HOLY SODIUM!

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ryankingsley27
ryankingsley27 Posts: 10
in Food and Nutrition
Any thoughts as to how to stay under 2300 grams of sodium and still eat more than an apple? (ok I know I exaggerate.... but the truth is I'm over everyday before dinner by eating a serving of oatmeal for breakfast and a deli turkey unwich (no bread) with lunch because the 3 slices of turkey I take equals 980 mg of sodium without the cheese and mustard. I just feel like its dang near impossible to stay under 2300mg.
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  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,717 Member
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    How far over 2300 mg. do you usually go? I think the recommended daily allowance of sodium has increased a bit, so I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as 1) you don't have health issues, and 2) you're not very far over.
  • Lil_Miss_Dotti
    Lil_Miss_Dotti Posts: 4
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    The main way to achieve it is to limit processed foods.
  • ryankingsley27
    ryankingsley27 Posts: 10
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    Normally over by around 1000 mg... give or take a couple hundred.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
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    Don't eat processed foods. Example, cook a whole turkey in your oven and you can eat lots of turkey all week and still be under goal.

    My doctor limited me to 1500mg daily and it took me awhile to get off processed foods. Now 750-1000 mg a day is typical and even 500 is doable.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,717 Member
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    Yep, if you eat a lot of sandwiches just try giving up the processed lunch meat. Make your own or buy low-sodium. You'd be surprised how much of a difference it makes.
  • jillcwatson1
    jillcwatson1 Posts: 100 Member
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    I am really struggling with this too. I am over most days and never really knew that until I started tracking on MFP. I suppose in itself, that has been one of the most helpful things for me. I do my best to watch this, but could use some tips besides giving up processed foods, which I am already working to do. Time is such a limited factor for me that I began using more of that since I didn't have time to cook for myself. Now, I need to make my weekends count to prepare for the week.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    eat primarily whole foods and meals prepared from such...eat less processed food and eat out way less.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    that processed meat is probably whats throwing you over. ive noticed on days where i have ham or turkey (lunchmeat) in my salad, my sodium levels are WAY higher.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    edited January 2015
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    Lunch meat is a great big sodium bomb, for sure. I limit my intake of it. Shred some roasted chicken or turkey w/ a little mayo (or avocado, so delish) for a lunch meat alternative. Or make dinner leftovers tomorrow's lunch.

    Make as much food as you can from scratch. I typically batch cook a bunch of beans and meats on Sunday, and freeze meal size portion to use throughout the week for my protein sources (time, money, and sodium saver).

    Obviously most processes/convenience foods will have high sodium, but with a few 'painless' modifications, you can have them occasionally. Some moderate/high 'hidden' sodium bombs I was surprised were such:

    Instant oatmeal/porridge packets (buy plain rolled or steel cut oats--zero sodium!)

    Bread (check labels)

    Canned soups/broths (make your own w/ zero/reduced sodium broths or buy low sodium ones)

    "Healthy" frozen meals (try slow cooker recipes--prep your meats and veggies, freeze in portions, and plop them in the cooker on the morning you want to eat them--Pinterest search for "slow cooker/freezer recipes")
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
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    jillcwatson1 wrote: »
    but could use some tips besides giving up processed foods, .

    There really is no other tip that will have as large of a sodium intake reduction. Believe me if there was I would be eating it for dinner as I was highly resistant to the change at first.
    However now that I have switched to whole foods I never want to go back. I not only enjoy cooking but eating the food I made myself has it's own satisfaction.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    If you have no underlying medical issues, ie. hypertension etc., don't worry about it.
  • pdxwine
    pdxwine Posts: 389 Member
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    I am on a low sodium diet (Drs orders). I have actually found it to be easy. Others are right, the processed meats are filled with sodium. So are cured meats (salami and such). Cheese can be as well (read labels).

    Frozen entrees are full of sodium.

    If you bake, you can find low sodium baking powder (I have not had luck finding low sodium baking soda).

    Once you start reading labels, you will be surprised how many foods you actually can have, and stay under your sodium limits.
  • hxu678
    hxu678 Posts: 2
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    Lil_Miss_Dotti wrote: »
    The main way to achieve it is to limit processed foods.
    Agreed and basically cooking by yourself. The minimum we need is 500mg daily and this way your sodium intake is about 1000 to 1500. I can do it for one or two months to lose weight but won't do it for too long. After all, life is beautiful with sodium!
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    jillcwatson1 wrote: »
    I am really struggling with this too. I am over most days and never really knew that until I started tracking on MFP. I suppose in itself, that has been one of the most helpful things for me. I do my best to watch this, but could use some tips besides giving up processed foods, which I am already working to do. Time is such a limited factor for me that I began using more of that since I didn't have time to cook for myself. Now, I need to make my weekends count to prepare for the week.

    Do this change gradually by adding one meal a week to your cooking repertoire --- cook some beans or soup in the crock pot next weekend. The next week consider another dish.
    If you like structure and guidelines, look at the DASH diet, a low salt diet designed for lowering heart disease:
    http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/prevention-wellness/food-nutrition/weight-loss/the-dash-diet-healthy-eating-to-control-your-blood-pressure.html

    http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/resources/heart/hbp-dash-in-brief-html

  • woodwisejoe
    woodwisejoe Posts: 6
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    Try buying frozen vegetables instead of canned veggies. Canned veggies have an enormous amount of sodium in them. If I do eat canned veggies I dump the water from the can down the drain and rinse the veggies a couple of times before eating. I don't know exactly how much sodium is removed by this method but it has to do some good.
  • alereck
    alereck Posts: 343 Member
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    Processed meat like cold cuts is the worse thing if you are watching sodium, packaged food in general. Cook food from raw state and the only sodium it will have is the one you add to it.
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
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    Lil_Miss_Dotti wrote: »
    The main way to achieve it is to limit processed foods.

    ^ This.... The only days that I seem to go over on my sodium are when I eat a whole can of soup for dinner or when I eat a lot of processed food like cheese. Going out to eat puts me over as well since most places add a lot of sodium to their foods.
  • ryankingsley27
    ryankingsley27 Posts: 10
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    Thanks for all the tips! I always thought by buying fresher sliced deli meat you were getting better quality the the package of pre cut thin sliced stuff in the lunch meat section. Never really thought to buy a whole chicken or turkey and make it the beginning of the week for meals! Also I have noticed that the Green Giant single portions of frozen veggies have a significant amount of sodium in them if there is any sort of sauce. Guess I just have to really start looking at labels! Hard to imagine what my sodium intake was before I started using this app and trying to eat better!!!
  • shawndimantha
    shawndimantha Posts: 18
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    Agreed that processed meats/food can be bad for you, but their nitrate content (in ham for example) can sometimes help manage blood pressure (nitrates / nitric acid in beet juice has recently been shown to alleviate high blood pressure). Just watch the labels. Be careful with deli items even things like chicken salad, which can be sodium surprises.

    I don't use seasoning on anything, but to make up for I do increase my saturated fat intake.

    Find a substitute with a similar texture. For example giving up chips (relatively low sodium as they are) was really hard for me, but I was able to slowly wean myself off by eating crunch vegetables and fruits.
  • WildcatMom82
    WildcatMom82 Posts: 564 Member
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    I stopped eating lunch meat for that reason. Soup, too, unless I make it myself. And then it's still pretty high. I also buy all low sodium sauces and use 1/4-1/2 the amount of salt called for in most recipes. There's a big difference in sodium levels among different brands of things like canned beans and tomato sauces, I always compare

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