Sodium Rant on local restaurant food!

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SusanHill6
SusanHill6 Posts: 11 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hubby treated me to Popeye's Chicken for lunch today. It had 2200 mg of sodium in what I ate and I didn't even eat the whole meal. It through my sodium way up over 4400 mg for the day! No wonder American's have high blood pressure. I'm trying to watch my sodium intake. Even in store bought foods, some of the sodium levels are way too high. What do you do about sodium intake in this case?
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  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Make as much as you can from scratch. Most pre-prepared foods have a lot of sodium, because it is a cheap and easy taste improver. Not a lot of choice but to cook from scratch, and that way you are in control.
  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,091 Member
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    Just got back from a sailing vacation in the BVIs, with first-and-last evening in St. Thomas. For the most part, it was easy to make apparently decent shoreside dinner choices, with the exception that most things were very salty (relative to our at-home habit), and it has taken a couple of days for the salt weight (water, mostly) to purge out of our systems. While sailing, we ate breakfasts and lunches aboard, with lots of fruit snacks during the day, and about half our dinners. Onboard meals included more commercially-prepared components than we use at home and shoreside meals were salty, sometimes "hidden" in exotic tastes. I woke a lot at night with "dry salt mouth" which let me know that I was above normal intake.

    I'm an older guy, and judiciously watching my sodium intake. Because I also cut my leg (what we sometimes call "boat bites") during the trip (performing first aid from a self-prepped "wound kit"), I saw my doctor immediately on my return. Measured BP in the doctor's office was above my norm. The "salt purge" we've been doing this week has dropped off the several pounds of water weight, and, I hope, the additional BP.

    I keep my sodium levels (with MFP tracking) to around 2300 mg/day or less; I do mostly at-home food prep and cooking, so that our sodium levels are kept reasonable. If I took in 5000 mg as the video suggests, I'd be pickling myself, LOL! I often experience "salt mouth" at night if I'm not careful when eating out.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    SusanHill6 wrote: »
    Hubby treated me to Popeye's Chicken for lunch today. It had 2200 mg of sodium in what I ate and I didn't even eat the whole meal. It through my sodium way up over 4400 mg for the day! No wonder American's have high blood pressure. I'm trying to watch my sodium intake. Even in store bought foods, some of the sodium levels are way too high. What do you do about sodium intake in this case?

    In that case I try to up my liquids for the rest of the day and start over tomorrow.

    I do a lot of cooking at home and buy lower sodium products. If I do want fast food, I go through the nutritional information on the website before I go and find something I can fit in.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    If you are watching your sodium you might prelog your food and make some different choices at other meals. Restaurant food will often be high sodium. Check nutritional information online of restaurants you frequent.
    Check labels on packaged foods you are buying at the grocery store.

    http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/your-sodium-controlled-diet
    http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/uz1670
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    Eat low/no sodium added foods, more fruits and veggies (some veggies have more sodium than you think; celery for one), cook from scratch (though sometimes that doesn't help).

    I eat a lot of processed/packaged foods and keep my sodium under 2300 mg a day. It sucks a bit because some of the low sodium foods are higher in calories than the lower calorie ones (breads, cheese, spreads). I found a bread with 95 mg of sodium and 100 cals per slice, so I have half a sandwich which isn't satisfying.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,665 Member
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    Homemade from-scratch food is the way to avoid it. I agree that it's very annoying. I'm very sodium sensitive, so I don't eat out much or buy convenience foods.
  • 3rdof7sisters
    3rdof7sisters Posts: 486 Member
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    As others have said, cook your own food from scratch. Cook extra and divide it up into single serving portions and freeze for other meals. Packaged foods and restaurant food usually has added sodium and sugar.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited March 2017
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    I offset higher sodium items with as many no-or-low sodium items as I can so that I have an overall lower sodium intake. I use unsalted butter. I eat the lower-sodium frozen dinner options and supplement them with sauceless steam-in-bag veggies. I don't use mustard or soy sauce or any spice mix that includes sodium. If I want canned soup, I get the lowest sodium version that I can and supplement with sauceless steam-in-bag veggies.

    As for restaurants, most have online nutritional information so that you can make better but still satisfying choices before you go. If I plan to eat out, I plan for the other meals that day to be lower sodium than I usually have for those meals.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Just assume that anything you eat that you didn't make yourself, at home, is going to have WAY more sodium than you'd think/want, and probably more fat. It's the "price" we pay for convenience, IMO.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Current thinking is that 2200 mg of sodium per day is too low. 5000 mg is considered to be ideal.

    This statement is very misleading. There are still a number of doctors and nutrition experts that recommend lower sodium levels. I imagine most would recommend < 5000 mg per day as a general rule.

    True. Doctors are not often up to date in food nutrition or meta-analysis.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited March 2017
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    SusanHill6 wrote: »
    Hubby treated me to Popeye's Chicken for lunch today. It had 2200 mg of sodium in what I ate and I didn't even eat the whole meal. It through my sodium way up over 4400 mg for the day! No wonder American's have high blood pressure. I'm trying to watch my sodium intake. Even in store bought foods, some of the sodium levels are way too high. What do you do about sodium intake in this case?

    Eat more whole foods...eat out less.

    Pretty much any restaurant food is going to be a sodium bomb. Processed foods generally have a lot of sodium too as it is a preservative...shelf life and all that jazz.

    If you're worried about it, eat more whole foods...cook your meals using scratch, whole ingredients and minimally processed ingredients...otherwise look for lower sodium options.

    ETA: Popeye's is a national fast food chain, not "local"
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    OT I know -- but how is Popeye's, a big national chain, "local"?
  • yskaldir
    yskaldir Posts: 202 Member
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    Nothing bad with having a high sodium meal once a while unless you have some kidney problems. Your body is very good at regulating electrodes or you'd be dead long ago.
  • augustremulous
    augustremulous Posts: 378 Member
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    Another tip regarding home cooking: always have lemon and lime juice on hand. Sometimes you taste something and your palate has been conditioned to think something needs more salt, but citric acid actually does the trick.

    I pour salt liberally on whatever I eat. Since most of my food is homemade, though, it hasn't been an issue. I've always had low blood pressure.
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    OT I know -- but how is Popeye's, a big national chain, "local"?

    I think Popeyes is national. They were pretty big in the Midwest.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    augustremulous wrote: »
    Another tip regarding home cooking: always have lemon and lime juice on hand. Sometimes you taste something and your palate has been conditioned to think something needs more salt, but citric acid actually does the trick.

    I pour salt liberally on whatever I eat. Since most of my food is homemade, though, it hasn't been an issue. I've always had low blood pressure.

    You probably are eating a lot more sodium than you think, even if it's homemade, but if you don't have any health complications that need you to eat less it's not a huge issue.
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
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    Any place like Popeyes will be high. Any prepared convenience food are suspect.

    Cook your own if you are serious. I have had to go back on BP meds after moving to altitude. My new doc, shiny young lady, told me to change some things. No nsaids, benedryl, no mention of sodium! I didn't specifically ask since I eat low sodium, I think the medical opinion is changing.

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