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I don't like salt--how can I keep getting it?


dc221104

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For background: Growing up, I was raised by a single father. He cooked all the time, so unlike many kids raised by single parents, we very rarely ate fast food or anything like that. My younger brother has autism and loves McDonald's, so we had that about once a month and I often got a salad instead of a burger and fries. Once in a great while, my dad would be tired and order us a pizza, but other than those 2 days out of 30 in a month, he cooked every meal for us. I find I have a unique childhood in this way.

My father also has been taking blood pressure medication since I was a kid. He is very fit and healthy and active, and he cooked us well-rounded meals, but his genetics were simply not in his favor here. At his current age of 68, he is in excellent physical shape. He owns a home improvement company, and he still will hang siding or install a roof himself. He is strong and has very low body fat, and often has to work to put on weight when summer comes around and he is working more hours in the heat. But because of his lifelong high blood pressure, I grew up almost never eating salt. 

He didn't add it to anything he cooked, because he was told not to with his blood pressure medication. He bought low- or no-sodium everything. When I was a teenager, I struggled with chronically low blood pressure and my doctor told me to eat more salt, and I remember my dad saying that he didn't trust that doctor because salt could not possibly be the solution. However, he started buying lunchmeat or soup or whatever for me that had sodium in it, and saving the low/no-sodium versions for himself. Fast-forward to 30-year-old me, and while both my dad and I understand I need salt in my diet, I never quite acquired a taste for it. 

Now that I'm cooking for myself, and have been for several years, I still struggle to add salt to recipes. I don't like salty foods like potato chips or whatever, and snack foods have never been a thing for me. When I have gotten french fries at restaurants, I would actively try to wipe salt off of them or would ask if I could get them unsalted, often causing my dining partners to think I was crazy. My favorite taco place is preferred because the chips they bring out with the salsa are unsalted. The only food I've ever cooked that I have added salt to were scrambled eggs. Other than that, I've relied on using tons of herbs for flavor.

I came into Whole30 as someone who wasn't struggling with the Standard American Diet as much as many others. I've said in other posts that I've struggled with IBS, so I have eaten fairly well most of the time with a diet high in fresh produce. I do have quite a sweet tooth, but my primary motivation for doing Whole30 has been to identify allergens or food sensitivities as I was waking up with swollen eyelids and figured something has to be causing this (I have ruled out environmental factors, and I honestly think dairy is my problem). I have tried to make a point of adding salt to my food, but I am feeling quite like I am sick of it. 

I probably add a teaspoon or less of salt to most recipes I make, and each recipe is split up into several meals since I am single and live alone. I make enough to have leftovers, and actively engage in weekly food prep as a convenience thing. I still feel like a pinch of salt added to my food is salt overload, and it is almost all I taste. Pre-whole30, I got plenty of salt in cheese and things that didn't quite taste salty to me. Because I am eating virtually nothing that is packaged, I have made a point to continue adding salt to food so as to avoid blood pressure issues that still plague me. I know I'm not getting enough salt when I can't stand up without blacking out temporarily, and my blood pressure usually tops out at 90/60, although 85/55 is probably more common.

I am on Day 15, and I am just so sick of my food tasting like salt. The tiniest bit added to food makes the entire dish taste salty to me. 

So, I guess my question is: How do I continue to get salt without creating dishes that taste so salty? Is it possible to get over this super sensitivity to the taste of salt? Why am I a weirdo who doesn't like salty food? Are there any salt mixes or sea salts or anything out there that have a milder/better flavor?

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Frank's Hot Sauce is good for a dose of sodium (great over all kinds of proteins), as would be (IME) compliant bacon due to the salt used in the curing process... You could also add seaweed (I use dulse) to soups/broths/stews etc which would provide both sodium & iodine...

That said what salt are you using? Have you tried pink himalayan salt? Both my kids love that and they're not huge fans of salt either.

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@jmcbn Ah, I hate hot sauce! hah. I am not good with super spicy/hot things because of my IBS. They have always caused increased agitation and acid reflux for me, and I've since developed quite an aversion to foods and spices with a lot of heat. I haven't found compliant bacon, but I haven't looked that hard, either. I did find compliant crumbled prosciutto, which is almost bacon. I could incorporate more of that, since I at least know the stuff at my local grocery is fine.

I recently bought a pink salt mix called Magic Unicorn Salt. It's ingredient list is: ocean salt, celery seed, rosemary, granulated garlic, smoked paprika. I do like that, but it still tastes salty to me. Most of the time, I use regular ol' white salt. You know, the big container of Morton salt that everyone has for their entire lives :) I can look for pink himalayan salt. 

What forms does seaweed take? Is it something you can sprinkle on your food like salt? I don't think I've ever seen it while shopping, and haven't ever sought it out, but I'd be willing to try it. 

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47 minutes ago, dc221104 said:

Ah, I hate hot sauce! hah.

