Eating Out

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Did you know 1 cup of hot and sour soup has 876 grams of sodium? What the What!!! And I was going today, changed my mind. Will cook more at home.

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  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,114 Member
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    876 grams is nearly 2 lbs, perhaps you mean 876mg? 🙂
    Sodium isn't 'evil' by the way, unless you have high blood pressure issues (and your BP is sensitive to sodium intake).

    But yeah, home-cooked food definitely gives you more control!
  • Bod4GodAnnice
    Bod4GodAnnice Posts: 12 Member
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    Thanks. I meant mg. That shook me at my core because I do have high BP. Going forward I'm going to be more sensitive about my sodium intake. Cook more at home. I use to love to cook. No children or grandchildren around and I have gotten lazy when it comes to cooking.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,114 Member
    edited September 2023
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    Oh certainly, with high BP avoiding restaurant meals and prepared foods is the easiest way to control sodium!

    I don't know if you hand that option, but I am a HUGE fan of buying fresh but pre-cut vegetables to save time. That's the one thing that really annoys me with home-cooked meals: not the cooking itself, but all the vegetable prep work 🙂
    And I do batch cooking as well: cooking once but in a quantity that's enough for several meals.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    Restaurants have very little incentive to feed you a healthy meal. Their goal (put bluntly) is to feed you economically but in a manner that you like. Salt is a cheap ingredient that boosts flavor. (Although, once you start reducing it, you tend not to like salty foods anymore.)

    The only way to know 100% of what you are eating is to cook 100% of your food from scratch!
  • history_grrrl
    history_grrrl Posts: 212 Member
    edited September 2023
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    It’s hard! I ate out with visiting family for a few days this past week, and tried not to overdo it, but I couldn’t really track the house-made tagliatelle with shrimp and zucchini in a white wine tomato sauce, or the shared appetizers (crispy artichokes, rice balls filled with mozzarella). We did go to one place with calorie counts on the menu, but I can’t believe the big salad I got, packed with roasted beets and goat cheese, was only 250 cal - and in fact, it’s listed in the MFD database as being 500! So I’m happily back to home cooking, if slightly bored. :)

    @Lietchi I have the same feeling about veggie prep. I found a great veggie fried rice recipe that’s delicious but absolutely exhausting to prepare. A friend recently suggested I use the chop function on my food processor, which honestly had never crossed my mind. I plan to try that. This is why broccoli always goes bad in my fridge.