Salt food pyramid: build your own

How do we know if we are exceeding 1 teaspoon of salt a day?

One can only know about excessive salt intake by analysing their diet.

But in general, to know if you are eating too much salt as a habit, there are the signs:

1) Habitual eating out, and consuming pe-packaged foods, will make you exceed the daily salt limit.

4) A high-sodium meal e.g barbequed food, meals with MSG, crisps etc, can lead to thirst. It’s an indication you have eaten too much salt.

You could feel foggy if you are a regular high-sodium consumer.

5) If you are in the habit of using the salt shaker for every meal, you are bound to go overboard with daily requirement. For some people their food starts tasting quite bland, as their taste buds are used to sodium-rich foods.

6) African American, elderly, people with hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease are very sensitive to sodium i.e their blood pressure rises and falls directly based on sodium intake.

The salt food pyramid

Foods that have healthy salt content

<100 mg of Sodium per 100 gms of serving

Buttermilk 105mg/100ml

Pickled gherkins 64mg/100gms of drained gherkins

Salt-free fermented foods

Foods with moderate salt content

Between 100-500mg/100gms

Salted nuts 440mg/100gms

Vegetable canned soup 500mg/100gms

Bread 500mg/100gms

Biscuits <500mg/100gms

Crisps 550mg/100gms

Tomato sauce 340mg/100 gms

Salsa 430mg/100gms

Pasta with tomato and cheese 436mg/100gms

Pasta with pesto sauce 179mg/100gms

Heart healthy cereals 408mg/100gms

Packaged puddings 200mg/100gms

Foods with high salt content: best avoided

>500 mg/100gms of serving

Smoked, cured, salted meat >1000mg/100gms

Sausages 1000mg/100gms

Salami/cold cut 1850/100gms

Pepperoni pizza (2 slices) 1365mg

Frozen beef burgers 880mg/100gms

Chicken nuggets 557mg/100gms

Processed cheese 1360mg/100gms

Cheese spreads 1170mg/100gm

Salted crackers 1000mg/100gm

2-minutes noodles 1170mg/100gms

Soy sauce 7325mg/100gms

Barbeque sauce 815mg/100gms

Salad cream 840mg/100gms

Mustard 1135mg/100gms

Ketchup 907mg/100gms

Salted butter 840mg/100gms

Cornflakes 1170mg/100gms

Click here to make your own healthy food pyramid based on sodium values