How can I overcome my salt craving?

To overcome a salt craving, there are a few things you can do - most importantly, removing processed foods that are high in salt from your diet. Psychologist Ramani Durvasula, PhD, shares her helpful tips for kicking a salt craving.

Transcript

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RAMANI DURVASULA: Give up three the first week, three of your big salty problems, so to speak.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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In order to overcome a salt craving, I sort of view it as a three-step process. One thing you have to do is stop making it so easy.

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And by that, I mean the bulk of the sodium or salt that enters our diet does so through processed foods,

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whether they're snack foods, salad dressings, nuts-- you name it. They come in through other salted foods. Since the bulk of it is coming in that way,

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the best way to manage it is to get rid of some of that stuff and don't make it so easy. Get that stuff out of the house. You want chips and salsa, make your own low salt chips,

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cut up tomatoes and onions and cilantro and add some lemon. So it doesn't mean you're giving these foods up, but stop buying the processed version.

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And I often start with my clients, give up three the first week, three of your big salty problems,

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so to speak. And get rid of three of them. And that could be like getting rid of chips, getting rid of salted peanuts. It might be, for example, getting rid of canned soups,

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and trying that for a week, and then each week, maybe adding two or three more. Because over the course of a month,

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you might get rid of 10 to 12 of your real problem salty foods. Number two is to really think about

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whether this is a deficiency in other nutrients, such as magnesium, calcium, zinc, or potassium.

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These nutrients can be found in other foods ranging from leafy green vegetables to a wide variety of unsalted nuts

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to shrimp to sesame seeds and obviously a wide range of dairy products, fruits, vegetables.

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All of these foods contain these nutrients. Start building these into your diet. Not only are these super healthy and wonderful

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nutritionally sound foods, if you buy the non-salted versions or acquire the non-salted versions and don't add salt while they're cooking,

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then you don't get the sodium hit and you balance other nutrition. So you're not losing out. In fact, you're gaining with a wider variety of foods.

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Finally, shake the shaker. Get rid of it. Because what happens is just having it on the table

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is half the problem. Don't even keep a salt shaker on your table at home. In the morning, if you really are struggling with salt, only put in about 1/4 to a 1/2 teaspoon in your salt shaker.

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When that shaker is empty, that day, your adding of salt is finished. I strongly suggest you consider other kinds of condiments.

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And these would be things like lemon juice, vinegars or flavored vinegars, garlic powder, paprika,

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or other spices that don't have added salt. All of these spices give you the zing that you might want

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to food, which is why a lot of people turn to salt, and then on top of it, you may not hide the flavor. One thing salt does is it hides the flavor of food.

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The beautiful thing about starting to lose the salt is now you're going to have all these great new flavors in your life because now you're finally tasting