Salt Licks and Me, Too

“But I’m not old”, said the young man in his mid-twenties when I suggested he was loading his food with too much salt. I didn’t bother to argue but I assure you, not out of retribution for the inconsiderate comment about age. Most young people remain fearless in all aspects of life, especially health concerns, until bad habits result in threats upon their lives. Sorry guy, but you are what you eat. Even though salt is a preservative in processed foods, it doesn’t extend the life of humans.

Call it atheroslerosis or arteriosclerosis, excess amounts of salt damage the elasticity of and contributes to the hardening of the arteries as does smoking cigarettes, high blood pressure, diabetes and a diet high in saturated fats. Leading to increased levels of cholesterol under the inner lining of artery walls adds to the risks of strokes and heart attacks.

True, as a kid one I did my fair share of salting everything from gravy and mashed potatoes to vegetables I might not have otherwise eaten except for the strict rules set at the dinner table. Salt made the food more palatable.

Instead of French fries, we had oven-baked crinkly cut potatoes and I rationalized that, since I didn’t use ketchup, the volume of granules streaming from the saltshaker was no worse.

It would have been blasphemy to salt my favorite meal of made-from-scratch Spanish rise with mom’s special ingredient (yellow mustard). It was befitting that this was the last meal she fixed for me before she passed away. Just about everything else was subject to a good sprinkling. Buttered popcorn. Goulash. Apples. Thinking back those fifty years, people even salted watermelon, including myself. .

Even though I grew up on a farm with all kinds of fresh veggies, I wouldn’t eat tomatoes unless cooked in one of the many dishes that graced the dinner table. Others did and if they didn’t cover tomato slices with sugar, salt was used as a flavor enhancer.

Potato chips, peanuts, pretzels and many other packaged foods that are still salt-ready were real treats because they were rationed, as was pop. As sure as my parents would head out to play euchre on Saturday nights, it was Nehi and chips for us kids. Thursdays were pop and popcorn night, and an apple afterward, because Friday was vacuum day.

‘Salt licks’ were placed in pasture fields for cattle in the spring and summer. No, I didn’t get down on my hands and knees and partake with the cows but, before being placed on the ground, a chip off the salt block provided for an exotic taste with a variety of added minerals! Calcium, iron, phosphorous and zinc.

My first pizza was Chef-Boy-R-Despicable in the box. Only the provided ingredients - dough and some abomination of tomato sauce and grated cheese. No added toppings. Everybody agreed, just the one time was once too many.

My first real pizza was at Pizza Hut, 1970. Working odd hours, from sunrise to mid-afternoon at a radio station, I braved it on my own. It was delicious! Small, hand-tossed with a ham topping, I relished it all to myself. No salt then but somewhere along the way it too became a habit. Talk about a constriction of the arteries! I gave it up years ago – the salt, not pizza.

Over the past five decades advancements in medical research have proven excess salt also increases the risk of stomach cancer, kidney stones, eye problems and bone loss, thus osteoporosis, later in life.

The 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act required food companies to begin what we have become accustomed to see on over 6.5 million packaged products. Inclusive of the ‘Natural Facts’ are Recommended Daily Allowance figures for diets consisting of 2,000 calories.

Serving size, calorie count, calories from fat, saturated fat, dietary fiber, and sodium levels have all become attention getters. I now balance my diet with fruits and vegetables, which I prefer raw with no side dips. Salads go without dressings. A few olives (calories and salt content noted) and slices of cucumber marinated in diluted white vinegar suits me just fine. Kind of odd to some but who should judge my culinary delights?

One wonderful discovery has been ‘no salt added’ products, particularly stewed tomatoes which I use a lot. I kid you not, there’s a difference of 1% versus 13% RDA. The Great Value deal is a generic brand that costs half the price of name-brand packaging. Frozen dinners are laced with two to three times as much salt.

Successfully reducing my salt intake, I can still satisfy the craving by continuing to follow instructions given by my periodontist to swish a warm, mild saltwater solution that helps to heal mouth sores and strengthen gums. I just don’t swallow.