Ugh! SODIUM!

scaredofcoasters

On Mondays and Thursdays, I have to eat quite a bit, as I do martial arts on those days. However, those days are the days where I go about 1000 - 2000 over in my sodium content. Even things such as bread has extremely high amounts of sodium for one slice, so even eating a sandwich cuts out half of my sodium intake for very little calories. Asian food is the worst, and it's some of my favorite food, as it has low calories and low fat content...but the sauces, namely soy sauce, pushes the sodium content waaaaay up!

I've tried low sodium soups and sauces, and they all taste terrible, and even they don't have calorie levels that will push me over 2400 calories on Mondays and Thursdays, which is about where I end up with exercise (500 - 700 calories approx. 1 hour of vigorous exercise with about 20 pounds of armor).

Should I be worried about this? And what foods are high in calories but low in sodium? I know a lot of processed foods have high amounts of sodium, but sometimes you need some of that for healthy dishes. Even the healthy cookbooks in my house have a lot of recipes with high sodium! What gives!!

Anyways, thanks for the help!

scaredofcoasters

On Mondays and Thursdays, I have to eat quite a bit, as I do martial arts on those days. However, those days are the days where I go about 1000 - 2000 over in my sodium content. Even things such as bread has extremely high amounts of sodium for one slice, so even eating a sandwich cuts out half of my sodium intake for very little calories. Asian food is the worst, and it's some of my favorite food, as it has low calories and low fat content...but the sauces, namely soy sauce, pushes the sodium content waaaaay up!

I've tried low sodium soups and sauces, and they all taste terrible, and even they don't have calorie levels that will push me over 2400 calories on Mondays and Thursdays, which is about where I end up with exercise (500 - 700 calories approx. 1 hour of vigorous exercise with about 20 pounds of armor).

Should I be worried about this? And what foods are high in calories but low in sodium? I know a lot of processed foods have high amounts of sodium, but sometimes you need some of that for healthy dishes. Even the healthy cookbooks in my house have a lot of recipes with high sodium! What gives!!

Anyways, thanks for the help!

wizabugga

Maybe try adding flavor to low sodium foods by using Mrs. Dash seasoning. They are sooo yummy, are very low sodium, and there are lots of flavors. I cook with them all the time and they help tons with flavor.


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Cookn

Sodium is harder to cut than calories. You have to make a very concentrated effort to cut it from your diet. There are many options out there, but you really have to look hard to find them. For your sandwich try whole Wheat Pita breads. The one I use has 225mg of sodium for the whole pita, cut it in half and you are at 112mg. Processed lunch meat is loaded with sodium, switch to something like Honeysuckle White Turkey Breast Tenderloins, roast and slice them. They have a 4 oz. serving portion with 440mg of sodium, most processed lunch meat has a 2 oz, serving with at least 800mg of sodium. You pick up 2 oz. and still have half the sodium. For breakfast try an Orowheat whole wheat english muffin with Canadian Bacon and an egg, if you skip cheese you are under 250mg of sodium. Even with non fat cheese you are just over 300mg.

Try doing a search on the DASH diet. The DASH Diet, is a low sodium diet designed for cardiac patients and a cornerstone of blood pressure lowering diets. It has a 1500mg of sodium daily maximum.

Kikkoman has a low sodium soy sauce on the market. I love asian food also and I love soy sauce. I keep a bottle of the low sodium in the Jeep for when we eat out and one at home. If you make your own stir-fries from prepackaged frozen veggies, which are very low sodium, you end up with a low sodium meal. Use brown rice instead of white rice and you've added a bunch of complex carbohydrates to you diet.

Mrs. Dash is great but if you want to go farther down the flavor trail try Penzeys. com. They have many more no salt or low salt spice blends that are great for adding flavors to any meal.

Low sodium options are out there, you just have to dig deep to find them.