I don’t believe in eliminating entire food or nutrient categories.
I believe Julia Child had the right idea and she lived to a healthy ripe old age.
“Moderation in everything, even moderation :)”
She lived in the middle of the whole “margarine instead of butter because it’s healthier” craze. We now know that’s ridiculous because margarine is full of trans fat which is FAR WORSE for your health.
Julia never abandoned butter to get on the margarine train. She didn’t use tons of it like Paula Deen, but enough for decent flavor. I did the same and glad of it. Plus margarine tastes like crap in addition to it’s unhealthy aspects.
I eat very little extra salt to begin with so eliminating it would be ridiculous. But the primary reason I so seldom eat fast food is because they load it up with so much salt, it’s practically inedible. I let my tastebuds be my guide.
Apparently that’s working out fine because after my last blood test results, my Dr. asked me if I was on any kind of sodium restricted diet because the levels were so low. I guess my taste buds are a pretty good guide.
If you saw some of the latest results from studies on artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, you’d be a lot less inclined to substitute them for sugar I’ll bet.
I can’t stand the crappy taste so I don’t have to worry about damage from artificial sweeteners. I just use less sugar. I normally dilute my sodas about 50% with water and still taste fine.
If I’m baking cookies, I always reduce the sugar in the recipe by 25% of more. I don’t substitute with artificially sweet chemicals. I just get used to less sugar rather than eliminate it altogether.