Maïa Baudelaire, Nutritional expert in Food Behaviour and Founder of the Maïa Baudelaire® Method I Love My Diet Coach® – the first Nutritional Coaching website reimbursed by Healthcare – offers advice on how to get the most out of salt.

Often linked to the onset of various diseases, the excessive consumption of salt is definitely not good for your health.

Salt in numbers:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a daily salt intake that shouldn’t surpass 5g, in simple terms, one teaspoonful. Here in France, we are some way off that target, averaging an intake that is over double.

How do you compare? Like many of us, you don’t feel you exactly empty the salt shaker onto your food. That’s quite normal; the largest source of salt is derived from “hidden” salts; salts that are found naturally in food or the ones which are added during manufacturing. Basically, the ones you can’t see.

And if we eliminated salt….

Absolutely not! Salt is an essential part of your health, ensuring your muscles, the kidneys and your heart work properly! It is, as with so many foods, the excess that makes it harmful. But in small quantities your body needs it every day.

My tips:

• Taste your dishes before salting them and don’t put the saltshaker on the table during meals.
• Consume carbonated waters which are naturally low in salt such as Perrier, Salvetat or San Pellegrino.
• Do you find your food tasteless? Choose fresh herbs (coriander, dill, thyme, parsley, rosemary …), spices or condiments before adding salt. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
• Even if the summer heat is taking a while to show up, aperitifs between friends will soon make their comeback. Instead of crisps, serve up raw vegetables, carrots, cucumbers and small cherry tomatoes to dip in a good, homemade sauce.
• Ready-made dishes are often very rich in salt. Try to cook for yourself as much as possible, at least in that way, you’ll be sure of what’s inside.
• Try Pink Himalayan Salt, a healthy alternative to ordinary salt. Its taste is much saltier than normal salt, so you need less of it to create the same saltiness. It also contains a lot more minerals.

In short :

Salt is good for your health, but only in small quantities!