Sodium!!!

suzyc2be

When I cook I do not add any salt to my foods and use herbs instead however I noticed that some of the foods i buy already come prepared with sodium.

Such as:

Turkey Bacon
Turkey Sausage
Almond Milk
Egg Substitutes
My Protein shake
Bread
Nuts
Cheese
Etc.

At the end of the day my sodium intake is at 3,000 or more and I am not sure what to do. I aim for no more than 2,500 of salt per day and am not adding any but it seems like it's in everything. A little worried about possible water retention due to sodium intake. Any suggestions or opinions on this are appreciated.

SF2514

I don't really have many suggestions, but I'm on a low sodium diet as well. I usually aim for under 1.6k a day. You're welcome to look at my diary or add me .

SuffolkSally

You'll just have to cut down on processed foods (the turkey sausage and bacon). Subsitute with fresh meat or fish. Use real eggs. And get in the habit of reading labels. Salt is inevitable in bread and cheese, but does vary from type to type. For other foodstuffs just look for low- or no-salt versions.

cbrrabbit25

It is very hard to keep sodium low. I am having this problem as well since i like to have a lot of meat! I try to not have it later in the day and drink lots of water and do sweat causing exercise to get rid of it.

EccentricDad

When I cook I do not add any salt to my foods and use herbs instead however I noticed that some of the foods i buy already come prepared with sodium.

Such as:

Turkey Bacon
Turkey Sausage
Almond Milk
Egg Substitutes
My Protein shake
Bread
Nuts
Cheese
Etc.

At the end of the day my sodium intake is at 3,000 or more and I am not sure what to do. I aim for no more than 2,500 of salt per day and am not adding any but it seems like it's in everything. A little worried about possible water retention due to sodium intake. Any suggestions or opinions on this are appreciated.

Sodium can be a real problem when you're not making time go cook your own food. All I can suggest is try to find "low sodium" or "no sodium added" versions of the foods you're buying. Turkey Bacon and Turkey Sausage is the worst because the type of sodium it has is "sodium nitrate" and when nitrate breaks off from sodium in your body it has a good chance of creating cancer cells in your body (luckily vitamin C can stop this connection).

Potassium is believed to help reverse the effects of sodium on water retention, so if you have no choice but to buy and cook processed foods (preparing your own meat is ideal though) then maybe finding great ways to increase your potassium would be ideal. To find foods that are high in potassium go to whfoods.org

A little sodium isn't a bad thing though. Most sodium based products carry "iodine" with it and iodine is important to have in your diet because it improves thyroid function and sight. So I think eliminating ALL sodium would be a terrible idea. Staying under 1500 would be a pretty reasonable goal though.

As far as water retention goes though, water retains in fiber too, so if you are eating a high fiber diet (over 15g per day IMO) then you are probably carrying your water weight in your stools. Try having one of your meals not have any rice, breads, or baked goods and eat your carbs in veggies/fruits and 4 hours after that meal, see how you feel and weigh yourself. I retain water through refined flours because of poor digestion and malnutrition due to inflammation of my intestines, so if you find that removing grains from your diet helps with weight loss, then you may have to try eliminating them for a while.

Hope that was helpful for you :flowerforyou:

Ge0rgiana

Oh, good night... Where to start...

Ditch breakfast meats, or at least severely limit them. Sorry.
Why are you eating egg substitute? Just eat real eggs if you're not allergic or something. Eggs are GOOD FOR YOU. They do, however, have naturally occurring sodium.
Bread is awful. If you want bread that's not salty, you have to eat REAL bread. REAL bread has to be refrigerated and is expensive, but totally worth it. Check out Food 4 Life Ezekiel bread. You can even buy it in sodium free if you like.
Protein shakes have natural occurring sodium because the milk they're made from has naturally occurring sodium.
Get unsalted, raw nuts. Almonds are my favorite.
Cheese varies a lot. If you're eating low fat or fat free, you're going to eat more salt.

