Salt has been big news over the last several weeks. It has been mentioned in several news articles and television shows. This is very rewarding for people like me who have worked diligently for so many years to have this topic show up on the radar.

Now the hard work begins. Knowledge about what needs to be done is not enough to change behavior, but it is a good first step. We all now know that the major source of dietary sodium is the added salt that food manufacturers and restaurants add to entice us to eat inferior food. An excellent book about this topic is Dr. David Kessler's "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite".

We have no control over the amount of sodium being added to our processed and restaurant foods. Once there is regulation of the sodium added to our food, our choices will open up. At that point, we will need to begin to focus on changing our individual eating behaviors around eating salt. In order to do this we'll need a valid measurement tool that will work in real-time so that people can measure change in their sodium intake. The SalTrax method is one type of measurement tool that can be used in this manner.

I envision a future where people will be able to take control of their diets through knowing how much dietary sodium they eat in a given day while working to manage a healthy intake level in collaboration with their health care providers.

People will change their eating behaviors by reading nutrition labels and tracking their sodium intake. They will be able to taste food again and enjoy the varied tastes of herbs and spices that many cultures use liberally. They will rely less on added salt, sugar and fat; eating more whole foods and learning to enjoy the taste of fresh foods.