Dear Editor,

Thank you for your June editorial, “Food Fight: The War on Salt.” I agree.

In 2007, I had a triple-bypass heart operation at the age of 59. Luckily, the blockages were identified before any damage to my heart had occurred. Since then, I have been watching my weight and eating mostly home-prepared foods. My staple is a lean meat/veggie stew. I “spice” it up with chilies and garlic instead of salt, so it isn’t a matter of doing without taste; it is about changing the spices. Since I have been eating differently, my weight has been reduced gradually by 40 pounds.

I recommend a reduced-salt diet to others…I believe that a good way to reduce salt in diets is to encourage people to substitute healthier spice combinations for salt. My favorites are garlic and chilies. I’m sure there are lots of other suggestions available from your readers.

Perhaps the restaurant industry can do research on how prepared foods can also use substitutes for salt. I believe people eat what tastes good to them. If you prepare it the way they like, they will buy it. We, baby boomers, are a big market, and if there were any alternatives available that tasted good, we would certainly patronize those restaurants. In fact, I was becoming so frustrated by eating out, that I was entertaining the idea of starting a lean meat/veggie stew restaurant. If anyone wants to do this, I’d gladly give them my recipe.

Thanks again for keeping this health issue in front of us…
Randy Grandin
Natural Grocery
Berkeley, CA
 

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, September 2010