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The 5 main food groups

Hypersensitivity to salt does NOT depend on salt itself, in its chemical form of Sodium chloride. It is impossible to be intolerant to either Chlorine or Sodium, since they are fundamental elements of our body structure.

Responsible for the reaction are rather the impurities - caused for the most part by extraction processes - that “pollute” the salt, even the ones that are considered “natural”, and make it potentially allergenic.

The DRIA test , moreover, often identifies the presence of a nutritional overload and therefore if the test is positive the doctor may conclude that there is a nutritional overload of substances with a high salt content.

In a diet where salt is under control, the elimination of salt must never be absolute, but just limited to foods with a high intrinsic content of Sodium chloride or with a lot of salt added during their preparation. Salt in this case must be limited but not eliminated: it is well documented by the medical community that the costs of total exclusion outweigh the benefits.

As far as cooking salt is concerned, it is therefore sufficient to cut its use to a minimum when seasoning meat and vegetables (learn to use spices and herbs to enhance flavor) and when adding it to boiling water (for pasta, rice or potatoes).

Within a couple of weeks after reducing salt in the diet, the sense of taste usually improves. This in turn leads to improved enjoyment of different flavors and, in many cases, to finding food prepared outside of your home too salty.

The actual dietary strategy is to eliminate all industrial and/or homemade products that contain great amounts of salt:

— Bouillon: even just the vegetable ones. Alternative condiments: gomashio, miso, tamari.

— Sauces of any type: including macrobiotic ones and obviously all forms of fast food.

— Meats or vegetable extracts for broth: including parmesan and mozzarella, even in small quantities such as the traditional sprinkling on pasta.

— Hams and salami: all types

— Smoked, dry and preserved meat: that includes bresaola (Italian cured beef), even if “natural” or “organic”.

— Smoked fish: salmon, herring, tuna, etc.

— Preserved fish: canned anchovies, anchovies in salt, canned tuna - even “natural” ones - clams, caviar, etc.

— Olives, potato chips,  toasted or salted nuts, dried fruit: all cocktail snacks including peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.

— Pickled preparations: this includes almost all preparations in vinegar or oil.

— Bakery products: focaccia, pizza, bread, crackers, bread sticks, cookies, etc. Even sweets, cakes and cookies (mostly industrial ones), as well as unsalted bread (Tuscan type), many types of breakfast cereal, which, in spite of appearances, have an intrinsically high salt content. As alternatives you can use puffed grains, whole grain extruded crackers, puffed rice cakes, corn flakes, boiled or baked potatoes, drained pasta or rice (as in Chinese cooking).

A very recent study (DASH study) clearly showed that the maximum salt content is in those industrial foods that are traditionally thought to be unsalted.

It’s worth noting that the advice you find in this section is relevant and useful even to those who, while not being hypersensitive to salt, respond to excessive salt intake in a transitory way (as in premenstrual syndrome) or chronic (as in many cases of arterial hypertension so-called essential). In these cases, limiting salt in dietary intake will almost always result in a reduction of symptoms.

Weekly abstinence even for people who are not intolerant

Even in the absence of a specific reactivity, since salt is one of the most common components of nutrition, you may want to consider a weekly day of “abstinence ” (better defined as controlled intake), in order to rid your body of any possible overloads. In the Italian diet foods with the highest intrinsic content of salt (among which many sweets and cheeses) are also connected to yeast and fermentation. So, on the day of weekly abstinence from salt it is wise to eliminate the foods indicated in the Yeast section (the two sections are in fact very similar).

Alternatives

In case of intolerance to salt it is necessary to cut to a minimum the salting of food and to replace salt with aromatic herbs and vegetable aromas and then eliminate or rotate - depending on the doctor’s advice - foods with a high content of salt.

As far as ham, meat and preserved or smoked fish are concerned, try a carpaccio of raw beef or swordfish, cut very thinly and seasoned with oil, lemon, herbs and thinly sliced vegetables. On the carpaccio, as on a steak, you can sprinkle a bit of salt: it’s very little compared to the salt you ingest from a piece of bread or cheese.

With cocktails, serve raw vegetables with oil and vinegar, or accompanied by an unsalted mayonnaise (or with just a sprinkling of it): process the egg with lemon and a bit of minced garlic and enough olive oil to make it thick.

As a snack, instead of bread and cheese, try the fish or meat snacks listed below.

Remember that anywhere you have strong flavors (garlic, onion, parsley etc…) use of salt can be really cut to a minimum. Even beef or chicken broth, prepared at home with onions and flavors (and very little salt, if allowed) may be consumed.

The problem of alternatives is mostly with bread and similar products.

At breakfast, if there isn’t any specific intolerance, bread and toasts may be substituted with natural cornflakes (look at the label to make sure they don’t contain salt), puffed rice cakes (now very common at any supermarket, in the UNSALTED version) also available in rice or wheat, or with ‘cracotte’, extruded crackers made with rice, wheat and bran.