Add the sodium column to your diary if you haven't already. Begin with the highest sodium offenders that you can eliminate or replace and begin systematically weeding them out. The best way to lower sodium is eating whole, real food that you cook yourself. I could write a book on this, I think.

tyresank

I am having the same problems, and in the last 10 days have managed to reduce from 2500mg to 1500mg or under. But it's been difficult, and I am gradually weeding out all of the items that are high in sodium. I have purchased low sodium products as much as possible, and I am now buying as much fresh as possible. But I still like my occasinaly Black Bean Burger and thus I have plan my meals carefully to ensure I can fit in such processed items with their sodium into my daily plan. It's been hard, but I have done pretty well these last two weeks, but my meals are not too varied because of it. BTW I found a low sodium cottage cheese, no too tasty, so looking for ways to spice it up and still manage to eat it. I did put 1oz of no sugar added applesauce with 1/2 cup and that was good, so there is a price to play and finding ways to get the flavour is a chanllenge.

ber3023

Sometimes just doing the real deal instead of the turkey substitutes, are lower in sodium. They add salt to add to the blander flavor. I buy center cut bacon, which is a leaner cut and I think tastes a lot better than turkey bacon. I used to use ground turkey in all my recipes that called for hamburger, until I learned that you can buy beef just as lean as turkey and it's a lot lower in sodium. Use real eggs or egg whites instead of a substitute. Nuts can be purchased unsalted. Swiss cheese is usually a lot lower in sodium than other types. I never buy anything w/o reading labels and comparing other brands. A simple switch in brands can sometimes be a big difference.

jcstanton

I had to stop buying pretty much all prepackaged foods. I use almost nothing that is boxed, bagged, or canned with very few exceptions. The only canned vegetable I buy is No Salt Added tomato products. Even with the dairy I eat (eggs, skim milk, one serving of cheese/day, cottage cheese, and yogurt), I still rarely go over 2,000 mgs of sodium/day. In fact, most days I stay in the 1500-1800mg range. I finally came to the realization that eating as whole and fresh as possible is best. It takes alot of planning and a little extra work, but it's worth it. I feel soooo much better after cutting that processed junk out of my diet. Don't get me wrong, I'm not 100% compliant. For example, my brother works at a family owned pizza joint and I'll be going there for a slice of tomato/basil pizza tonight. However, that is a very rare treat for me. I would say 98 days out of 100, I don't eat like that. When I do, I try to preplan so that the rest of the food I eat that day is as low in sodium as possible and I drink extra water. So far, following this guideline has been working pretty well for me.

Koldnomore

I set mine down to 1250. The ONLY time I miss it by a good amount is if I go eat out. If I stick to cooking at home (also without salt) using very few packaged foods - if any I normally manage to stay under or just go over by a little bit. Turkey bacon /sausages have more sodium than their piggy counterparts and you can buy 'low salt' bacon too if you still choose to eat it regularly.

Drinking lots of water will help flush it out but normally after a high salt day it takes 2-3 days for me of normal eating to get rid of the bloat. I also eat eggs, 2% milk, also cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, other cheeses, salad dressings and bread. It takes a little planning sometimes not to combine a bunch of high sodium things all on the same day (that's my other downfall).

Ge0rgiana

I am having the same problems, and in the last 10 days have managed to reduce from 2500mg to 1500mg or under. But it's been difficult, and I am gradually weeding out all of the items that are high in sodium. I have purchased low sodium products as much as possible, and I am now buying as much fresh as possible. But I still like my occasinaly Black Bean Burger and thus I have plan my meals carefully to ensure I can fit in such processed items with their sodium into my daily plan. It's been hard, but I have done pretty well these last two weeks, but my meals are not too varied because of it. BTW I found a low sodium cottage cheese, no too tasty, so looking for ways to spice it up and still manage to eat it. I did put 1oz of no sugar added applesauce with 1/2 cup and that was good, so there is a price to play and finding ways to get the flavour is a chanllenge.

Morningstar black bean? Yeah, those are evil. I love them, too. :happy:

jcstanton

Oh, good night... Where to start...

Ditch breakfast meats, or at least severely limit them. Sorry.
Why are you eating egg substitute? Just eat real eggs if you're not allergic or something. Eggs are GOOD FOR YOU. They do, however, have naturally occurring sodium.
Bread is awful. If you want bread that's not salty, you have to eat REAL bread. REAL bread has to be refrigerated and is expensive, but totally worth it. Check out Food 4 Life Ezekiel bread. You can even buy it in sodium free if you like.
Protein shakes have natural occurring sodium because the milk they're made from has naturally occurring sodium.
Get unsalted, raw nuts. Almonds are my favorite.
Cheese varies a lot. If you're eating low fat or fat free, you're going to eat more salt.

