{food on
focus: salt}
Table salt.
Sea salt. Kosher salt. Salt is salt, right? And all salt is bad, right? No and
no. Obviously all salts aren’t created equal. And having salt on your food isn’t
bad. Like most things, it is bad for you when you have too much. Prepping your
food for cooking with a little salt is a great way to season it. But I suggest,
you don’t keep a salt shaker on the table for adding additional salt right
before you eat. If the food has been seasoned and prepared well, extra salt
shouldn’t be needed…that’s my philosophy. Plus, it goes back to training your
body to crave what it doesn’t need. If you continually put extra salt on your
food before eating it, your body will “learn” that extra salt is required for
the food to taste good. So it is just best to keep the salt shaker off the
table.
The biggest
factor in consuming too much salt is that it can cause an increase in blood
pressure. Increased amounts of sodium (the large component of salt) in the
bloodstream draws water to into the blood vessels to help maintain the correct
balance of sodium in the blood. In return, that is extra fluid that the heart
has to pump throughout of the body. So the heart has to work harder, resulting
in an increase in pressure, so all that blood can circulate through the body.
How much
sodium a person should have a day varies based on age. A healthy adult should
have no more than 2300 mg of sodium per day. That is about a teaspoon of salt.
But 1500 mg is what’s ideally recommended for adults, especially those over 51
and those diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.
According to a CDC website, our bodies really only need 180-500 mg a day. Sodium
is not only used by the body to help regulate the right balance of fluids, but
to also help transmit never impulses and to help in the contraction and relaxation
of muscles.
So that is
the low down on the science of salt. Now
what about the differences in the type of salt?
Table salt is mined from underground salt deposits
and through its processing, it is striped of minerals. Before reaching the
grocery stores, an additive to prevent clumping maybe added as well as iodine. Table
salt dissolves quickly, therefore it is best for baking. Because of its fine
texture, a teaspoon of table salt will contain more sodium than a teaspoon of
sea or kosher salt. Therefore, they cannot equally be substituted in a recipe.
Sea salt comes from the ocean or salt water
lakes and it is not striped of minerals. Therefore, it is a little better for
consuming. But apparently sea salt loses its taste quickly when cooked or dissolved,
so kosher salt is preferred for cooking.
Kosher salt can come from both underground or sea
water and contains no preservatives. Resulting from the evaporation process,
the salt crystals are larger than table salt and courser than sea salt. Therefore
more ideal in the process of preserving meats – koshering meats – where the
salt gets its name from.
So it seems
like they are all good to have on hand. Table salt for baking. Sea salt for
seasoning. Kosher salt for cooking.
But again,
don’t use salt as a primary seasoner (not a real word, but a JenG word). Salty
foods cause the body to retain more water, making it more bloated…and we don’t
want to appear bigger than we really are.
Choose
STRONGER! ~ <3 JenG
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