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Assaulting Salt

As I've been using Spark People for the past couple weeks, I've noticed that I eat way too much sodium.  In fact, I've taken to never adding salt to my dishes.  There's just too much sodium in everything. 

In fact, it's really interesting that as I've been contemplating the dangers of sodium, I got my latest Penzys catalog.  If you don't know Penzys, they sell almost every spice, I swear.  And they have great prices.  But the interesting part was this note in the salt section from the onwer:

Salt.


We're cutting back on salt.


A really good and healthy thing going on with food right now is that people are using less salt.  We want to be a part of this.  Going forward we will continue to sell reasonably priced generic salts of the earth and sea, but we will no longer be selling the higher priced specialty salts.  I feel things have gotten to a point where the specialty salts are glamorizing the use of salt and, with that, encouraging people to use more of it.  I have also found that along with the marketing of specialty salt has come a great deal of misinformation, including claims that some salts don't afffect your health like others do.  This is just not true and not something we wnat to be a part of.  Salt is salt, it really is, and it tastes no different no matter where it comes from.


With our belief that cooking comes from caring for those around you we feel part of that is caring for the well-being of the people we cook for.  We all have our own relationship with salt and I respect that, but as a cook and as a business I feel so much better about working to cut back on the use of salt rather than encouraging the use of more.  I hope this makes sense to you,


BILL

What do you guys think?  What's your take on a business taking a stand on an issue that is directly related to their core and could detrimentally impact their bottom line?

Tuesday:
5 minutes on elliptical
15 minutes on stair stepper
15 minutes on exercise bike
50 situps
50 push ups
2 60 second front planks
2 30 second side planks (each side)
5 miles biked
prayed
read the bible
read my devotion
fasted

Total:
45 minutes on elliptical
15 minutes on stair stepper
15 minutes on exercise bike
150 situps
150 push ups
4 60 second front planks
4 30 second side planks (each side)
5 miles walked/ran
6 miles biked
prayed
read the bible
read my devotion
fasted

4 comments:

  South Beach Steve

June 16, 2010 at 5:11 AM

While I am not too disturbed by salt, I do half-heartedly try to cut down on its use. That being said, hats off to Bill at Penzys for taking a stand for something he believes in. There isn't enough of that going on.

  Alison

June 16, 2010 at 12:50 PM

I think not carrying the good salt is going a bit far.

I don't worry about salt, I eat almost no processed food so I don't get tons of it that I am unaware of. I cook with salt, I will not give up salt, it is flavour especially when there is less fat. I think we over demonize salt. Yes, we need less in processed food, but everyday cooking it's just fine. We really just need less processed foods...
If salt were so bad for us animals wouldn't seek it out, it is essential and I think that often gets overlooked. Bill is also wrong several types of salt contain less sodium than table salt.

  SeattleRunnerGirl

June 17, 2010 at 12:56 PM

I think it's great! Businesses taking steps about things they're passionate about is something I love. My client-base is small businesses, and when I'm meeting with a client for the first time, I *always* try to get a sense of their business values so I can advise them in a way that takes the law AND that information into account.

I used to eat too much sodium, too, and I started to focus on getting it down into healthier ranges. As with almost everything, I find that more whole, healthy, homemade, and natural foods I eat? The less sodium is an issue.

  beej

June 17, 2010 at 1:21 PM

These are some interesting thoughts. I agree that processed foods are the biggest culprit. I think I'll have to to a post on salt soon. Good stuff, guys!