Yes, it’s true your salary has a lot to do with tasty food…The word salary comes from salt! Isn’t that hysterical?

It turns out that salt is not only our oldest preservative but commodity, as well. Salt was extremely rare in the past. So rare, that it was often used as pay. That’s right, salt used to be a method of pay for a hard day’s work. Can you imagine earning a couple of tablespoons of salt for a hard-day’s work? I can’t, after all salt is common today and cheap!

Gabi and Luke-Xavier say “Phooey” to too much salt!  ( Click here for their mommy’s website: “Mommy of Many.”)

Restaurants have salt sitting on tables and processed foods are loaded with salt. It’s easy to consume too much. I guess it’s a good thing we’re no longer paid in salt!

Americans eat too much salt, because it’s found in all processed foods. You can accomplish a lot by becoming conscious of added sodium in the foods you purchase. The way to adequately cut salt consumption is easy: cook at home using whole foods. Then, when you use salt, use a natural salt which hasn’t been bleached or heated. In fact, natural salt has trace amounts of vital nutrients: calcium, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, iron, iodine, manganese, copper, and zinc.

Sea salt contains about 80 mineral elements that the body needs. Some of these elements are needed in trace amounts. Unrefined sea salt is a better choice of salt than other types of salt on the market. Ordinary table salt which is found in super markets has been stripped of its companion elements and contains additive elements such as aluminum silicate to keep it powdery and porous. Aluminum is a very toxic element in our nervous system.

Like all acquired tastes, you can alter your taste for salt. Just as sugar consumption can dull a child’s taste buds, too many salty foods can impair your child’s discovery of wholesome foods. Begin to lower your family’s salt intake and, before you know it, some foods you once regularly consumed will taste too salty!

Salt is a vital nutrient, but eating too much salt may contribute to high blood pressure. Americans consume about one-and-a-half teaspoons of salt a day, although only 15 percent of our salt intake comes from the salt shaker. In 2004, the FDA attempted to lower its recommendation of one teaspoon of salt a day to two-thirds of a teaspoon.

However, because of lobbying from the salt industry and the prevalence of salt as an agent in preserving packaged foods, the FDA kept its recommendation at one teaspoon a day. Babies should consume less salt than adults, because their kidneys can’t cope with larger amounts.

Salt is extremely hard for most people to reduce in their diets, because it’s a fundamental ingredient of packaged and restaurant foods. Salt increases the shelf life of packaged foods (bread, crackers and cookies, processed lunch meats, and canned foods), while it depresses bitterness and enhances sweetness.

For convenience, many of the recipes found in my book and on this website call for processed food items in cans, which are usually high in sodium. Today in every grocery store, products are available with less added sodium. Look for these as they are a better nutritional choice.

Most grocery chains carry organic chicken broth, which has at least one-third less sodium and is fat free. Organic chicken broth is made with free-range chickens. For the most healthful broth, purchase a brand stating not only organic, but one that’s free from Canola, soy, and cottonseed oils, as well as added sugars. I stock up on these products when they go on sale.

This information is found in Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater. Buy the book Click Here.