Consumption Of Healthy Food Starting At Home

Illustration of consumption of low-salt healthy foods (The Conversation)

JAKARTA - Consumption of low-salt healthy foods can start from home. Cooking itself gives greater control over the amount of salt used, as well as helps form a better eating habit, especially for children.

By choosing fresh ingredients and limiting the use of instant spices, the family can create dishes that are still delicious but safer for health.

According to dr. Yoga Devaera, Sp.A (K), Consultant for Metabolic Nutrition Children from FKUI-RSCM, salt content in home cooking tends to be lower than processed or instant foods.

"If we cook ourselves, such as making vegetable soup, the amount of salt is certainly less than foods that use instanton spices. The taste also feels much different," said Yoga as quoted by ANTARA.

He explained that humans naturally like the taste of fever because the body does need sodium. However, it is important to carefully regulate these intakes, especially for children.

Home-based foods allow us to control the dose of salt as needed, in contrast to processed products such as nuggets or French fries which usually contain a lot of salt and other additional ingredients.

"We can make it easier for children to prefer homemade fries. You can add a little salt, as long as it's not excessive," he added.

According to Yoga, taste management aims to stimulate children's appetite, not to flood foods with excessive salt.

Regarding the use of MSG (Monosodium Glutamat), Yoga admitted that the substance contained salt. Because MSG already provides a strong taste of savory, he suggested that parents not add salt again when using the ingredients in the dish.

Meanwhile, the use of natural spices such as orange leaves, lemongrass, and greeting leaves is highly recommended as an alternative to increasing aroma and flavor. However, Yoga reminded, mothers need to be careful of commercial broth products.

Although some are advertised as "without MSG" and safe for babies, many of them still contain high amounts of salt to make them feel good.

"Instant Kalidu without MSG also generally contains quite a lot of salt. If there is no salt, it will not taste good. This can actually be dangerous because it increases the risk of hypertension, especially for children who are still consuming MPASI," he said.