Salt Awareness week, a week that we are sure you have not heard of until day.
Helping to highlight the large amounts of salt that is hiding in our food and to influence us to take more effort in avoiding this is the 19th National Salt Awareness Week taking place from Monday 12th till Sunday 18th March.
Focusing not just on individuals and their intake but also on families and making sure that they have the correct education when it comes to consuming the correct levels of salt.
With many people aware that consuming too much salt is bad for you and that it can play havoc on your health, many choose to ignore the facts and push it to the back of their minds.
What many people are unaware of as they shrug off the effects of a high salt diet, is that eating a high salt diet early on in one’s life can increase their blood pressure. Therefore ensuring that their children’s diet has the recommended daily intake of salt is far better for them in the long term.
A child with increased blood pressure is at a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes. By reducing the amount of salt intake across those of all ages, it is hoped that it can reduce the overall amount of heart disease and the effects that it has on the health care system.
The Consensus Action on Salt and Health that organises the Salt Awareness Week are planning to expose families to the facts and the effects that eating salt can create. By also calling on the food industry to reduce the amount that they add to our food, CASH are hoping that by educating the public, we will take greater effort to look after our health.
If people take more care of their health and avoid the unnecessary consumption of excess salt, along with increasing their health, many lives will be saved and the amount that is spent on the NHS and health care costs will be dramatically reduced.
For those wanting to get involved in the National Salt Awareness Week, why not take the time to cook up your own dinners from scratch. Doing this will quickly reduce the amount of excess salt you have been eating.
When you create your own dinners and reduce the amount of crisps, ready made meals and takeaways that you eat, along with reducing your salt levels, you may just find that you enjoy your meals and discover flavours that you were unaware existed.
If you are needing inspiration and a list of delicious meals to get you excited to get cooking up some homemade dinners this Salt Awareness Week, look at our recipes.