No chips, crackers, or fried food and still can't keep my sodium down!

AshleyCMoody · May 2015

I have completely cut out foods that are known for high sodium. I rarely put salt in my foods, and when I do I use very little. Yet I always seem to go way over my sodium goals. What can I eat to get this down? Is anyone else staying within their goal and if so what do you eat and not eat? I'm starting to feel like it's an impossible feat.

SueInAz · May 2015

I can't see your diary so which foods do you believe are high in sodium? Chips, crackers and fried foods aren't actually that bad. The heavy hitters are things like deli meats, canned soups, frozen meals, canned chili, cottage cheese and salsa. Take a look at your diary and actually look at the foods which are high in sodium listed in what you're eating for the day. It should be fairly easy to spot the culprits.

hgycta · May 2015

When you add foods to your diary, which ones are high in sodium? Only you can truly locate the source of this extra sodium.
Some things I can think of could be bread (I know Joseph's whole grain pita bread is delicious but loaded with sodium), canned anything (soup, beans, etc.), certain mixes (especially instant pancake mix), cheese, deli meats, frozen foods, etc.
I suggest looking for low-sodium foods when shopping (but be careful, some low sodium soups still contain quite high amounts of it) and making other small changes until you learn how to balance it out.
Good luck!

HeySwoleSister · May 2015

I don't monitor sodium in my diary, but if you do, you should be able to scan your diary and see where your sodium is coming from.

Chain restaurant food and canned and frozen foods tend to carry a lot of "hidden" sodium. Are you cooking your own meals? That's the easiest way to cut your sodium, just cook with less salt.

DMLC2014 · May 2015

Plants and animals do have salt in them. Like us they need it too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_in_biology

sovrappensiero · May 2015

When I see high sodium, I look at my individual foods to find the culprit. That's the only way to do it, I think. Find the culprit and then figure out how to work around that food. Sodium lurks in ALL processed foods..even foods that don't taste salty often have a TON of sodium in them (check canned foods, too). Another thing that is a killer is eating out...the other day I checked out Bahama Breeze's nutrition menu (kudos to them for supplying all that info!) and there were a ton of choices at very reasonable calories, but there was not a SINGLE meal choice that was under 1,500mg sodium (which is my daily limit)! So, eating out is killer.

The way I stay under my low sodium limit is to cook everything from scratch. Almost everything I eat is prepared from scratch...right down to my yogurt. I never by flavored yogurt; I buy plain yogurt and add stuff to it.

Now, on a different note - something I have noticed is that in my diet my sodium and potassium levels are inversely related. When I consume a lot of sodium, typically my potassium consumption is way low. On "good sodium days," my potassium level tends to be high. However, I have NEVER, EVER gotten my potassium level up to 4,700 mg (the recommended daily amount for women). If anyone has tips on that, I'd be grateful. ;-)

AshleyCMoody · May 2015

I wish that premium membership ranked my foods with sodium rather than just carbs, fat, protein, and calories. It would make it easier to monitor this.

I do cook, but often don't use salt at all. I rarely have canned foods and eating out is usually salad and soup.

Jennloella · May 2015

what is your sodium goal? I stay under 1500mg easily. I cook everything from scratch. The only thing that comes out of a container around here is yogurt and milk

ndj1979 · May 2015

OP - you did not find the answer in this thread you made?

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/32378529#Comment_32378529

bainsworth1a · May 2015

I am also way over on my sodium many days. I was shocked when my dr told me that cheese has a lot of sodium in it. I love cheese. As others have said canned things and frozen dinners are also high in sodium and lunch meat hot dogs and smoked meats like sausage bacon and ham are high. try to use fresh or frozen vegetables when you can.

good luck. We can do this

AshleyCMoody · May 2015

Dang it, I love salsa. And I eat soup pretty often. But I don't have these items daily and I always go over my limit. It's getting very frustrating.