Add the sodium column to your diary if you haven't already. Begin with the highest sodium offenders that you can eliminate or replace and begin systematically weeding them out. The best way to lower sodium is eating whole, real food that you cook yourself. I could write a book on this, I think.

Sargento makes Reduced Sodium Cheddar Jack and Mozzerella cheese sticks. Still don't know that I'd say they are LOW sodium, but it's a better option if you LOVE cheese like I do.

Espressocycle

Unless you have high blood pressure, don't worry about it. While people with high blood pressure may see reductions in their blood pressure by adhering to a low sodium diet, sodium does not CAUSE high blood pressure for the vast majority of people (especially Caucasians). Furthermore, if you exercise, you lose sodium through your sweat.

Check this out:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt

CalJur

Plan your meals as much as possible. If the sodium intake is too high then don't eat it. Less processed foods will help. Drink lots of water and try to keep potassium high. Sodium as you know is necessary to bodily functions but should be kept to recommended level.

tbellamy1

I stopped drinking almond milk because the sodium was to high and the calories were to low. I use "So Delicious" dairy and soy free vanilla + protein. Its 70 cals 5g protein and 95g Na. Also look for lower sodium products. All the items you listed have low sodium choices. Drink plenty of water and up your potassium on days you thin kyou will go over on sodium

Greenrun99

Got the same problem with sodium, I was looking at the food database at some of the items I like to eat (egg whites etc) and finding other brands that have less sodium.. So when I eat the rest of the food I got in my fridge that is higher in sodium I am really going to pay attention to the labels more, I seen that Walmart (the Super Stores with Grocery) had an item in the database for egg whites with alot less sodium then some of the ones I am buying, so going to head there and look at all the goods... I also bought some of the chicken breasts that are prefrozen in a bag cause they were on sale.. YA big Mistake!!! Not doing that again..

Studiousone75

This low sodium diet brings back memories! I had to reduce sodium to be less than 2000 mg per day in order to prevent the reoccurrence of hydrops in my inner ears (excessive fluid retention). It was hard but doable to plan the daily menu not to exceed 2000 mg..

One item I used to buy was low sodium canned tuna. Here is one example of low sodium tuna from StarKist in a bag, not a can:
http://www.starkist.com/product/low-sodium-chunk-light-tuna-water-pouch

Another low-sodium item was swiss cheese such as this from Berners -- http://www.bernervalley.com/bnc-nutr-comp.htm.

Another low sodium item was Safeway bread (in sliced loaves) where one slice had only 110 mg sodium, compared to 220, 280, and even higher for other breads for just one slice.

There are also low-sodium canned soups. I used to eat Healthy Choice and low-salt labelled Campbell soups.

I also bought low-sodium crackers from Nabisco.

If I think of any more, I'll post another.

marycmeadows

check out my diary.... I try to stick with low sodium and usually have pretty good luck, except when I eat out. Some staples in my pantry are....
no salt added diced tomatoes (great value or bell'orto brand)
no salt added tomato paste
fresh veggies and frozen veggies (not sauced or seasoned)
maple grove farms of vermont sugar or fat free balsamic vinaigrette dressing
body fortress protein powder
so delicious unsweetened coconut milk
canned pumpkin
plain greek yogurt
a cabinet full of seasonings (mrs dash, perfect pinch no salt, cinnamon, cumin, curry powder, red pepper, garlic powder, etc - - check any blends to make sure they do not have salt in them - i used to use emeril's and realized it was full of sodium)
jennie-o turkey burgers
rice cakes
almonds
almond butter & natural peanut butter

bpwparents

I have noticed the same thing with those items. Try to spread them out so your not having all of those items on the same day. You can't avoid sodium, but you can limit it by eating less processed items. For example I love lowfat cottage cheese, low in calories & fat and was delicious mixed with jarred peaches. I only eat it occasionally now because of the high sodium