Foods that contain a lot more salt than you think

Turns out that pesto is worse for you than a McDonald’s burger. The amount of salt in your average pesto pasta serving is now 1.5g, overtaking a Maccy D’s hamburger which only contains 1.2g.
[Photo: Telegraph]

Vegetarians are better off staying away from fake meat as it contains a much higher salt level than the regular stuff. Why is this? To make the faux meat taste as good as possible.
[Photo: Melia Robinson]

The most common breakfast item is one of the highest contenders when it comes to salt. Many of us opt for cereals that say ‘natural’ or ‘whole grain’ when in fact, these are sodium-heavy. Considering that most of us eat double or triple the recommended serving size written on the box, we could be eating a third of our daily salt allowance by 9am.
[Photo: POPSUGAR]

A cup of canned soup may have as much as 0.8g of sodium in it, making your warm wintry meal rather unhealthy. In fact, soup can contain more salt than a serving of chips. Preposterous. [Photo: Fattributes]

When it comes to biscuits and the like, we’re all probably thinking sugar, not salt. But turns out that cookies are guilty of containing a lot of salt. Watch out for ‘healthy’ branded versions which usually contain even more than the regular shop products.
[Photo: Sheila Gim]

Some breads have over 0.3g of sodium per slice. We don’t know about you but we tend to have at least two slices when we’re eating bread (maybe four on a really bad day). Watch out with this one.
[Photo: Getty]

Gym bunnies may love to neck a sports drink every now and then. But these were created for high-performance sports and real athletes who are training for hours on end. For your regular workout, opt for normal water or a snazzier coconut or maple water.
[Photo: AP]

Cover your ears if you’re a cheese fan as salt is one of the heavy ingredients. While some cheeses are obviously saltier than others, you can look for soft varieties for a lower sodium level. Some of the worst offenders include blue cheese at 0.39g per ounce and feta at 0.32g.
[Photo: Getty]

Canned vegetables are unsurprisingly not the healthiest thing. While buying veggies fresh or frozen is much better for you, you can drain and rinse canned contents thoroughly with cold water before eating or cooking them. Alternatively, stick to cans with no added salt or reduced sodium.
[Photo: Reuters]

You might want to put the creamy stuff down as a half cup of cottage cheese contains 0.4g of sodium. For a healthier substitute, why not try a serving of Greek yoghurt instead?
[Photo: Getty]