AshleyCMoody · May 2015

Thanks, I never considered whole wheat bread as a high sodium food. Or cheese for that matter. Man, I'm starting to feel like I can only eat fruits and veggies.

dopeysmelly · May 2015

In Premium you can track multiple nutrients. In the app, click on the net calories bar at the top of Today's Diary and scroll down the list of nutrients until you see Sodium, then click on it and you'll see the pie chart and a list of Foods Highest in Sodium. On the web, click on Reports, then select Sodium from the list of nutrients and you can scroll down and see where your sodium intake is coming from. I routinely get my potassium really high, and rarely make my sodium upper limit, but you might find just analyzing the foods which are particularly high in sodium and reducing intake of those will make a significant difference overall.

cwolfman13 · May 2015

more whole foods, less processed foods.

HeySwoleSister · May 2015

Oh, wait....they aren't showing sodium in the diaries anymore? All 5 of my chosen categories are still showing. (like I said, I swapped out sodium and sugar for fiber and calcium long ago)

Can you open up your diary so we can see?

zyxst · May 2015

I don't have premium, but it can't have removed Diary Settings>Nutrients Tracked? Going there and you can change what nutrients you track, up to 5. Ofc, this is on PC MFP, not the app.

If you're worried about sodium, you're going to have to start paying attention to the sodium count. Do you have a medical issue that requires keeping sodium levels down?

You can check my diary. I have HBP and have sodium <2000 mg.

AshleyCMoody · May 2015

The culprits yesterday were vegetarian chili and Asian salad, both over 1,000 mg.

rosebette · May 2015

Unless you find yourself affected by serious water retention and bloating, or you have health issues (such as a family history of high blood pressure), it's not necessary to excessively focus on sodium. Certainly the less processed stuff like canned soups and frozen dinners you eat, the better off you are, but cottage cheese for instance, is a healthy food, high in calcium and protein, and not something I'd give up because of sodium. Even Joseph's pita -- I eat lunch on pita because it's fewer calories and carbs than sandwich bread.

SueInAz · May 2015

We've always been able to track sodium in the diary. That setting is still there. Go into the Food tab and click "Settings." There are 5 options in the "Nutrients Tracked" list. Change one of those 5 to Sodium.

leggup · May 2015

Can you open your diary? I use my food diary to figure out which foods are driving me over my sodium limit.

Breads, cheeses, prepared foods (soups, cured meats, canned foods) are often culprits.

Fresh fruits/veggies, frozen fruits/veggies have almost no sodium.

lemurcat12 · May 2015

Can't you just look at your day and see where the sodium is coming from when you are over?

futuremanda · May 2015

Did you make them yourself, and use recipe builder (checking each entry it adds carefully to ensure it's all correct -- I usually find errors)? If so, which ingredients were the culprits? Adjust your recipe. (Or don't eat them on the same day again.)

Or did you just go looking for a database entry made by someone else and use it? If so... you have no idea how much sodium you actually ate, just how much sodium someone else ate when they ate THEIR vegetarian chili and Asian salad.

FitOldMomma · May 2015

I have no issues with sodium, other than on some days when I got way, way over the recommended milligrams I may retain a bit of water. I was stressing out when seeing the bright red number for sodium on my food diary I simply removed the category. Unless you have a medical issue that has been diagnosed by your MD, don't stress to much about it.

cwolfman13 · May 2015

Also, if you exercise regularly, you may want to be careful with how much sodium you cut...you'll start cramping up like no other. I often purposely drink pickle brine to combat this.

ahamm002 · May 2015

Do you have a medical condition that requires you to eat low sodium? If not, you will get very little benefit from eating low sodium. And as you can see, it's very difficult to eat low sodium.

hgycta · May 2015

Well there you go, that could do it! You would be surprised how much sodium is in salad dressing and restaurant soups

Chewitz · May 2015

Not sure how I'm doing it but my sodium is usually under 1600 feel free to browse my diary

girlviernes · May 2015

You pretty much need to mostly cook your own food to keep sodium down if that is one of your goals.

jaga13 · May 2015

My recommendation is to enter your meals BEFORE you eat them so you can see how much your sodium will go up and then decide if you should still eat it or chose something else. This is my daily strategy for everything I eat.

jennifer_417 · May 2015

Anything processed (think box, bag, can) is going to be high in sodium. However, unless you have a specific health problem that requires you to eat low sodium (like high blood pressure), you don't really need to worry about it.

jgnatca · May 2015

You are going to have to educate yourself to understand which foods have salt. The Asian salad screamed salt at me.

No chips, crackers, or fried food and still can't keep my sodium down!

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