Saturday, April 21, 2012

Salt Free Cooking?

Yep - it is possible!
There are lots and lots of reasons to stay away from salt.  Mostly, because it is HEALTHY, and it will prolong your life.  But also, did you know that almost every food has natural sodium in it.  We are just adding fuel to the fire by sprinkling salt on top of already naturally tasty food.

The reason I know that you can cook and bake without salt is that I have done it now for almost six years.  
My son has a condition called Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus, and he has to stay away from sodium as much as possible.  He is on a low sodium diet - sometimes completely salt free.  
Being the one who cooks almost all of our meals, I have had to learn to adapt and figure out what to use instead of salt.


There is this wonderful product out there called No Salt - sodium free salt.  I use this in place of salt if a recipe calls for it...like in baking cookies, cakes, etc.  Don't try and put it on for taste though, it does not have the salt taste and is pretty gross.

Make use of your natural spices.  There are so many sodium free spices out there.  If it doesn't have the word Salt in it - then it usually is sodium free.  So instead of Garlic Salt, use Garlic Powder.  All of those wonderful spices that get looked over.  They are almost tastier than salt.

Herbs are also a great thing to use instead of salt.  You can either buy them in the store, or start growing them in your gardens or place them in a pot and keep them in your house.  Herbs are great and a natural flavoring to any food.

                                                  
I know it is hard to step away from salt, it gives everything flavor, it preserves.  But after finding out about my son's condition I started looking at nutrition labels and the sodium in our food is outrageous.  Luckily, the stores have started to catch on and you can buy No Salt Added canned foods.  This has been such a great thing and makes me able to cut down the sodium when cooking for my family.

You can do it - start cooking without salt and you will actually love it!

-Kelli
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