In partnership with Salt Watch, this season on the Hello Doctor TV show we brought you everything you need to know about salt: why too much is dangerous, how much your body actually needs, how much is too much, and how to substitute salt in recipes.
To help make it easier for you, here are our top Salt Watch blog posts from episode 1. Enjoy!
Stroke rehabilitation is a vital part of helping you to relearn skills you lost if stroke has affected a part of your brain.
Continue reading “Life after a stroke – The road to recovery”
Fact: Most South Africans eat more salt than the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendation of 5g a day (1 teaspoon). In fact, they consume close to double that – around 11g a day! Most of it comes from processed food – bread is the biggest culprit – which contains huge amounts of hidden salt that’s added during the manufacturing process. Other processed foods which increase your salt intake include hard margarine, and processed meat like sausage and polony.
A heart attack can strike at any time, but by making key lifestyle changes you can help aid recovery, protect your heart and prevent further complications of heart disease.
It’s hard to believe, but we did a salt-free braai with Ultimate Braai Master Judge Bertus Basson, and he was really impressed with the flavour he achieved without salt. He didn’t think he could do it!
The traditional braai is a South African institution, where the great outdoors becomes your kitchen, your cooler box converts into the kitchen table and the fire replaces your stove. But salt, along with black pepper and your favourite marinade, is a vital item. Or is it?
Continue reading “A salt-free braai? It’s possible!”
There’s a common misconception that heart disease is a “man’s disease”, but in South Africa, heart disease and stroke kills more women than men.
While breast cancer is often perceived as the biggest health threat to women, heart disease and stroke are the greatest threats globally, killing more people every day than all cancers combined!
Continue reading “The Dress Red Campaign”
Reducing your salt intake can be as easy as switching brands. Always check labels when shopping, and compare the sodium content of different brands and choose the one with the least amount of sodium. Look out for foods with the Heart Mark – these products have less sodium compared to other products and this lets you know it’s been approved as part of a heart healthy diet.
Continue reading “Tricks to help you reduce your salt intake”
Salt is often added to packaged or processed foods as a preservative or for flavour. Sometimes these foods don’t even taste particularly salty. For example, bread, cereals, hard/block margarines, gravy and soup powders, processed meat products like sausage, polony and pies, meat and vegetable extracts, and convenience meals are just some of the products containing hidden salt that can contribute to our salt intake. Of course, this means that your salt intake can be really high without you even knowing it. Stay one step ahead of hidden salt by reading product labels. Here’s a quick “how-to-guide” on understanding food label information. Continue reading “Salt: Knowledge is power”
So, you’re reading food labels and you’ve cut down on your salt intake, excellent! But that’s no reason to settle for bland food. Remember to reduce the amount of salt you add to your meals gradually over time – your taste buds will start to adjust, and soon you won’t notice the difference. Also remember that there are so many delicious (and much healthier) alternatives to salt, that your dishes can still be packed with flavour. Here are our favourites:
Continue reading “No salt? But what can I use instead?”
When it comes to hypertension, there are many risk factors which work together to put an individual at risk. Besides family history and genetics, unhealthy lifestyle factors such as poor diet, being overweight or obese, smoking and being physically inactive, are major problems in South Africa, and increase the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, according to Dr Mungal-Singh, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa.
In very small amounts, pure salt is essential, and maintains the mineral balance in literally every cell in your body. It also works to regulate fluid balances and promote proper circulation, and assist with nerve impulse and muscle contraction. Too much salt, however, can be fatal and is closely linked to serious health conditions such as heart disease and stroke.
Too much salt in your daily diet can be bad for you, but how do we still enjoy tasty meals if we’re trying to cut down on the amount of salt we eat? Our top tips for this are:
Make your own marinade that’s salt and preservative free – a combination of fresh herbs, lemon juice and rind, honey and balsamic vinegar make a delicious marinade. When it comes to cooking chicken, for example in our recipe below, don’t overcook it as it can become tough and dry. Also, feel free to experiment with a variety of ingredients – the different textures and flavours limits the need for salt.
