Salt in a Healthy Kids Diet
Salt in the Diet of Healthy Kids
75% of the salt we eat comes from pre-packaged and take away foods. The top 5 most common food contributors include, take away meals, bread, breakfast cereal, cheese, soups & sauces
When it comes to children, salty snack foods and processed meats also appear on the list. The average Australian adult consumes 1.6 teaspoons of salt per day or 9g. A reduction in salt by 10% in many foods can not usually be tasted. The tongue adapts to lower salt foods within a few weeks. By eating reduced salt foods for 3 weeks, the salt in foods becomes more noticeable.
Requirements:
An adult needs as little as 1g - a child needs even less!
What is it:
Salt is a crystal formed from sodium and chloride used as a common ingredient for taste and food preservation. There are many types of salt - table salt, sea salt, rock salt and flakes.
What does it do:
The sodium in salt is an essential mineral for balancing water levels in the body. It also regulates nerve impulses and muscle contractions. Too much can promote high blood pressure and heart disease. Eating salty foods from childhood can produce high blood pressure that progressively worsens with age.
How to cut back:
- Prepare meals using fresh unprocessed foods like fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, fish and poultry.
- Choose reduced salt varieties of your favourite foods and where possible select foods that contain <120mg sodium per 100g. Avoid foods that contain >600mg sodium/100g.
- Reduce your intake of high fat, high sugar, high salt snack foods and limit these snack foods to once per week as a treat.
- Don’t add salt to your cooking and remove the salt shaker from the dinner table. Use lemon juice, garlic, vinegar, herbs and spices to flavour food instead.
- Limit take away and fast foods choosing options with the least amount of seasoning and condiments. Where possible, ask for these on the side and use sparingly.
- Limit consumption of gravy’s, soy sauce, stock cubes, bottled sauces, yeast extracts and foods containing MSG.
Where is the Salt in your Families Diet?
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