Our table salt gives flavor to food. Although it is generally used in cooking, it also has its side effects. In chemical form, table salt is sodium cloride.

Sodium has the property of attracting water. Once salt is ingested in your body, it is also absorbed inside each cell of your body. Because sodium has the property of attracting water, as sodium content inside the cell increases, the more water is also absorbed by the cell. In the same way, as more sodium levels in the blood is increased, the more water is also absorbed into the blood stream. The more volume of blood there is due to added water content, the blood pressure of a patient also increases. In fact, the more excess water there is in your body, it can cause a condition called edema as can be seen in patients with renal failure.

If your body cannot easily get rid of the increase sodium content in your blood stream due to renal failure, it can still continue to absorb more water in your blood stream.

Thus, salt content in your food would mean increasing sodium levels in your body which in turn could attract more water volume. More water volume would increase more blood volume, which in turn increases your blood pressure.

This is the very reason why physicians would recommend either a low salt diet or no added salt to your diet IF you have hypertension, cardiovascular disease or renal problem.

On the other hand, having no salt added to food would generally mean a tasteless diet, isn't it? Because it is tasteless, people then would not have the appetite to eat their food.

However, I have found a way that can resolve this problem. The idea would be to maximize the nutrition in your food during the food preparation or cooking. Studies have shown that there are five enemies in proper food preparation, namely: peeling, cooking in water, cooking in excessive heat, oxidation reaction, and use of fats and oils. Studies have also shown that these enemies of proper food preparation can mean a destruction of about 75% of nutrients in your fruits and vegetables.

By maximizing the nutrition in your food, your food retains its good flavor and thus salt is no longer needed. If you are residing within Southern California and you would like to witness a healthy cooking demonstration that maximizes nutrition in your food, visit www.easy-healthy-cooking.com. The demonstration is FREE!

Thus, by maximizing on the nutrients in your fruits and vegetables during the food preparation, even a low salt diet can still give an excellent tasty meal!

About the Author

VMT Singuillo is a licensed physician in the Philippines. He is also a freelance writer. Some of his subjects include cuckoo clocks, Native Americans, Holy Bibles, nursing scrubs and more.