By Roseanne Jones, MS, RDN, CDN

As a Registered Dietitian, I do like to “shake things up” while I am working but the past couple of months, I did a lot less shakin’!
Let me explain.

Recently, I have been working with Chef Bill Collins, a Culinary Specialist at Syracuse University, to gather chefs and cooks in our community for salt-reduction training. Reducing salt in our diet is important because it may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Too much sodium (salt) increases the risk of heart disease, which is the number one cause of death in the United States. Chef Collins demonstrated how to decrease salt in the foods we eat in four really easy ways:

• buy foods that are low in sodium (salt)
• dilute the sodium by increasing the volume by adding ingredients to prepared foods such as chopped vegetables, plain yogurt, fresh fruit, tofu… the list goes on!
• add “flavor bursts”  to your food with herbs, spices, citrus, garlic, and onions
• decrease the portion sizes of your food (instead of a 12-inch tortilla use an 8-inch tortilla).

Salt is hiding in foods. It’s true!

It’s true that most of the salt we consume comes from the foods we buy pre-made from the grocery store and from restaurants…..not the salt shaker.  The problem with buying prepared foods is that you can’t take the salt out of the existing food.   So, it is a good idea to cook from scratch when you can because you can control the salt.  When that isn’t possible, buy items that are fresh and lower in sodium!

I have the answer for you!

Read your food labels so that you really know what is in the product, look for  “low-sodium “ products, cook at home more often, cook from scratch (because you can limit the salt), and eat plenty of vegetables and fruits. Learn more by checking out the training!

Check out the video below of the training with Chef Collins!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdxDFpu2iyo]