Sodium

bennyg1973

Does anyone find themselves getting too much sodium like without even trying?

nossmf

Short answer: I used to.

Long answer: At one point, my doctor was ready to put me on hypertensive medication to reduce my blood pressure. Before he did, he asked a lot of questions about my dietary habits, and made a simple suggestion:

Instead of adding salt for flavor early during the cooking process, wait until moments before serving.

His theory was that when I added salt early, it got absorbed into the food, leading to a blander taste upon serving, which had me reaching for the table salt shaker. But by waiting until the last second to season with salt, the flavor would still be easy to taste, and I'd not need extra salt.

For me, that one change took me from needing meds to being rock-solid in the middle of healthy. Turns out I'm one of those who reacts quite strongly to extra sodium. Certainly led me to closely evaluate all the nutritional labels of foods, cutting out most of the microwave frozen meals I used to love along with learning about alternative spices (paprika, sage, cayenne) I had never used before.

bennyg1973

Even low carb options, like bacon or sausage or what not, have high sodium when your intentions are good. lol

kinetixtrainer2

bennyg1973 wrote: »

Even low carb options, like bacon or sausage or what not, have high sodium when your intentions are good. lol

A lot of processed foods are high in sodium. I was able to lower sodium intake by eating more fresh Whole Foods. Mrs.Dash has great seasonings that are sodium/salt free.

Lietchi

I need a lot of salt/sodium to keep my BP from tanking and causing dizziness.
Sodium isn't bad in appropriate quantities, it's a necessary electrolyte. The issue is that some people who are sensitive to sodium can get hypertensive when consuming too much, so the right amount differs from person to person.
So check with your doctor if you need to limit sodium or not.