Healthy eating - use salt and foods high in salt sparingly

Guidelines for Healthy Eating

The first group of guidelines provide general messages to promote a healthy lifestyle:

Enjoy a variety of foods.
Be active!
Drink lots of clean, safe water.

The next group of guidelines help to plan good mixed meals:

Make starchy foods part of most meals.
Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit every day.
Eat dry beans, split peas, lentils and soya regularly.
Fish, chicken, lean meat or eggs could be eaten daily.
Have milk, maas and yoghurt every day.
Use fat sparingly; choose vegetable oils rather than hard fats.

The following guidelines give messages about the use of foods that are commonly used but can be harmful when too much is used.

Use salt and foods high in salt sparingly.
Use sugar and food and drinks high in sugar sparingly.

Use salt and foods high in salt sparingly

It is believed that a high salt intake leads to an increase in blood pressure in genetically susceptible persons; if the high salt intake is maintained over the long-term it will lead to hypertension.

Some of the salt in the eating plan comes from salt added during cooking and at table, but most comes from salt added when processed foods are produced and when salt based seasonings and sauces are used in home food preparation.

A high salt intake is a risk factor for the development of high blood pressure.

Food Group	Lower salt foods	Higher salt foods
Starchy foods	Some breakfast cereals Some savoury crackers Dry maize, rice, pasta	Some breakfast cereals Some savoury crackers Maize, rice, pasta cooked with a lot of salt Some types of bread
Vegetables and fruit	All fresh vegetables and fruit Frozen vegetables with no seasoning or sauce	Canned vegetables Vegetables with sauces / seasoned Vegetable juice
Dry beans, split-peas, lentils, soya	All dry beans, peas, lentils. Plain soya mince	Canned beans Some flavoured soya mince
Fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs	All fresh types	Processed meat (ham, bacon, polony, sausages, biltong) Frozen chicken that has brine added Canned fish in brine (undrained) Salted fish (snoek, pickled herring) Cheese
Milk, maas, yoghurt	Milk, maas, yoghurt	Cheese