Looking for Low Sodium Diet Tips...

wtlos4me

Trying to keep my sodium levels below 1500 mg. per day or less. Most "low sodium" products are still too much sodium for me. Any ideas, products or food prep strategies?

Elainejk21

I would try cooking more meals from scratch at home. I find any prepared meals/snacks I enter into my food diary are laden with sodium, but the items I use at home to make dishes are extremely low sodium.
Soups - use chicken broth/stock that has little to no sodium and don't add salt to the recipe even if it calls for it. If you use canned vegetables, opt for no salt added versions. Fresh vegetables and fruits are naturally low sodium.
Snacks - "Kind" bars have almost no sodium (I find them in the organic section of my grocery store). Fage greek yogurt, unsalted nuts, cut up veggies like carrots, celery, radishes, etc.

nxd10

I swear anything that says 'low sodium' has more than I normally eat and things where you can see the salt have less than things where you can't. McDonalds french fries have less sodium and a quarter pounder. Who knew? A pickle has like 200 mg of sodium. And don't get my started on olives!

My husband is on a mega-low sodium diet. Some things i've learned:

Bread has a lot of sodium in it. I make my own without adding salt and it works fine.
I also cook most things without baking soda or power and use eggs whites to lighten them instead. Works for almost anything with baked good.
Drop tomatoes - they have a lot of natural sodium.
Make your own chicken broth and don't use kosher chickens. (Yes, kosher chickens taste better, but they have to be salted to conform to kosher law.). Read the label to see if your chicken has added sodium - a lot do because it increases the flavor in low quality meat.

In general, if you eat whole foods your sodium will be fine. Mine rarely tops 1000 mg and I am not even trying to be low sodium right now. Any packaged or processed food will kill you.

wtlos4me

Thanks for the tips everyone! I really appreciate it

YaleBulldog79

12 days ago I suffered heart failure...the cardiologist said 1500 mg or less of sodium...one idea I've liked for a long time is baked sweet potato, sweet butter (no salt) and brown sugar...total sodium is around 50 mgs...and it's like a dessert. G

pinkyleigh83

Overnight oatmeals (or oatmeal in general) have saved me from going over on sodium.

I mix 50g rolled oats, 6g chia seeds, 1/2c unsweetened vanilla almond milk & 1/4c Fage 0% as my oatmeal base. I will add whey protein, unsweetened cocoa powder, strawberry jam, PB, maple syrup, banana, unsweetened coconut, nuts etc as different mix-ins. SO many options & it can be well under 400 calories & 200mg sodium.

Greek yogurt generally has very low sodium, cottage cheese has a lot. Fruits, brown rice cakes, some pb, jams....those are my low sodium staples. Check labels. Most slices of cheese have around 140mg/slice but I found a Swiss cheese by Finlandia (got at Costco) that's only 50mg. Cook beans from dry, don't buy canned, that way you control the amount of salt.

waltzing_peregrine

My DF has been on a low sodium diet for over 10 years. I have learned so many secrets. First of all: anything frozen or from a can = salt. Boxed foods are bad too. There are chef broths at high end grocers that is not really salted so that a chef can salt to taste. If you are going to do anything with tomatoes - tomato paste has the lowest sodium - mix with fresh tomatoes to get the right consistency, and flavor with garlic and herbs heavily.

We saute a lot of veggies and use carb veggies instead of starches since most breads and pasta have a lot of salt.

DF isn't home right now, if you have any more questions I can relay responses.