How To Reduce Sodium?

MaiLinna

I hope I'm just estimating my soy sauce usage too high, but some days my boyfriend and I seem to easily consume 5500mg of sodium! We eat a lot of Asian food for several reasons, one of them being price since most of the population in our town is Asian. Our local grocer has an Asian side and a North American/European side cut by the produce section in the centre.

Anyways, we try to limit the amount of instant noodles we eat, but they're cheap, imported, and have the best flavors. There's an entire aisle dedicated to imported noodles!

I think that's our biggest offender there, but we do eat a stir fry of some sort almost every single night that leaves me estimating how much sauce he uses, since he's the cook and measures nothing.

For lunch I usually end up eating a bunch of stir fried vegetables because we don't eat enough greens, so that rather adds to the sodium load as well.

Not really sure what to do here. Our funds are extremely limited and he's not only a picky eater, but allergic to so many things that it's difficult to compromise anything with him. Would possibly making sure I'm drinking enough water help? I'm at a loss.

jemhh

Cooking at home and making homemade sauces gives you the better ability to control how much sodium you ingest. Look for low sodium versions of the foods you like and then measure how out much you use. You shouldn't be estimating your soy sauce usage; you should be weighing or measuring it.

juggernaut1974

Well, if he or you are unable or unwilling to cut out high-sodium foods, there's probably not much to be done. That's really the only answer.

That said, unless you have high blood pressure, or another medical condition that requires you to reduce/eliminate sodium, going over isn't probably going to be severely detrimental to your health. It will make your body hold on to additional water (and the related weight).

Need2Exerc1se

Switch to reduced sodium soy sauce, add less/no salt when cooking, eat less processed foods or look for low sodium options.

Yes, staying hydrated helps

OyGeeBiv

Those prepackaged ramen noodle soups have a crazy amount of sodium in the flavor packets. Try using half the packet instead. Or make the noodles in plain water, and put some other kind of sauce on them. (Pasta noodles may be less expensive in the long run - try thin spaghetti as an option.)

Yi5hedr3

Yeh - forget the soy sauce, and add some Potassium.

ejbronte

Tendency toward high blood pressure, in addition to my parents' dietary needs, have made me aware of sodium levels for at least a decade!

Yes, home cooking is the best way to manage things. I find that cooking with many spices, with lemon juice, and with wine, adds lots of flavor so you don't miss the salt nearly as much.

With MFP, I keep sodium as a macro/micro tracker and try to keep it under 1,000 - and also try to make sure that the potassium levels are measurably higher than the sodium. I research almost everything before I buy it, and if the sodium levels are over, say, 400, I don't buy it. Because of my work schedule, I eat "out" almost every day. Again, I research the choices online. If the sodium is over 500 or 600, I say bye-bye. This narrows my choices drastically and makes decisions much less confusing....

Also increasing water intake seems to be a good idea.

Rabidrunner

Those ramen noodles are definitely tasty - they are designed to be!! Not sure I would consider them an item to eat frequently, at least, not in the place of some fresh fruit, veg, and meat. I bet if you phase in some fresh produce you'll have less room for high sodium packaged foods.

Your sodium intake will drop substantially just by making a few substitutions.

ETA: if you have soy sauce with several meals per day you've got pretty much no hope of keeping below your sodium goal. Even the low sodium stuff is pretty potent.

cross2bear

If you just switch from soy sauce to teriyaki sauce, you can reduce your sodium intake. Not a huge amount, but from your post, it sounds like you are consuming a lot of sodium through the pre packed food you are eating. I would definitely switch from those ramen noodles to plain ol' spaghettini (smaller than spaghetti) or try rice (or glass) noodles.

beeconeofhope

64crayons wrote: »

Those prepackaged ramen noodle soups have a crazy amount of sodium in the flavor packets. Try using half the packet instead. Or make the noodles in plain water, and put some other kind of sauce on them. (Pasta noodles may be less expensive in the long run - try thin spaghetti as an option.)

They are also fried at the factory to kinda dry them out and pre cook them for packaging

chastity0921

I use low sodium Tamari when making Asian foods. If you are using noodles with seasoning packets, only use half. Use low sodium broths. Rinse off canned foods. Use lemon juice instead of salt.

In addition to drinking more water, try to add potassium in your diet. You need a balance-- sodium is found outside cells and potassium is inside. If you have too much sodium outside it pulls more water from your cells and causes problems. Hope that makes sense.

healthy_hermione

Try whole grain spaghetti noodles. There's probably some healthy recipes online

ninerbuff

Being Asian, I probably down at least 5,000mg of sodium a day. But then again, I don't have high BP issues or health issues that high sodium affects. Do I retain extra water though? Probably, but eh, I just increase my water intake if I want to drop some.
If it's not an issue and there's no hereditary history of high BP, it's probably not that big a deal. Just don't sweat and lick yourself.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

MaiLinna

ninerbuff wrote: »

Being Asian, I probably down at least 5,000mg of sodium a day. But then again, I don't have high BP issues or health issues that high sodium affects. Do I retain extra water though? Probably, but eh, I just increase my water intake if I want to drop some.
If it's not an issue and there's no hereditary history of high BP, it's probably not that big a deal. Just don't sweat and lick yourself.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Thank you. My boyfriend said that as well. As long as it's a day where we didn't eat ramen, the sodium is usually below 2,300mg. He also noted that Asians just naturally consume a lot of sodium, and since I don't have high blood pressure problems (I actually have the opposite. My blood pressure is occasionally too low,) it's not a big deal.

As for potassium, I eat bananas every day and potatoes a couple times a week. It's not amazing but it's something.

Thank you!