Sea Salt vs Table Salt
Question: What’s the difference between sea salt and regular salt?
Answer: Not much… other than taste and texture. They both contain about 40% sodium or about 2,300mg per teaspoon. The biggest difference, because sea salt is coarser than table salt, people generally use a little less.
I eat healthy foods, why worry?
Question: I eat healthy foods… do I still need to watch the salt?
Answer: Most definitely. Healthy does not necessarily mean low-sodium. For example, cottage cheese, salad dressings, and fresh poultry that’s often injected with a sodium solution.
Other examples and the range of sodium:
- 1 slice of bread (80mg – 230mg)
- 3 oz luncheon meat (450mg – 1,050mg)
- 4 oz slice of frozen pizza (plain cheese and reg crust) (370mg – 760mg)
- 4 oz slice of restaurant pizza (plain cheese and reg crust) (510mg – 760mg)
- 4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, fresh (40mg – 230mg)
- 3 oz chicken strips, breaded (430mg – 900mg)
- 3 oz chicken nuggets, breaded, frozen (200mg – 570mg)
- 1 cup chicken noodle soup, canned (100mg – 940mg)
- 1 cheeseburger, fast food restaurant (710mg – 1,690mg)
- 1 oz slice American cheese (330mg – 460mg)
- 1 cup canned pasta with meat sauce (530mg – 980mg)
- 5 oz pork with barbecue sauce (600mg – 1,120mg)
- 1 oz potato chips, plain (50mg – 200mg)
I don’t use the saltshaker
Question: I don’t use the saltshaker, isn’t that enough to lower my sodium intake?
Answer: The saltshaker only contributes about 10% of our daily sodium total. The vast majority comes from processed foods. If you eat a sandwich, you’re consuming 40-60% of your daily sodium allotment. You’d be surprised at how much is in some of the foods we eat. Take the quiz and find out if you are salt savvy.
Salt or Sodium?
Question: What’s the difference between salt and sodium?
Answer: Salt is composed of sodium (40″%) and chloride (60%). One teaspoon of salt contains about 2,300 mg of sodium. Although they are different the words are often used in place of each other.
What Foods Are High in Sodium?
Question: What foods have the most sodium?
Answer: According to the CDC, 40% of sodium comes from 10 types of foods:
- Breads and rolls
- Cold cuts and cured meats, such as deli or packaged ham or turkey
- Pizza
- Fresh and processed poultry
- Soups
- Sandwiches, such as cheeseburgers
- Cheese
- Pasta dishes
- Meat-mixed dishes, such as meatloaf with tomato sauce
- Snacks, such as chips, pretzels and popcorn
See Tips to Reducing Salt for additional foods to avoid.
Where do I start?
Question: Where do I start to reduce sodium in my diet?
Answer: As a start, choose lower salt items. We have lists of brand name foods that have less than 35mg of sodium. If your grocery doesn’t carry many lower salt choices, ask if they can stock some additional items. Other suggestions:
- Read the nutrition label − If you don’t know how much sodium you’re consuming, you can’t take control of your low-salt diet.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables… make them the center of your meal
- Limit processed foods
- Get a good low-salt cookbook… we think ours, The Hasty Gourmet™ Low Salt Favorites, is a good one to start with
- Check out our Helpful Info section Tips to Reducing Salt and Dining Out Tips
Before going out to eat check the web for menu items, they often have the amount of sodium listed. Select the lower sodium options.
