Advice on Curbing Sodium and Fats

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cdenae79
cdenae79 Posts: 12 Member
in Food and Nutrition
On the plus side I have only gone over my calories 8 times in the last 90 days.It seems my problem is curbing my sodium and fat in take. Any tips you can give me? I work night shifts and sleep during the day. Due to having a toddler at home and only have one car getting to a gym is hard. I walk alot at work which is a good plus but I want to find more balance so I can keep my weight going down at 2-3 lb a week.

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Don't worry about sodium or fat unless you have a medical reason.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    For a few meals during the week, prepare your own food instead of relying on packaged foods. Store bought soups have lots of salt. Cottage cheese and other cheeses have lots of salt too.
    Mostly I would tell you not to worry about salt. You already have a lot that you are juggling. Keep paying attention to calories and keep doing what is working for you. :)
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Re: sodium, cut back on the processed foods, and you are usually a large way towards getting sodium down to where you want it. Salt you add yourself to food is rarely the root cause of high sodium in my own personal experience. Looking at your MFP food diary will help you identify the high sodium items straight away.

    Re: fats, something like 20- 30% of your daily calorie intake is regarded as the minimum to provide the body the essential fats it needs to function day to day. Personally, I wouldn't worry about fat, unless its really high and is taking you over your calorie limit.

    Saturated fat as the demon to avoid, was a massive lie (it actually changes the harmful, denser type of LDL cholestorol particles to the less harmful, less dense type of LDL particles), and the only bad fats are trans fats and excessive Omega-6 (as there's often omega 6 seed oils in everything, and it can upset/ skews the optimum range between omega 3 & 6). Also fat is very filling usually for most of us, and tends to help with filling us up and keeping to a decent intake level (this is why low-carb diets that replace a lot of carbs with fat instead, tend to be so effective for many looking to lose weight).

    Good luck with your progress, and keep at it. Don't sweat the small stuff, as long as the overall pattern is good. You'll get there in the end if you stick with it :smile:
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Your diary is closed, so it's almost impossible to offer meaningful suggestions as we can't see where the majority of your sodium and fats are coming from. But generally speaking...

    The first step with sodium is to avoid prepared/pre-packaged foods. Canned soups, deli meat, frozen meals... all are typically very high in sodium.

    Fats can come from almost anywhere. I assume you aren't getting them from things like pizza, french fries, cookies, etc... so I'd suggest leaner cuts of meat, poultry, and lower fat dairy.

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