Hellppp!

ErinGiam

So I've decided to start eating more calories, which I don't have a problem with. However, I am having a problem with staying under my sodium. I know 2500mg is alot already and I want to stay under. It seems like almost every food I eat though, especially bread for breakfast, or dairy for snacks has SO much !!!
I was just hoping you guys had some suggestions on how to tweak my diet so that I'm not eating so much, or what kind of foods you eat to keep it under.

Thanks in advance

cobygrey

This may or may not help. I know some will disagree.

I tossed that sodium tracker. If you are drinking the recommended daily allowed for water you shouldn't have the issues that come along with high sodium intake.


Generally I try to stay away from processed cheeses (buy from the deli buy meats sliced from the deli) and try to avoid pre packed dinners (frozen meals)

bloblynda

Yes there's no doubt that pre cooked, chilled and frozen dinners are always too high in salt; ditto Chinese takeways (carry-outs).
Also some so called "healthy" snacks can be high in salt eg low fat potato chips, crisps and cereal bars. General rule of thumb - start from first principles and make your own food/ snacks. Try fruit and thing like little cherry tomatoes if you must snack

maddox22

Most of the sodium in people's typical diets comes from processed foods (fast food, canned food, frozen dinners, etc). Avoid anything you don't make yourself as much as possible. Anything that comes in a can or a jar is almost guaranteed to have a lot of sodium in it. Convenience and time can be an issue, I know, so if you do have constraints (i.e., you can't cook everything yourself), then pick a few things that you really can't live without, and ditch the rest. For example, I eat pretty much nothing canned anymore, except for canned diced or crushed tomatoes (I make a lot of pasta sauces etc.), a little bit of cheese, and green olives for my salad.

I do agree with cobygrey that if you are drinking plenty of water, eat mostly fruits & veg, and don't have other risk factors, sodium is probably not a huge concern. But I didn't try to cut down on salt because of health concerns so much as that I don't like relying on salt to make something taste good. I prefer to taste the actual food, you know? :-)

There are lower-sodium options out there for a lot of foods, too, if you are looking for them (although they can be a bit pricier). For example, at least where I live, the delis have low-sodium cheeses and meats (I actually like them better, because they taste more "real" to me), and I try to get no-salt-added canned tomatoes whenever I can.

SHBoss1673

it's true that sodium is usually only a problem if you have blood pressure issues, or go overboard (like more than 2000 MG ABOVE the RDA amounts, or consistently eat less than 1000), if you still want to track it, then the simple answer is less processed foods, the foods that are usually highest in sodium have high amounts of processing, things like fruits, veggies, meats, most nuts(assuming there's no salt added) and whole grains (like steel cut oatmeal) are usually the lowest in sodium content.