Typical! LOL

Seaweed - I'm in Ireland and we eat seaweed quite a bit here. It's purple. kind of wavy, and is just dried out & packed in paper bags - very chewy & salty when eaten as is, but adds good depth to soups, broths & stews. We also have a local company that smokes it & grinds it down for sprinkling on salads, and they also do a smoked sea salt... Unfortunately they only ship to the UK & Ireland, but I'm certain you'll find similar products in the US.

Here's a link to some Dulse in Thrivemarket just for reference purposes - it's very cheap here so not sure price wise how this translates for you...

https://thrivemarket.com/maine-coast-sea-vegetables-dulse-whole-leaf

Plus an article about it's benefits:

http://superfooddrinks.org/dulse-seaweed-benefits/



 

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@dc221104 I wonder if you could take your salt like you would a supplement. I control my blood sugar with Ceylon cinnamon (and with diet and exercise), but I could never eat the amount I need every day on my food — at best I think it tastes OK. Ish. 

For me, the solution was to put the cinnamon into clear gelatin capsules that I buy at Whole Foods and just swallow one or two with each meal. I don't taste it at all that way, but I still get the benefits. 

Not sure if that would work for your situation. Just a thought!

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4 hours ago, Eccentrica said:

@dc221104 For me, the solution was to put the cinnamon into clear gelatin capsules that I buy at Whole Foods and just swallow one or two with each meal. I don't taste it at all that way, but I still get the benefits. 

This is a very interesting concept--I feel like it might be something to ask my doctor about sometime.

1 hour ago, huliganjetta said:

@dc221104You're not a weirdo! I don't like salt either, and I barely add it to anything I cook. If I do use salt, I use sea salt, and in small amounts. I prefer the taste of whatever it is that I'm making, not the salt. You're not alone! ;)

So glad I'm not alone!!! People always think I'm crazy for not liking salty foods! I dated a guy once whose mother actually added salt to her salads and it made me almost gag. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

@TryingOver Thanks! I feel like I want to eat more fruit to offset the saltiness. Is that weird? I don't necessarily crave sweets, and in fact I want tarter fruit. But it's like I finish a meal and think that a handful of grapes would be so refreshing to me. Or even raw, unsalted veggies. I just want to taste something fresh. 

I do eat raw veggies plenty, but I need to start ending my meals on them to cleanse salt from my palate. 

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@dc221104 That definitely makes sense. It is funny, I have the opposite issue. I could eat salt straight from the container! Have you tried adding some citrus to your water and drinking that with meals? It may help with the desire to cleanse your palate. I think your idea to finish with something unsalted is a good one. :)

 

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http://www.livescience.com/46928-salt-in-diabetes.html

I don't add extra salt to my foods either because of ^^.  I do enjoy the pink himalayan salt in small amounts.  My coz has been eating salt by the handfuls since childhood, she has all kinds of heart problems now and a potassium deficiency.  She used to lick a salt lick that the animals used. Sprinkle salt on ice cubes and eat dirt. Probably had a potassium deficiency since birth, using salt as a way of compensating because system was screaming for potassium. 

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@MeadowLily Yeah, my father was always that way. He was afraid of salt's negative affects on a number of diseases. 

I am, of course, an anomaly. I have chronically low blood pressure that drops so low that I will black out or faint upon standing (orthostatic hypotension, if you feel like googling). My doctor told me I need to make sure to get enough salt, which is to say I shouldn't eat it by the handful but I need to make sure I am getting at least 2,000 mg per day. My father's fear of salt and unwillingness to salt the food he cooked was kind of how my blood pressure issues were discovered.

Although, I was just at the doctor on Monday for allergy testing, and my blood pressure was a healthy 110/70 (as opposed to 85/55 that I often see). 

And I do like to call my father and brag about how naturally healthy my blood pressure is (except when it's too low) since it's always been an issue from him, even when he was my age :)

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I'm not fearful of salt, I just don't resalt my food. And truthfully, growing up watching someone glom onto that much salt, I did have a gag reflex watching the extremes. No change today, they're still salting bologna, putting extra on potato chips.  I am grossed out by that behavior. hiding-smiley.gif?1292867617

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@MeadowLily Sorry if I made it sound like I assumed you were fearful of salt! That was more describing my father than you.

I had a boyfriend whose mother used to over-salt EVERY.SINGLE.THING. She would take a fried mozzarella stick and salt one side, then turn it over and salt the other. She would cover her salads in salt. It was appalling! I totally identify with why that grosses you out.

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Just now, dc221104 said:

@MeadowLily Sorry if I made it sound like I assumed you were fearful of salt! That was more describing my father than you.

I had a boyfriend whose mother used to over-salt EVERY.SINGLE.THING. She would take a fried mozzarella stick and salt one side, then turn it over and salt the other. She would cover her salads in salt. It was appalling! I totally identify with why that grosses you out.

No worries, dc.   I do realize that I'm still repulsed by watching it..I forgot about the salting of toast, more on the french fries, and the double salting of each side as well.  After years of watching these  rituals, I just want to throw her food out the door and stomp on it.  black eye1 smiley

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