Help - I need to wean myself off salt!

Try using other spices and herbs to flavor your food. Depending on the type of dish even dried herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary) can add a lot to a dish. Although most grocery stores have some fresh seasonally and it's really easy to grow your own herbs too. I've recently been cutting down my sodium intake due to borderline high BP and it's amazing all the things that have a lot of salt and/or sodium, so I read labels a lot. Pretty much anything processed or canned has a ton of sodium. Also, sea salt has slightly less sodium, and I find myself using even less bc I think it tastes stronger (or maybe it's my imagination).

I admit I'm a salt addict. I don't have a sweet tooth like many others - I live salt. I add it to meals before I even taste it. Would love to hear of any substitutes or strategies to stop using salt!

do you have high blood pressure or any other medical issues pertaining to salt? most people really don't.

ETA: as the bean said, try to worry more about keeping your potassium to sodium at a 1:1 ratio, and you're golden. other things to dump any excess sodium are to drink lots of water -- we flush most excess through urination, so more water = more trips to the loo -- and working out, where you will lose some through sweat.

try switching to pepper or lemon pepper.

I put salt on everything from my oatmeal to my veggies. I haven't had any problems other than needing to drink a ton of water.

It may help if you just go "cold turkey" and eliminate all the salt from your diet for a short term only (say, a few days) and just force yourself not to have it.............. then when you reintroduce it your taste buds may have changed so that you are more sensitive to the taste of it, that you can't eat the amount you used to eat, and so can eat food without adding so much as before.

this worked for me re a sweet tooth (it was actually an unexpected side effect of eating zero carb for 3 days a couple of years ago.... zero carb did not suit me at all and I wouldn't recommend it long term, but it did rid me of a sweet tooth). I still like sweet foods, just I've regained the ability to taste sweet things properly so have them in moderation nowadays. I no longer like ultra sweet foods and prefer moderately sweet. I've never liked very salty foods though, so obviously not tried this on salt, but what happens is that you become desensitised to a particular taste if you eat too much of it for long periods. Cutting it out completely for a short time can "reset" your tastebuds. IMO it's worth a try, and it's not like you're giving up salt forever, just for a short time, then reintroducing it in smaller quantities, but (if this works) it'll taste just as good as before.

find a way to sweat more. Maybe running?

Switch to kosher salt and put it in a pepper shaker (fewer holes), or block some of the holes in the salt shaker. It will take time to get over the habit of reaching for the shaker but you will be using less. Most savory recipes that call for salt actually intend kosher salt, which is a larger grain and less compact so there is less sodium per teaspoon. As you adjust to the lower salt flavor the craving should disipate.