having a hard time reducing sodium

I really hope you get some help here JJ, just remember though not all fats are bad. So you dont need to keep your fat intake too low. Its hard enough trying to lose weight never mind having to watch sodium and carbs and sugar etc.

Limit your processed foods.

if you google the foods you eat, add the description "low-sodium" (or something like that) in the search box, for instance, many cans of soup now are sold low-sodium (usu. highlighted with a blue band on the product's label).

Read labels. I've learned that reduced fat and/or calories often means higher sodium, six of one, half a dozen of the other. Personally I'd rather have the extra calories because I can walk them off if I get too many. Processed foods, canned vegetables, etc have loads of sodium. I try to buy lower sodium varieties when I can't use fresh but fresher, as close to all natural as you can get is USUALLY best. If you use beans in your meals try buying the dry bags and preparing them yourself. I do that when I make my vegetarian chili. Salt is used frequently as a preservative so it's hard to get away from if you're buying frozen meals or short cut types of things like jarred sauces, gravies, ketchup, barbeque sauce and canned vegetables.

What everyone else said - cook from scratch. I just read an article about where sodium comes from. Generally, people get a quarter of their daily sodium from adding salt, and another quarter is naturally occurring in foods. The rest - half - comes from eating processed foods.

The article went on to describe the amount of sodium in foods in terms of salt shaker shakes - a small bag of potato chips has sodium equivalent to 40 shakes from a salt shaker! I'm always amazed how companies can make food appetizing with so much sodium, I know if it was food I made at home it would be inedible. Generally, they balance it with sugars.

Watch out for restaurant food as well.

Eat Paleo or clean or primal or whatever you want to call it. I have the same issues as you and when I am being good and eating super clean, I actually found myself having trouble with too LITTLE sodium! Imagine that! Never thought that would happen.

Stay away from processed foods!! You're basically going to have to eat lots of meats and healthy fats with veggies (keep those carbs and sugars from natural sources as much as possible) and treat fruit like it's a dessert - limit it.

Also, 2500 is too much sodium per day. 1500 is a better target for everyone - especially those with heart worries. Seems impossible but it really isn't once you get into the swing of cooking the right foods. I've become a huge fan of pre-cooking meals and re-heating the next day or making meals and freezing them. It's a lot of work but it gets easier and is very rewarding.

Limit your processed foods.

^^ this

Watch out for restaurant food as well.

Most restaurant food is just as high in sodium as fast foods for sure so this is a true statement. The less you eat out, processed foods the better and cheese is high in sodium also but can be worked in if you cook and prepare 80% of your food.

I know when I was watching sodium I learned a lot and it was amazing how much sodium was in most foods unless you cooked them yourself. I know I even watch how much wild rice I eat now.

Sometimes it gets overwhelming to watch too many things at once. If you eat low sodium that will automatically take your sugars and carbs down and if carbs and sugar is from fruits and veggies that is a good thing since no one gets diabetes from fruits and veggies.

Soft drinks are high in sodium.

anything that is processed has tons of sodium,,

I have to keep my Sodium at 1,500 mg/day or under. What i've found is to stay AWAY from all forms of Processed foods. Some days i'm really good, others i go over like crazy because i have something from the frozen foods section. Also, if you drink Soda; that's got like 800 mg/sodium in just 1 12 oz can. Also, try to cook your meals from scratch. Use as many fresh vegetables, or frozen without preservatives as possible to keep the sodium down. Also, when you put sauces on your food when cooking; read the label. A lot of sauces have loads of sodium, especially if you don't measure out the amount of sauce per the exact amount of protein you are cooking for. There a loads of Low Sodium cookbooks you can check out, as well as The American Heart Association website (heart.org) has a mini low sodium cookbook that is at least worth a look. That's just a few things i've realized learned over the years.

Seems like everyone is giving pretty good advice. I have trouble with it to, I dont cook at all so everything I eat is processed... I've learned to look at the label and buy low sodium products (even canned vegetables have a lot!) If you can, get fresh fruits and veggies.. A lot of the weight watchers labeled items tend to be lower than some oters but not all so look at different versions of the same product if you can. Good luck!

If you *have* to eat canned veggies, try rinsing them in water before you heat them up. That will get rid of a lot of added sodium.

This is a good idea. Very simple but I would never have thought of it!

As everyone else has said. Processed food has lots of salt - its a cheap preeservative and enhances the flavours that are lost in the processing. The less processed food you eat the better.

My sodiuym intake ranges around 800-1500 a day most days and occasionally hits 2,000 if I have eaten out. I am not specifically aiming for it to be low, I just dont eat much processed food so it ends up that way. When I do use canned things in cooking (like tinned tomatoes or kidney beans for example) I specifically look for the low salt or no salt varieties - but you can still see that they have a lot. For me, the major contributors to my salt intake are canned beans and fish.

Remember that fruit and veg are low in salt, in the most cases low in calories and almost all low or no fat. Its actually pretty easy