I attempt to eat healthy, loving fruits, vegetables, soups and seafood, and water is my choice of beverage. I do enjoy desserts and thankfully diabetes doesn’t seem to be in my genes. Recently, I was forced to count my milligrams of salt partaken each day and it was a rude awakening.

Salt is hard on the heart and kidneys as it causes fluid retention and can, therefore, lead to high blood pressure and other health problems. This is a fact I sincerely wish more doctors would emphasize. We do need salt, but the American Heart Association suggests we limit it to under 2,300 mg per day. Ideall...