Tips to Cut Back on Salt
Our bodies need some salt to function, but we need to be careful how much we eat. Too much salt can lead to:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Stroke
Tips to cut back on salt
Use herbs and spices instead of salt
We can easily get our daily salt needs from the salt found naturally in fresh foods without having to add it to meals or when cooking.
Avoid ultra-processed foods
High levels of salt are often added to processed foods to improve flavour or as a preservative. Around 75% of our salt intake comes from packed, tinned and processed foods, including junk foods.
Your tastebuds will adapt to eating lower amounts of salt and start to appreciate the natural flavours in food in 4-6 weeks.
Shopping tip:
Choose ‘reduced-salt’ or ‘no-added-salt’ when this option is available.
To check how much salt is in a food, check the sodium in the nutrition information panel. Look at the per 100 g column and choose products with lower sodium.
| Best | Okay | Too high |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 120mg | 120 - 400mg | More than 400mg |