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According to the American Heart Association, or the AHA, heart disease is the leading cause of death for Americans.  One in four Americans suffer from some sort of heart disease.  That’s over 58,800,000 million Americans that are suffering from heart disease today.  One of the best things you can start doing for yourself is to keep your heart healthy by getting into low sodium cooking.  Here are some tips to start preparing tasty food that’s low in sodium and good for your heart.

Buy “Salt Free” products instead of “Low Sodium” to cook with.  If you buy packaged food, make sure you buy ones that are salt free.  Low sodium products still contain salt and sodium, sometimes in still excessive amounts.   You can always add a controlled amount of salt to taste.

Use garlic to add flavor instead of salt.  In addition to being full of flavor, garlic is also extremely beneficial to people with heart disease.  Garlic has been shown to reduce cholesterol and lower high blood pressure, as well as being helpful overall in alleviating the symptoms of heart disease.  Heart healthy foods rich in garlic not only taste great but are good medicine too.

Add onions your favorite dish to add flavor and health.  Onion, too, is a heart healthy food.  Scientists have found that the compound quercetin that is found in onions can help prevent chronic inflammation that can lead to a thickening of the arteries.  Onion can be sautéed or slow cooked and caramelized to add incredible flavor to all kinds of food dishes.

Invest in a steamer.  Steaming vegetables is the best way to prepare vegetables while maintaining all the healthy vitamins and minerals intact.  Overcooking vegetables not only cooks out all the good stuff, but also makes them bland and flavorless.  Steamed vegetables are healthier as well as tastier without having to add butter, salt or oil.

If you use salt, use kosher salt.  Kosher salt is additive-free and full of minerals.  It also is free of iodine.  This coarse-grained salt is lighter than table salt and dissolves easily in cooking.  Its flavor is more subtle than table salt and will add to your foods flavor instead of taking it away.

Cut out salty cheese from your diet. Many types of cheese are loaded in fats and salts, making them a high sodium cooking item.  Low sodium cooking with cheese can be done, however, if you can’t give up cheese.  Simply switch to mozzarella (the real stuff made without salt!) or Swiss, both of which are naturally low in sodium.

Just because you want to eat low sodium meals does not mean you have to sacrifice flavor.  There are many other wonderful herbs, spices and vegetables you can add to food to give it full and robust flavor without having to add extra salt.  Be creative and have fun when you cook, experiment with new flavors to see what kinds of wonderful creations you can create.  A healthy heart starts with what you eat, so get in the kitchen and start cooking!