Low Sodium

BartBVanBockstaele

angieplusone wrote: »

I have just started my journey to watching my sodium. Holy Cow! I thought a salad from chickfila would be ok. The sodium in it is 2200 without any dressing. Anyone else trying to fight the sodium consumption and how are you doing it? I work 2 jobs and finding the time to consistently meal prep is a challenge and then when I do and log it, still lots of sodium. Help!

Meal prepping is ubiquitous but not needed. Simply buy bags of frozen vegetables, or make it extra easy and buy frozen vegetable blends, put them in the microwave, don't add salt. It is significantly faster than meal prepping or fast food and it is significantly cheaper than fast food and quite likely even cheaper than supposedly fresh food. It is also almost guaranteed to be more healthful than the "fresh" stuff. All it takes to know that is to take a cold hard look at the often sorry condition of "fresh" foods in the grocery store.

You'll end up with a very low sodium intake, no actual work involved and a diet that is about as healthful as it gets. The reason meal preparation is complicated is merely because people are trying to square the circle by creating elaborate recipes to imitate meals they know without unhealthful ingredients. Reality is, that will never fully work, that is the reality of reality. Once you accept that, life becomes really simple and easy.
Also, consider this: meals don't have to be delicious: that (potentially) entices you to overeat. Meals should just not be tasting bad, because you will not want to eat them.

cwolfman13

angieplusone wrote: »

I somehow missed all these responses. I've never used this program for the community and have learned that I need it. I am battling high blood pressure. I do not like the bp meds I'm on and that is why I started watching my sodium. I let it beat me down trying to stay low sodium and the Dr said to just do the weight watchers program and I would succeed. I seem to be hungry all the time and so I have been focusing more on adding protein. I know I eat way too many carbs and do not cook whole foods enough. I don't drink pop. I am a water drinker so I know its the foods I'm choosing.

I'm hypertensive and changing my diet did pretty much next to nothing for my blood pressure. The two biggest things for me were getting in regular, daily exercise and losing weight. I still have to take meds as my hypertension is largely hereditary, but it's much better controlled when I'm exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy weight. Anytime I get lax on my exercise my BP creeps up.

BartBVanBockstaele

JulieNFitPal wrote: »

I don't even miss the salt any more.

That is my experience as well. That said, I have to confess it was not as easy as is often claimed. I was led to believe that it would take three weeks. That was only half true: the three was correct but the weeks were years. That is a long time. But since I no longer miss it, it is also no longer a problem. All it took was a bit of perseverance.

BartBVanBockstaele

angieplusone wrote: »

I somehow missed all these responses. I've never used this program for the community and have learned that I need it. I am battling high blood pressure. I do not like the bp meds I'm on and that is why I started watching my sodium. I let it beat me down trying to stay low sodium and the Dr said to just do the weight watchers program and I would succeed. I seem to be hungry all the time and so I have been focusing more on adding protein. I know I eat way too many carbs and do not cook whole foods enough. I don't drink pop. I am a water drinker so I know its the foods I'm choosing.

Unless you are one of the rare people who are unfortunate enough to suffer undesirable effects, please take the meds. Do not forget that high blood pressure is a major cause of major health problems, including but far from limited to life-changing and/or life-ending strokes. So, the choice is not between no meds and meds. The choice is between the (often only perceived) unpleasantness of having to take meds and crippling and terrifying disease. In my opinion, that is an easy choice to make.

Reducing your salt intake may mitigate your blood pressure problem, but is unlikely to solve it. That said, it is a good initiative. I compare it to exercise: you are unlikely to see immediate noticeable effects, but it will reduce your lifetime probability of numerous conditions.

Weight loss is almost certainly the best thing you can do. It is a very simple process but it can also be a very hard process.

Hungry all the time: that was and is my problem as well. However, since I reduced (not eliminated) my carb intake in the form of rice, bread, lentils, beans (except for lupini and soybeans) and starchy vegetables, that problem –while remaining– has become tolerable and I am slowly getting used to that situation making it less problematic than at the time I was experiencing pain, nausea and vomiting to a degree that made me long for euthanasia. In short: it was a choice between holding on to foods I loved and a life of misery or abstaining from those foods and a satisfying life with some tolerable discomfort. I prefer the latter.

neanderthin

BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »

angieplusone wrote: »

I have just started my journey to watching my sodium. Holy Cow! I thought a salad from chickfila would be ok. The sodium in it is 2200 without any dressing. Anyone else trying to fight the sodium consumption and how are you doing it? I work 2 jobs and finding the time to consistently meal prep is a challenge and then when I do and log it, still lots of sodium. Help!

Meal prepping is ubiquitous but not needed. Simply buy bags of frozen vegetables, or make it extra easy and buy frozen vegetable blends, put them in the microwave, don't add salt. It is significantly faster than meal prepping or fast food and it is significantly cheaper than fast food and quite likely even cheaper than supposedly fresh food. It is also almost guaranteed to be more healthful than the "fresh" stuff. All it takes to know that is to take a cold hard look at the often sorry condition of "fresh" foods in the grocery store.

You'll end up with a very low sodium intake, no actual work involved and a diet that is about as healthful as it gets. The reason meal preparation is complicated is merely because people are trying to square the circle by creating elaborate recipes to imitate meals they know without unhealthful ingredients. Reality is, that will never fully work, that is the reality of reality. Once you accept that, life becomes really simple and easy.
Also, consider this: meals don't have to be delicious: that (potentially) entices you to overeat. Meals should just not be tasting bad, because you will not want to eat them.

That's out there, and it's always interesting to hear what people think when it comes to cooking, cheers.