My sodium intake is outrageous!

BlueLikeJazz
BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
I have never tracked my sodium intake before, so I'm hoping because of the fact that I'm having two servings of ham today, that today might just be an unusually high day as far as sodium goes.

I still have a couple hundred calories to eat yet today and my sodium intake is 6,231 mg! Almost 4,000 more than my recommended. It's possible that maybe 1,000 mg could be subtracted from that because I made a marinated veggie salad with fat-free dressing and a lot of the dressing is sitting at the bottom of the bowl, but still!

Do most of you keep track of your sodium? What are the best tricks for keeping it low? (I made my food diary public if you want to see the rest of what I ate)

My blood pressure is usually right around 120/80 so I don't currently have any hypertension or anything.

Replies

  • DrBorkBork
    DrBorkBork Posts: 4,099 Member
    I track my sodium, because it can cause water retention. Water retention = extra weight. I REALLY don't want to have to work harder than I already do to get pounds off, KWIM? I also set a very low sodium restriction for the same above reason. My diary is public if you ever want to have a look see
  • tdesautel
    tdesautel Posts: 10
    Hi, I also have a sodium issue, but my blood pressure has been very high, so with my doctor I have cut salt out of my diet as much as possible. I cook with Mrs Dash, i don't add any salt to my food, I do use sea salt if i have to, and i choose things that have a lower sodium, i know its hard but it is workable.
  • youngs
    youngs Posts: 250 Member
    You need to look at your dinner and your snack they are both listed as the same Items, with lots of sodium..is that a mistake..if so that drops you alot..?? maybe cut back on the salad dressing to half..
  • BigdaddyJ
    BigdaddyJ Posts: 357
    do you eat a lot of prepared or canned food, the amount of salt in those in sumoly off the roof!! They say you have to shop around the outside walls, where all the fresh stuff is...it takes a little getting used to but by doing that, I dropped my sodium intake from 6000+ to less than 2000!

    Good luck!

    JF
  • cdavis1126
    cdavis1126 Posts: 302 Member
    Oh, ham is sooo high in sodium. I absolutely track my sodium. I have gotten my BP down to 122/68! The way to keep your sodium low is to read every label on food that you are putting in your mouth. Are you a label detective? I am and am astounded at how much sodium is in our food that we eat everyday. Let me go take a look at your food diary if I can and I will come back to you. Christine
  • ACarp24
    ACarp24 Posts: 90
    I do, and I find that most of my sodium comes from packaged, pre made foods, so my suggestion would be to avoid them at all costs, and if you do need to eat them check the sodium before you eat it, and you can also avoid going over early by pre logging foods before you eat, thats what I do!
  • cdavis1126
    cdavis1126 Posts: 302 Member
    Ok, so first of all the kraft dressing, throw it in the trash! LOL I use Bolthouse Farms Honey Mustard dressing. It's fantastic and full of flavor, low in calories and in sodium. They are usually located in the produce section where they keep the bagged salads. Be careful which one you are buying, compare the labels. Cottage cheese is very high in sodium. I actually have people cutting this out of their diets all together and replacing it with something else. Tortillas are very high in sodium. Next time you want a pizza, try a low sodium pita bread like weight watchers. slice the pita in two so you have two rounds. 2 tbsp of classico tomato and basil sauce on each side. then split a 1/4 cup of Sargento low sodium mozz cheese between the two. sprinkle some oregano and garlic powder. then add some veggies. my favorite is some chopped up mushrooms. add a little chicken cause you should be getting protein in every meal. carefully slide these onto a cooking tray (i have a pizza stone) and bake in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes. i get eight slices of mini pizza with a side salad, it's a whole meal! Hope this helps and again, start being a label detective! Christine
  • barbiecat
    barbiecat Posts: 17,212 Member
    :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: I track sodium and try to keep it under1800 mg a day.....that means that I eat no packaged or processed foods except 1 TBS of salad dressing on my salad......fresh meat, veggies, fruit ,oatmeal are good choices.

    take it one day at a a time
    take baby steps to change how you eat.:bigsmile:
  • TwentyTen
    TwentyTen Posts: 585
    I decided to stop tracking my sodium because it was always super low. Many days I am barely over the recommended minimum. Almost always its below 1000, sometimes well below. (Instead sugar is my problem.) Maybe it is because I am not much of a meat eater, chicken and fish only, and I never eat canned vegetables.. I am not real sure. I do like some crackers which must be salty, but generally in fairly small quantities. Seems to be an issue for most people though, so you are not alone.
    I do believe the high sodium content in processed and packaged food is indeed the main culprit, so as all have advised, check out those labels.
  • BlueLikeJazz
    BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
    Thanks, lots of great replies!
    Ok, so first of all the kraft dressing, throw it in the trash! LOL I use Bolthouse Farms Honey Mustard dressing. It's fantastic and full of flavor, low in calories and in sodium. They are usually located in the produce section where they keep the bagged salads. Be careful which one you are buying, compare the labels. Cottage cheese is very high in sodium. I actually have people cutting this out of their diets all together and replacing it with something else. Tortillas are very high in sodium. Next time you want a pizza, try a low sodium pita bread like weight watchers. slice the pita in two so you have two rounds. 2 tbsp of classico tomato and basil sauce on each side. then split a 1/4 cup of Sargento low sodium mozz cheese between the two. sprinkle some oregano and garlic powder. then add some veggies. my favorite is some chopped up mushrooms. add a little chicken cause you should be getting protein in every meal. carefully slide these onto a cooking tray (i have a pizza stone) and bake in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes. i get eight slices of mini pizza with a side salad, it's a whole meal! Hope this helps and again, start being a label detective! Christine

    Well I won't quite throw my dressing in the trash, but I will reconsider next time I buy. I checked out the labels of a Newman's Own Light that I have and the Waldens Farm ranch and they both had about half the sodium of the other stuff. I'll check out the one you suggested next time I'm in the store, too. I LOVE my marinated veggies and make huge batches of them but maybe I can find a different, lower-sodium recipe.

    I am a total label detective when it comes to calories, but sodium is not something I've ever looked at, so I was shocked to see the numbers. Luckily my blood pressure is really good (120/80 is actually high for me, when I was in my normal, healthy weight range 100/70 was my typical reading) so my main reason for trying to lower the sodium intake a bit is to cut down on water retention. I have a feeling I'm still going to be in the "red zone" a lot of days as far as the sodium goes, but I'm at least going to try to halve the total I got yesterday, yikes.
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