Hoping to reduce your daily salt intake without cutting down on flavour? Here are seven tips to help ensure you're enjoying healthy food with great taste.
1. How much is too much?
Healthy living by numbers.
It’s hard to reduce your salt intake if you don’t know the numbers. The World Health Organisation recommends an intake of 5 grams of salt a day, around one teaspoon full, so that’s a good daily limit to have in mind when you’re preparing to lower the levels in your food. If you want a personal recommendation for your sodium intake, you can also consult your doctor.
2. Discover a world of lower-salt recipes
Discover, create and share!
All it takes is a quick search online to find a whole host of low salt recipes to meet everyone’s tastes. At Nestlé, we have a wide variety of low salt recipes to help you reduce salt in your diet. See what works for you, add your own twists, and then spread the word.
NestléLow salt recipes
See On 3. Make smarter shopping choices
Pay attention to what you put in your basket.
Get to know which of your favourite foods are high or low in salt by checking the product label. We offer a range of low salt options and we're working to reduce salt even further across our savoury food products, including Maggi soups and noodles, and Buitoni pizzas.
4. Cook with less salt
Scratch salt out of your recipe book.
We’re often told to add a pinch of salt to every recipe, but many people add salt again at the table. Why take the double hit? While using salt may help the cooking process for some foods, it’s a good idea to stop adding it as a taste booster to every meal and instead allow everyone around the dinner table to add only the seasoning that suits their taste.
5. Taste before you season
Break the habit of a lifetime.
Do you even need extra salt in your meal? Lots of us add salt because it’s a pre-eating ritual. It may not be necessary. If you’re going to add salt, at least taste your food first and see if you like it without the extra seasoning. Chances are you won’t notice a big difference.
6. Learn to enjoy less salt
It’s all about the taste.
Don’t be afraid to cut down on salt, your taste-buds will get used to it in time. We’ve been gradually reducing the salt levels in our food since 2005. Why? To give customers time to get used to changing flavour, helping them to adapt their taste preferences over the long term.
7. Embrace new flavours
Herbs and spice and all things nice…
Salt isn’t the only seasoning out there. Try finding a salt substitute in your spice cupboard and matching it with your favourite foods. At Nestlé, our chefs are always looking for different ways to enhance flavour, by using different spices and herbs instead of salt.
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