Sodium/salt

Mrs. Dash

I make a lot of soup recipes low sodium by just modifying the ingredients. For example using frozen vegetables instead of canned, buying "no salt added" canned beans or tomato sauces (Hunt's brand is a good one), using ground turkey instead of beef, and my life saver has been using Orrington brand soup base. They sell a low sodium chicken and beef powdered bouillon. Just try to come up with healthy swaps that aren't too far from the real thing.

I have the same issue! It seems so much easier to cut fat and sugar than salt! My goal is 1500mg or less per day. I have stopped buying frozen chicken breasts (they load them with salt) in favor of fresh chicken. I never eat anything canned - use frozen or fresh veggies and fruit. Most of all, learn to love spices! Some friends bought me a gift of no-sodium spices from a company called Penzey's Spices, and they are delicious! Don't be afraid to change up the recipes. For most recipes, I leave the salt out, or half it. When I do use salt, it's sea-salt, or the garlic salt grinder from Trader Joe's (less sodium per serving) and I measure it out. Just enough to get the chemical reaction of blending the flavors. Watch out for salt in cheeses and breads - there are many low-sodium options at the grocery.

I have the problem, and I swell up and retain water for days from one day of going overboard.

I'm not much help for the recipes though, because I just make any old recipe and leave out the salt. My family adds salt to their servings if they don't like it , and I am adjusting to the taste. I do put lots of spices and often add vinegar to casseroles for a bit of extra flavor.
Even if I don't add salt, my meals still have a lot of salt because many foods have salt in them naturally, like milk, chicken, celery...it really has been surprising to me to notice that!

I too try to stay under 1500 - which is actually what the Mayo Clinic etc. recommend for *everyone* over 50 (that's me!) as well as certain other groups.

Read read read the labels. I get the no-salt-added diced tomatoes which helps because I use a lot of those in soups and stews. Beans - if I haven't cooked them myself I drain and rinse them really well before using. (Not sure how much sodium that takes out - I read somewhere about a third, but I don't have any way to check that.) Otherwise fresh/frozen. But also the brands vary widely so sometimes you can cut a lot out just by switching brands - Full Circle black beans have a lot less than Progresso, for example. Also sometimes different versions of the same food - I notice this for peanut butter and for crackers like Triscuits. Again, just keep reading the labels carefully, being sure to compare corresponding serving sizes. Bread and cheese are my biggest traps. Rarely add salt when I'm cooking, and then as little as I can get away with - as others have mentioned, getting aggressive with spices like curry and different kinds of vinegar, or lemon or lime juice help perk up things that otherwise might taste flat and bland w/o the salt.

Try using fresh or dried herbs in place of salt. McCormick and Mrs Dash make salt free seasonings and they are really good. Now that grilling season is going to start (if it ever quits snowing here) they are really good on grilled meats.
Also cook from scratch as much as possible, processed foods have quite a bit of sodium and/or sugar added, plus a lot of other ingredients that are not especially good for us.
There are a lot of web sites you can go to for great recipes and try the search feature here as well. You can find great recipes here and links to sites with healthy recipes.