What To Use Instead Of Salt For Seasoning

The more you enjoy the food that’s on your eating plan, the more likely you are to stay on course with it and not stray, something that’s especially crucial when trying to lose weight.

…but there’s one teensy-weensy little problem.

You need flavor for your chicken, fish, and rice but can’t use salt or sauces because of the sodium and added calories, respectively.¹NOTE: There are low sodium options like yellow mustard and salsa and calorie-free sauces made by Frank’s Red Hot and Walden Farms, but don’t go ruining my presentation with that shit! I’m trying to make a point here!!!

Yeah, ¡ay Dios mio!²That means “Oh, my God” in Spanish, a language that’s perfect to talk about you behind your back right in front of your face because the odds are high that you only speak English like the average monolingual American.

Hmmmmmm…what on earth are you ever to do?!

This might be silly, but you can suck it up and eat your boring ass chicken, fish, and rice with the understanding that food is nothing but fuel and every bite doesn’t have to be a party in your mouth like last weekend in the bar bathroom.

That would be silly!

Nah, what you can do instead is reach for herbs and spices to add some kick to your food without the unwanted shit.³This might prove especially challenging if you’re white because we all know your ability to season food stops at a barely noticeable sprinkling of salt and pepper (throw in basil and oregano when you’re feeling really adventurous), so you might want to hire a chef who has some melanin in them and offers private cooking lessons to help you overcome your genetic coding not to properly season shit.

The standard American diet is loaded with sodium. The average person eats way too much of the stuff. That’s bad for a number of reasons.

For one, excess sodium causes you to retain water. Not only does increased water retention make you look puffier but it also places extra pressure on the blood vessels and forces the heart to work harder to pump blood. Thus, raising the risk for hypertension and stroke. As for sodium’s effect on weight, it can increase your appetite and blunt the mechanisms that tell you to stop eating.

So reducing sodium is probably a good idea.

However, while reducing your sodium intake by simply using less salt sounds all well and good, a lot of sauces, condiments, and marinades you might want to use in place of salt are loaded with sodium. Beyond that, they also contain calories and added sugars, both of which someone trying to manage their weight should be as mindful of as sodium. Given the prospects of no salt or sauces, many would resign themselves to a fate of eating flavorless food.⁴Well, more flavorless than your food already is because you can’t cook. But as we’ve seen above, hope isn’t all lost when it comes to flavoring your food because herbs and spices are more than worthy substitutes, in addition to fruit juice, citrus peels, and brown sugar, vinegar, peppers, and sesame oil.

Glossary: calories, diet

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.

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