Always over on Sodium

CMJ1979

I'm doing great on the calorie part, but most days I'm way over on the sodium. How can I get that lower?

CMJ1979

I'm doing great on the calorie part, but most days I'm way over on the sodium. How can I get that lower?

Nevada

If you pick on the Foods tab, Settings, you can change Nutrients Tracked.
Change, say, Protein, to Sodium.

Then go back through the dates on your food diary, and see which foods are giving you lots of sodium.

Canned vegetables usually are high in sodium. Replace with fresh produce.
I have replaced canned beans with dry beans I soak and boil myself.

Healthier_Me

Anything canned is high in sodium.

If you cook w/ salt, switch to coarse salt.
You'll use less of it.

I agree w/ Nevada on the fresh produce.

raeokay

Also, tv dinners and things of that nature are very high in sodium. Anything you don't make from scratch is likely to have a ton of salt in it, mostly as a preservative.

Nevada

And when fresh produce is to much hassle, frozen is almost as good, and it keeps lots longer. Already washed and cut, real easy to grab some bags from the freezer and mix up your own veggie medley.

Frozen veggies are better than too-old, wilted "fresh" stuff.

Keep the canned for your earthquake kit.

nowNOTthenmylife

Count your sodium intake as you getting a meal or cook at home and use measuring spoons to make sure you are within your daily intake

JennyRATL

Wow. Bringing back a thread from 10 years ago! But hey, still good info!

I recently discovered that most packaged chicken breast is CRAZY high in sodium. Turns out companies inject them with salt water to preserve and to make them look fuller. People value breasts for their lean protein, but the sodium levels are nuts.

mjbnj0001

I'm older, overweight - but don't have a sodium restriction. I do, however, lower my MFP-calculated sodium macro target somewhat, so that if I go over any given day, I don't fret as much. It's a continuous challenge in our culture.

That being said:
- as others have said, canned goods contain lots of sodium. I'm a big user of canned tomatoes, so I get no-salt-added versions (usually Hunts, which also doesn't use lye). For most other non-fresh produce, I use frozen and not canned (excepting olives and a few other specialties)
- avoid frozen veggies/etc. with prepared sauces or other flavorings
- I wash all canned beans, never (usually) using their "liquid" (exceptions: occasional canned baked beans and sometimes, black beans)
- I'm a big user of prepared stocks and broths (slow cooker, pressure cooker, soup bases, rice flavorings); I get no-salt versions when I can. Often I choose Kitchen Aid
- I bake about 80% of our bread; commercial bread has lots of salt
- I make my own taco sauce, salsa, hummus and BBQ rubs to control salt (and with the exception of the Super Bowl, don't keep chips in the house, LOL)
- I've made about 50% of the soup we've had this winter season
- I make all the buttermilk-sour cream - type salad dressings we use (i.e., "ranch" type)
- I make fresh all the oil-and-acid (vinegar, citrus) salad dressings we use
- I make most of the pasta sauce we use
- I make most of the marinades we use
- I make some pickled items (red onions, green beans, etc.) myself without really being able to measure the sodium uptake into the food from the salt I put into the brine, but presume they have lower salt than commercial
- as one poster above said, use coarse salt (sea salt, kosher, etc.) rather than table salt for cooking
- other "salt" (=sodium) additives, such as MSG, etc. - I try to limit
- wash thoroughly meats you've brined at home
- eating out is a big source of uncontrolled salt - from diner breakfast omelettes to fancy dishes; we've lowered our salt consumption enough that we can usually taste excess salt now, as salt, not seasoning. Sometimes I do get surprised, as I get a case of real dry mouth overnight if the meal had a lot of concealed salt in it
- restaurant bakery goods - cakes and such - might have a lot of sodium in them, surprisingly
- lastly - I read all labelled products for included sodium and debate how much will get into our diet.

Now, ham, bacon, deli meats, pickles, cheese, and similar things, as much as we use them or don't, are "hard" sodium bombs relative to managing sodium. Sometimes we use low-sodium versions, sometimes portion control or avoidance. Sometimes we splurge.

If you think this is a lot of effort to keep excess salt out of our diet, you're right. Just goes to show how prevalent it is.

mjbnj0001

Oops. That was "Kitchen Basics" broths/stocks, not "Kitchen Aid."