Shake it down a notch I grew up with a father who added salt to his bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. Granted, that was well before the warnings about sodium intake became the norm. But even when they did, he blew them off and continued to add salt to just about everything he ate. And I adopted his see-it, salt-it, eat-it habit. Until I read the findings from two recent studies showing that reducing your salt intake can cut the risk of heart disease and stroke by as much as 30 percent. Researchers recruited participants between the ages of 30 and 54 all of whom had slightly elevated blood pressure, but not full-blown heart disease. About half of the subjects went on reduced-sodium diets and learned methods for identifying and preparing low-salt foods. The rest of the participants just followed their standard diets without adjusting their salt intake. Ten to 15 years after both studies had ended, the participants in the salt-reduction groups had lower risk of cardiovascular disease as well as a lower risk of death in general than the subjects who hadn't reduced the amount of salt they ate. The good news for all you salt lovers out there is that these benefits occurred just by reducing salt intake, not cutting it out altogether. As one of the researchers said, "This was not salt restriction, it was salt reduction...These people ate normal diets, but we taught them how to look out for hidden salt and avoid it." Here are some ways to do just that: Switch from canned to frozen or -- even better -- fresh vegetables. Salt is used as a preservative in canning solutions, so canned vegetables have a much higher sodium content than their frozen and fresh counterparts. Watch out for sauces and condiments you might not necessarily associate with salty flavors. Bottled spaghetti and teriyaki sauces may taste sweet, but both can be loaded with sodium. Make your own breadcrumbs from all-natural, whole grain bread and season them with fresh herbs. Pre-made breadcrumbs are another surprising and often overlooked source of sodium. Keep an eye on the number of servings in any pre-packaged foods you buy. The sodium content might look okay for one serving, but if there are two or three in that package and you eat the whole thing, you've just eaten double or triple the amount of salt.
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