Looking for political information on CNN.com, a headline caught my eye: “How to be sodium savvy.” Since I recently developed some concerns in that area I clicked the link. The story was written by a chef named David Hagedorn for Cooking Light Magazine, a part of the CNN/Time/Warner empire.
What I found at the outset was some fairly basic but useful information about why too much salt is bad, how much salt is acceptable, and that the less salt we consume the less we crave. It then told me that most of the salt Americans consume is from processed food (chips, hot dogs, canned soup, etc.).
Their solution? More processed food:
The first step to keep sodium under control is to make smart choices at the grocery store. Choose sodium-free, low-sodium, or no-salt-added convenience foods.
Now the article does make a passing reference to cooking "food at home as often as possible, using fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy products, fresh meat, poultry, and fish," but then it goes on for several paragraphs about how to find processed foods with less salt.
I propose a simpler solution. Stop eating processed foods. Marcella Hazan said it best: “Saying you have no time to cook is like saying you have no time to bathe.”