Other suitable products are the “Puffed amaranth snacks” (Italian snacks made by Allos), or “Sfogliate al Riso e Mais” (rice and corn crackers produced by KI and available in Italy) or le “Sfogliate di Farro” (spelt crackers also made by KI). Another alternative to vary your breakfast is crepes.

At each meal bread can also be substituted with boiled potatoes, abundant pasta, boiled and drained rice served with the main course (as in Oriental cuisine), polenta (cornmeal mush) just made or cut into slices when cooled and toasted on the grill or in your toaster. Another alternative: cruscalini (breadsticks made with extruded bran - available in Italy).

Many alternative recipes can be found, together with instructions for the rotational diet, in the books by Dr. Attilio Speciani “Le allergie: cause, diagnosi, terapie” (with Marina Speciani Necchi), “Resistere all’inquinamento” and “Superare le intolleranze alimentari” (with Francesca Speciani), all published by Tecniche Nuove, Milan.

Recipes

Here are some recipes for seasonings that are rich and tasty without containing salt.

Vegetable bouillon
1 kg onions, 1 kg carrots, ½ kg celery
Chop all vegetables finely, mix together and place in ice cube forms. The cubes may be thawed as needed and added directly to soups, sauces and various preparations.

Vegetable broth
200 g carrots, 150 g turnips, 100 g potatoes, 15 g celeriac, 100 g fennel, 10 g parsley (leaves and stems), 50 g leeks or a small onion, 2 l water
Cook all ingredients together on a low flame for around 3 hours. Allow to cool until tepid and filter. For a tastier broth, the turnips may be substituted with celeriac. Store in a cool place; use within 24 hours.

Meat or fish appetizers
1 package of frozen or fresh fish (or thin slices of raw meat - carpaccio - or roast beef or strips of boiled chicken or turkey breast), oil, lemon, garlic or onion, a little parsley
Cook the fish or turkey in the microwave or on the grill. When they are cool, season them with a sauce prepared with oil, lemon, and the other flavors. This sauce may be substituted by homemade mayonnaise or with one of the sauces below.

Salmoriglio (Sicilian oil and lemon seasoning)
1 glass of olive oil, 2 lemons, 2 garlic cloves, a handful of parsley or oregano (fresh)
Warm the oil in a small pan placed over a slightly larger pan placed over the burner. Whisk in the lemon juice a little at a time to make an emulsion. Add the mashed garlic and oregano (or parsley). An excellent sauce for roasted fish.

Parsley sauce
300 g parsley, 1 onion, olive oil, pepper
Mince the parsley or grind it in the mortar. Warm three tablespoons of oil in a pan, add the onion and cook until softened but not browned. Add the parsley, mix and add a sprinkle of pepper. Continue cooking until you obtain a dense and homogenous sauce. Remove from heat and add olive oil until the sauce is of the desired fluidity.

Onion sauce
6 tbsp oil, 6 onions, pepper, thyme, marjoram
Warm oil and add the thinly sliced onions. Cook over moderate heat until softened and season with freshly ground pepper, thyme or marjoram as desired. A good sauce for pasta or meats.

Crepes
125 g flour, 1 egg, a pinch of salt, 300 cc milk (rice milk in case of intolerance to cow’s milk), a little sugar, 1 tbsp olive oil
Combine the ingredients with a whip or fork until a smooth, but not too liquid, batter is formed. If necessary, add a little more flour. Heat a non-stick skillet (add a little oil if needed) and pour in enough batter to coat the bottom lightly (move the pan in order to distribute the batter evenly). After a half of a minute, flip the crepe and cook the other side. The crepes can be topped with sugar, maple syrup, jam or vegetables

Chocolate salami
60 g sugar, 3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg, 60 g unsweetened cocoa, 100 g butter, 3 or 4 cakes of puffed rice. Optional: a handful of pine nuts or chopped almonds
Blend the eggs with the sugar. Mix in the cocoa, softened butter, crumbled rice cakes and nuts, if using. Roll up the mixture in a sheet of parchment and place in the refrigerator until firm.

Two typical days of the diet

These are examples of two days of an extremely low salt and yeast-free diet.

Spring-Summer

Breakfast — Fresh fruit as desired, 1 glass of milk, 1 puffed rice cake with jam or honey.

Lunch — Mixed seasonal salad, without vinegar and with very little salt. Roast fish with Salmoriglio sauce (see recipe), oven baked potatoes, fruit.

Dinner — Spaghetti with artichoke sauce (see recipe), beef or sword fish carpaccio, mixed vegetables.

Autumn-Winter

Breakfast — Crepes with jam, freshly squeezed orange juice, 1 cup of herbal tea.

Lunch — Raw vegetables (crudités), steak with boiled rice, cauliflower with homemade mayonnaise.

Dinner — Vegetable broth with noodles, boiled fish with potatoes, mixed fruit salad.

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© This food profile is copyright of SMA Srl Servizi Medici Associati, Via Ariosto 28, 20145 Milan, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Health director: Dr Attilio Speciani, M.D., Clinical allergist and immunologist. This material may not be used or reproduced without the publisher’s permission.