2 easy ways to reduce your salt intake

Looking to reduce your salt intake? The tips below will help. They're easy steps to take — and tasty ones too.

Foods that are rich in potassium, such as fruit and vegetables, help to lower your blood pressure and consequently reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Potassium helps to balance the effects of sodium in the body, so maintaining high levels of it is beneficial to your health.

What's more, scientists say that it is the ratio of sodium to potassium in your body that's important, not cutting out sodium entirely.

In one study of 2,974 people aged between 30 and 54, whose blood pressure readings were slightly under levels considered high, those with the highest sodium levels in their urine were 20 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke over the following 10 to 15 years than those with the lowest sodium levels. The individuals with the highest sodium-to-potassium ratio — in other words, far higher levels of sodium than potassium — were 50 percent more likely to experience a stroke, heart attack or another form of cardiovascular disease than those with lower ratios.

Since potassium is largely derived from fruit and vegetables, increasing your intake will not only help to counteract the effects of too much salt, but also provide you with nutrients known to protect against heart attack and stroke. Potassium-rich fruit and vegetables include avocados, bananas, grapes, dates, prunes, raisins, watermelons, leafy green vegetables, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lentils and spinach.

Think nuts are just a salty snack? Think again. If you eat just a small handful of unsalted nuts every day for one year — in combination with a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and fish — you are far less likely to die of heart disease or diabetes than people who rarely eat nuts.

Even without salt, nuts — especially walnuts and pecans — are packed with beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Walnuts have additional benefits, too. They are rich in vitamin B6 — which helps to control homocystein. They also provide the amino acid arginine, which stimulates production of nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes constricted blood vessels.

Some research indicates that eating a handful of walnuts just four or five times a week can lower your risk of heart attack by up to 40 percent. Nuts can help to control blood sugar, too.

Hazelnuts and cashews contain copper, a nutrient vital for people with diabetes. Plus, according to Harvard scientists, women who regularly eat a few nuts — any nuts — several times a week are less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those that don't.

So, eat more potassium rich fruits and start snacking on some nuts to help you reduce your salt intake.