What About Iodine?

Iodized salt is the primary source of iodine for most adults, so my switch to a low sodium diet that specifically avoids the use of iodized table salt made me wonder if I need to supplement my diet with iodine. The last thing I need is a thyroid problem or a goiter. Fortunately, the adult human does not require large amounts of iodine to maintain health. Eating ocean fish once a week is a great way to get all of the recommended iodine for a healthy adult. I think we can handle that, particularly since tonight's meal of salmon cooked with veggies in foil packets was such as awesome hit and tasted great without any added salt. I did add some freshly ground pepper and lemon pepper flavor Mrs. Dash. PDM doesn't really use a recipe for this, but I will try to come up with an approximate one and post it soon.

Retraining My Taste Buds

In my internet research into Meniere's Disease and the low salt diet, one of the more encouraging ideas that kept coming up is that your taste for salt can and will change. After a bit more than two weeks, I can confirm that this seems to be happening. A lot of things still taste bland to me and I'm still learning how to combat that with other herbs and spices, but I don't seem so mind the lack of salt on a lot of what we're making. And you can really taste the food itself, which is a plus!

I bought some "No Salt" - which is simply a chemically different "salt" than table salt - potassium chloride (KCl) rather than sodium chloride (NaCl). I've tried to limit my use of this salt substitute for two reasons: it doesn't taste exactly like table salt, and I want to retrain my taste buds to enjoy food without needing a strong salty flavor. I'd rather try some lemon juice or Mrs. Dash before I resort to the fake salt.

We went out to hear live music last night and my strategy was to eat before we left. While we were there, I snuck a french fry from PDM's plate, and even after brushing off much of the visible salt it tasted extremely salty to me. So maybe those taste buds are changing and I won't miss overly salted foods so much after all. At this rate, I probably won't be able to tolerate the really salty stuff in the future. And my tongue will be a reliable salt detector!