Posted by Gregorie / March 16th 2015
What's happening this week?
Every week there is a new report released that tells you something is bad for you. Last week it was too much jogging, and previous weeks it has been butter, chocolate and wine, amongst others. This week it is salt. The difference with salt and the other ‘baddies’ is that you can give up the others entirely with no great detriment to your health; however, you would not survive without salt in your diet.
The sodium, which you get from salt, is what makes every cell in your body work, from making your muscles strong to electrical impulses in your brain.
Salt Awareness Week is to be celebrated! It is not saying "don't eat salt", rather, "eat salt in moderation". There are various reports saying too much salt increases the risk of a heart attack or stroke. There are some that counter these arguments and go as far as to say the limits are too low. As my father-in-law often says "statistics, dam statistics, you can make them say what you want".
Maybe it would be more beneficial to change the week to "Don't Eat Processed Food Week" (not too sure how catchy this is or if they would get away with it - too many big companies, politics, blah blah...). But the salt content of processed food is astonishing: have you looked at how much salt is in a tin of vegetable soup? up to 3 grams. What about a pizza? 8 grams. Wow!
Let's put that in to some sort of perspective - a level teaspoon of Fleur de Sel de Guérande is 3.5 grams (I know it's a bit sad, but I weighed it last night). Can you imagine making a pot of soup, without adding salt, serving it out to a gathering of friends and then putting an entire teaspoon of salt into each of their bowls? What about a making a pizza and throwing 2.5 teaspoons over that?
The simple answer is: don't eat processed food. But the problem we have is that our society expects everything to have happened yesterday, nobody has time to speak in person as they are too busy chatting, texting or watching people who aren't even there, let alone preparing a meal and sitting down to eat. I am guessing, but the most heard noise in a kitchen now is probably the bing of a microwave or phone, rather than the wurr of the wiz or (god forbid!) the soft thud of a wooden spoon!
I consider myself lucky: I don't have a microwave or any mobile reception at home, but I do have an amazing array of different salts. That said, I struggle to reach the 6g suggested daily allowance, unless of course I am doing a tasting then I just can't resist.
Why not try a week without processed food…. If only we had time!
