More Herbs, Less Salt Day
Low salt doesn’t mean flavorless. Find some healthy new recipes, or make your old recipes healthier by substituting some of the salt for more flavorful herbs.
Position herb-based cooking and fresh herb products as the flavorful, health-conscious alternative to salt-heavy convenience foods.
- Share easy home-cooking recipes that swap salt for fresh herbs
- Promote herb seed kits, potted herbs, or indoor grow lights for year-round fresh herb access
- Partner with nutritionists or chefs to highlight sodium reduction benefits and flavor innovation
- User-generated content: followers share their homemade herb-forward dishes
This day came about in an effort to reduce the amount of sodium in the average person’s diet. In addition to simply shaking salt on at meals, sodium is also an often used ingredient in many pre-prepared convenience foods. That means that a lot of people are getting more sodium in their diets than they realize.
More Herbs, Less Salt Day is the perfect day to begin paying more attention to salt intake, while getting creative with other ways to flavor food.
Start Cooking at Home More
More Herbs, Less Salt Day encourages everyone to take a simple step to re-align the imbalance of salt vs. herbs. This can be accomplished through the use of herbs in home-cooked dishes in place of salt. In fact, cooking at home is the only real way to control the use of salt because restaurants and premade convenience foods often use high amounts of salt that can’t be changed. But that’s okay, because cooking at home can be simple, tasty and enjoyable–especially for those who know they are doing something good for their bodies.
Grow Some Fresh Herbs in the Garden
It doesn’t take much room or effort to grow a variety of fresh herbs, and a little rosemary, thyme, mint or other herbs can do just as much to enrich a dish as a heavy dose of salt. Growing herbs at home can actually be fairly simple–and much less expensive than buying fresh herbs at the grocery store. For those who have a full-fledged garden, this is perfect for summer. But even garden growers will need to either have a greenhouse or a space indoors (preferably with grow lights) so that they can have access to fresh herbs all year round.
Cut Back on Salt with Some Simple Tips
Cutting back on salt in the diet might feel overwhelming, as if all of the flavor is going to be removed from life. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Try these ideas for limiting salt intake: Minimize the use of packaged meats. Fresh cuts of chicken, pork and beef have a much lower sodium content than preserved meats, such as bacon, ham or deli meats. Check frozen vegetable bags for salt content. Be sure that they are “fresh frozen” instead of having been preserved with salt prior to freezing. Compare brands. Some brands will pack the product full of sodium when it simply isn’t necessary. Get used to reading labels on all prepared products including soups, frozen foods, boxed food mixes, and even prepared dairy products like cottage cheese.
Try Out Some No Salt Seasonings
Creating a no-salt seasoning mix is a great way to begin new habits in cooking. Try out this idea for mixing up a salt-free flavorful seasoning that brings out the best in food. Mix together: 1 tbsp garlic powder 1 ½ tsp dried parsley1 ½ tsp dried basil 1 ¼ tsp ground thyme 1 tsp ground mace 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp dried sage1 tsp black pepper, ground¼ tsp cayenne pepper Mix together and place in a shaker to use as a substitute for table salt or in cooking.