Sodium Intake

Em2je05

I am going over my sodium intake every day. Anyone have any advice to get it down...I know with the food I eat but what are some low sodium food?

supermodelchic

I follow a low sodium diet, I only use Mrs. Dash seasonings, oilve oil spray, pepper , onion powder, mustard, red wine vinegar..that's it. If you want you can add me as a friend and see what my meal plan looks like

gaylynn35

More fresh fruit and vegetables and less processed stuff!

mjculbertson4512

From scratch. Cook dry beans at home. No salt in pasta water. No bottled salad dressing. Prepared meats. Pretty severe, but it works. If I eat canned or out, I am over. Message me on the beans if you need guidance.

GadgetGuy2

By switching to low sodium foods from the store, I was able to go from 300% of RDA to 200% of RDA.

By making some of my favorite foods that are high in sodium (soups, chili, bread, etc.), I was able to get down to 100% of RDA AND I was very surprised to see I was saving over $1K per year!

The food industry adds salt to gain market share and thus bump their profit up. They do not add salt to make us healthier.

quiltlady77

Hi, I also follow a low sodium diet but I find that cooking my own food and not adding salt to it helps a lot. If you buy packaged food or eat out a lot, it is almost impossible to control it.

kissiefur525

The Active Lifestyle - Maple Brown Sugar & Pecan Instant Oatmeal, 1 pouch works works well for me. 55 mg of sodium.

odddrums

I go over a lot as well. I usually try to eat as little packaged stuff as possible, fresh veggies and fruits helps a bunch. The other thing you can do is just drink lots of water to flush it out, that helps me when I've had some heavy days of eating out. Just look for lower sodium options and cook your own food as much as possible.

SF2514

I am supposed to be on a low sodium diet and most of the time I stick to it. I find that making things from scratch is a whole lot easier and less expensive than buying premade. Heinz makes a good no salt ketchup and Fry's makes an o.k. low sodium bread. I usually just use unsalted butter, Morton Salt substitute, or other lower sodium alternatives in normal recipes. Everything's come out delicious so far . If you'd like to add me, feel free. On a bad day I go to about 2000 sodium, on an average day 1400, and on a really good day I can get under 600.

coolraul07

ALL OF THE ABOVE. Plus I up my potassium intake and track it daily. Potassium helps to counteract the effects of sodium. Really good sources are potatoes (1 med-large baked > 1,000mg), low sodium V8 juice (800-900mg per 8oz), yams, etc. I use http://nutritiondata.self.com; they have search options to find foods high/low in many given nutrients.
I usually avoid store-bought cold cuts and make my own. Did a London Broil last week to sub for roast beef. Kroger's sell a small turkey breast ("Private Selection"?) that's less than 100mg sodium per oz. Doing a whole pork loin tonight to sub for ham. PM me for additional ideas. Or you can send me a FR, just mention this topic.

kellyw036

I have been TRYING to get better at this as well. It is hard. I have been combing through my diary and identifying the high sodium contributors. Then, I try to be very mindful or how much of these high contributors I am eating every day...IE-If I have deli meat--that is my highest thing of the day and I am very cautious after that.
As far as foods- you can buy low sodium deli meat if you prefer not to avoid it all together. Salad dressing is also what gets me...and cheese. It IS hard!

cwolfman13

I have hypertension, so I have to watch my sodium intake. Basically, this means a lot of whole foods and preparing my own meals with those whole foods and substantially decreasing my processed food intake. In a nutshell, instead of a can of beans, I make my own beans from scratch with dried. I try to make my own stocks and broth, but sometimes have to opt for the convenience of a low sodium variety that has already been processed.

Really, it is pretty tough if you have a lot of convenience type foods in your diet, even if you're doing "low sodium" stuff...still has tons of sodium. More whole foods.

CM9178

Can you share your diary so we can see what you are eating to make you go over?

Ultimately, you want to avoid pre packaged foods, frozen meals, canned soups, soup mixes, taco seasoning, bottled salad dressing, soy sauce, etc.

Try to cook from scratch as much as possible, and don't add salt unless absolutely neccessary.
Try to make your own seasoning mixes, there are plenty of good recipes out there.
Try to buy the low sodium foods if available.

iggyboo93

First of all - congrats on the 26 pound weight loss.

Second that on what everyone wrote. Fruits, veggies, and dried beans are so good. You can't believe the hidden sodium in things - I though Subway was a good choice but an egg/cheese flatbread sandwich is over 1,000 mg sodium.

Avoid the frozen chicken breasts in a bag - they have 8 times the sodium than fresh chicken breast since they inject the chicken with brine before freezing them.

I love my deli sandwiches but had to make some changes - I get low sodium/low fat swiss cheese - the sodium is lower in some swiss cheese than others. Boar's Head has a low sodium turkey that's pretty tasty. It's important to read the labels because some foods are deceptively salty.

This has some pretty good information:
www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf

paintlisapurple

I've been using a lot more fresh vegetables and herbs. Flavors are amazing! The only time I ever use salt is when I boil up some pasta (in the water). Crock pot cooking is fabulous for melding flavors too. Please feel free to add me if you'd like a couple of recipes that are low calorie and low sodium. I'm sure there are tons on the net too! :flowerforyou:

Em2je05

Thanks everyone for all the advice! Tonight I'm going to look at all my sodium intake and see what I can cut!