How do you flavour your food with less salt?

I’ve never been a huge salt person, but I have one friend that I always worry about for putting salt on everything. (She could be in this picture, whereas the concept of putting salt on pizza is very strange to me.)

It seems I’m in the minority, though. Sunday, May 17 was World Hypertension Day, which was established to highlight the health problems that high blood pressure can cause, such as stroke, heart and kidney diseases. And excess sodium consumption is the cause of hypertension in about 3 out of 10 adults, according to the World Hypertension League. (Find out more about hypertension in our A-Z Health Index.)

In fact, the average daily consumption of sodium in Canada is 3500 mg, three times the daily recommended limit of 1500 mg. So it looks like all of us could cut back. The World Hypertension League has a pamphlet that you can download with tips on reducing your intake, such as cutting down on high-salt foods (salted meat and nuts, anchovies, chips and soy sauce, for example) and keeping the salt shaker off the table.

But we want to know: what are your strategies for keeping food flavourful with less salt? How do you cut back without sacrificing taste?

As an incentive, we’re offering a great prize pack courtesy of Mrs. Dash. Just enter your low-salt solution in the comments below by Monday, May 25 at 11:59 pm EDT and we’ll pick one lucky winner to receive $75 worth of products from Mrs. Dash. (Click here for full contest rules.) Make sure to send this blog post on to your friends so they have a chance to win, too!

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