|
Salt addiction... >>;
I'm known in my family for "Putting salt on my salt,", or having an excess amount of salt on my food. It's awful; I know. My family and I make jokes, and they've become accustomed to the way I eat my food. What I do is, I'll be eating with a fork or something in one hand, while I use my other hand's pointer finger to eat salt. Like, I'll wet it slightly with my tongue, and dip it in a large pile I keep on the side of my plate. I dip my finger in the salt on average about once or twice per bite of food. If I'm eating steak or Chinese food, it can be up to four or five. I use my finger, as well as load salt on the actual food. And I put it on everything. I even have to load up my Ramen noodles with salt.
As I mentioned earlier, my family is used to this. But if a guest comes over or something, they can get quite appalled. My older sister's friend, who is an extreme health nut, ate dinner with us, and we were having steak (Well, my sister and him are vegetarians, but the the rest of us ate steak). He stared at me as if he were watching a train wreck, haha.
The point is, it's really getting out of hand. It's been this way since I was about 5. When I was younger, I would even pour salt on my hand and lick it. I can sometimes get these excruciating pains in my calf's at night. I hear that can be caused from a lack of Potassium, which in turn can be caused from excess sodium. I looooove food. Problem is, I love salt on like, 80% of my food. I've tried having a meal without salt once or twice, and I couldn't make it through two bites. Everything tastes teeeeeerrible without it!
I want to live a long time. I don't want to leave this earth from a heart attack. I want to enjoy my life, be a grandparent, die old. I know I'm slowly killing myself with salt. But, even with this in mind, I cannot stop. I've come to terms with it: I'm totally addicted. It tastes sooooooo good. So I suppose my question is... Is there anything I can do to stop this? I don't want to be that dependent on something that can be so lethal. Can anyone help me? Thank you for reading this painfully-long question.
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Health & Fitness category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Nutrition?
I understand, I used to salt & pepper EVERYTHING, and then became a health nut, realized the serious serious consequences of excess sodium, and now only put black pepper on everything. I basically channeled it all into black pepper which I'm obsessed with:)
<BR><BR>
But this would be my approach for you, a 2-step process:
1) STOP ADDING SALT TO THINGS!!! Get used to this as an action, but still choose food that have salt so that you meet your cravings. You just first need to learn how to control yourself & not add salt. For example, prepared Ramen has about 40% of your daily sodium requirement, it is extremely salty and doesn't need any more added... being a health nut, the fact that you add more does sort of disgust me the way you said it disgusts others haha sorry:)
2) Once you master this, start choosing foods that are lower sodium so that you meet the 2300mg/daily requirement. Back to the Ramen example, I actually buy these "Herbox" packets which are essentially the exact same packets that Ramen has, without salt or MSG. Sure, they're not as good, but being the health nut I am, it's a sacrifice I make for my body:)
<BR><BR>
If you don't start making changes, you're body will begin deteriorating, starting at your muscle level, and put yourself at risk for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
Listen, food without salt DOES NOT TASTE TERRIBLE!! Come on now, that was a ridiculous statement:) Just like someone with a heroin addiction, you need to make lifestyle changes because your addiction is going to start taking its toll on your body.
If you need any more support, ask me a question! Like foods to try and such. My example is eat edamame soy beans, and yes you can lightly salt them! ***LIGHTLY****:) That way, it's a healthy snack that'll meet your cravings!
I wish you the best of luck with your lifestyle changes, and if you need any more help let me know!! I would love love love to know how your progress is going & if my tips helped you, so please drop one by in my inbox with some updates if you have any:) GOODLUCK!!xx
]
I get it. Salt is like a flavour party in your mouth! High sodium foods have been proven to be addictive, so it's not surprising that once you start eating salt on everything, you have trouble stopping.
I would go cold turkey. No more salt on anything. It will take a few days, possibly more, but you will start to taste the flavours of food as it is. Try pepper, crushed chilis or other spices on your food instead. It will suck, but it would be a lot easier to monitor than trying to wean yourself off of it. Drink lots of water, too, to make sure that the salt in your body isn't out of whack.
]
I can see where your coming from. I'm a huge salt addict myself. Although it's not such a severe case as yours.
Well, your body needs salt, also because it has iodine which your body needs. However, too much of anything is a bad thing. Salt in itself causes high blood pressure, amongst reserving water in your body, kind of like bloating.
These days, there's more salt already added to the food you eat than you need. So adding more salt is basically asking for high blood pressure.
Here's a reliable website about a few major things about sodium: [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Start small, cut a little bit of salt out of your diet every day. You'll eventually become accustomed to food without salt and won't feel the urge to eat it so frequently, if at all.
Definitely take a glance at the website I searched because it really has some knowledgeable information.
Hope I helped!
Jackieee
]
More Questions: |