive quantity of sodium. This results in high blood pressure, stroke, cardiac arrest, osteoporosis and kidney stone problems.
Why we should take less salt
1. Sometimes we think that we are not taking excess salt so there is no need to tense.
Fact: It is altogether wrong. But by taking packed market stuffs and other things like bread, cheese, butter, pizza, sauce, cake, chocolate, crisps, biscuits etc. excessive salt reaches our body.
2. I have no problem and complain of High BP, so there is no need to take less salt.
Fact: This is also a myth. If at all you are not BP patient, take the salt in moderate quantity. Taking excessive salt is an invitation to high BP and other related problems. BP is a silent killer and when attacks, sometimes it becomes too late.
3. We do not use sea or rock salt. Only use table salt, which is good.
FACT: It is also not correct. In sea and rock salt, only there is no sodium and chloride but there are other minerals which lessen the quantity of sodium. Hence be it sea salt, rock salt or table salt, we should take it in a limited quantity.
4. We can know the quantity of salt by tasting the packed dishes.
FACT: No, We can’t. Mostly processed food have excess salt, but from its taste we cannot judge its quantity. This is the reason that even after eating, we cannot judge whether we have taken excessive salt. We relish this food and we ignore whether salt is more.
5. Less salty food is tasteless.
FACT: Not at all. If we continue taking less salty food for two three weeks, our taste buds become more sensitive. Less salty food also tastes well. In 21 days you can built good or bad habit. When salt is so dangerous, why for the sake of taste, we should play with our health? It is up to us to choose taste or health.
– Shrishti Sinha
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