Ohh evil SODIUM

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SweatinSammie
SweatinSammie Posts: 126
in Health and Weight Loss
My nutritionist has been telling me for months to lessen my sodium intake. OK, so I stopped adding salt to my food and avoided foods I just thought were salty like... chips, soups, frozen dinners.

That was not enough, even though I thought I was trying, I was still eating 2500 to 3000 mg a day. As someone with kidney disease I need to realllly limit my sodium intake but it is important for others as well.

A diet that is high in sodium can result in considerable health risks, including an elevated risk of heart disease and high blood pressure, which can lead to further complications, including KIDNEY DAMAGE.

I've noticed that some people don't even monitor their sodium intake and I'm hoping to boost everyone's awareness of how much salt they're getting.

I almost ate a lean cuisine sandwhich yesterday... 750 mg of SODIUM! Holy **** right?

Perhaps people can post what they do to maintain an appropriate level of sodium. So obviously I'll give some tips I've found helpful.

Processed and premade meals are a NO NO. Nearly anything in a can is also evil. I've recently started buying NO SALT ADDED canned goods (like peas and green beans) it's tasty and compare 15mg of salt to 350mg per serving!!!

Cereal has a surprising amount of sodium, so sticking to natural cereal like Mom's Best is a better choice for sodium intake.

Looking forward to other tips :*)

Sam

Replies

  • TammyK777
    TammyK777 Posts: 230 Member
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    *bump* looking forward to some tips, my sodium intake is insane! I eat prepared meals a lot, and I know I need to cut back... just too lazy I guess :embarassed:
  • SLMiddleton
    SLMiddleton Posts: 27
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    bump - would love to hear some suggestions...
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    my wife and I are testing making our own TV dinners and freezing them to save on sodium. (and money)
  • ickybella
    ickybella Posts: 1,438 Member
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    I use frozen vegetables instead of canned. There are only trace amounts of sodium in those and they're super easy to cook (just steam) plus pretty cheap, and a big bag will last a long time. I also avoid anything pre-made. Even frozen "healthy" meals seem to be packed with sodium. Most restaurant foods are really high in sodium, so I try to find recipes for our favorite takeaways and deliveries, to cut down on sodium, amongst other things. I usually make too much so that I can freeze it for when I don't feel like making lunch or something.
  • Dan54
    Dan54 Posts: 15
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    Its really hard to limit you sodium uptake if you eat prepared foods. Salt is a preservative and added for that reason to just about all prepared foods. The only real way to limit your sodium intake is to eat fresh foods. This means you have to cook and prepare your own food. Stay away from bread, lunch meats and cheese if your really dedicated and serious about it.

    This doesn't mean you can't eat anything you want to just make sure its something you have controlled the amount of sodium in. Remember salt is not the only source of sodium. The website and app will be a tremendous help in controlling this.

    Food is such an unconscious thing for most people it takes a lot of work at first to raise your awareness of what you stuff into your mouth. Remember it takes 21 days to form or break a habit. It will require constant vigilance at first but after that first three weeks it will be a habit. The more you do this the easy it will get too. You'll know and remember what the given amount of sodium in your food is.

    Just remember, if you think it and believe it, you can.
  • charny164
    charny164 Posts: 175 Member
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    I had heard that you should only consume one or two teaspoons of salt a day. Which seems very little when you compare that two sugar in coffee.
  • jillybeanruns
    jillybeanruns Posts: 1,420 Member
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    So many people avoid deli meats like the plague - but turkey breast is a great way to get in protein at lunch.
    Thin 'n Trim's entire product line of deli meats is lower sodium. My favourite is their Golden Homestyle Turkey Breast - 240 mg of sodium with 13g of protein. That's pretty good for a deli meat!

    My goal is under 2000mg, occasionally I'll get up a bit more - never more than 2300, usually 1500-1800.

    Hood makes a delicious no salt added cottage cheese - it's one of my protein staples. SO GOOD!

    I'm at my goal weight - so I can afford to eat the higher fat/higher calorie options. With the low fat/less calorie options you will get added sodium -particularly in cheeses. Watch out for Laughing Cow!!!
  • jillybeanruns
    jillybeanruns Posts: 1,420 Member
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    Oh and rinse things off, it might not affect your sodium in your diary - but it's better for your health.

    Frozen shrimp/veggies have added sodium to preserve them. So do canned veggies. So run them under water in a strainer and you'll lose about 1/2 the sodium!
  • azlady7
    azlady7 Posts: 471 Member
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    I stopped buying frozen meals about a year ago due to the sodium. What i did for convenience was...

    Bought and cooked all my hamburger meat up for the month (I rinse with really HOT water) I would also make meat balls out of some of it. I would bag and freeze all of it in baggies. Each baggie contained what we would need for each meal.

    I also bought two turkey's per month and roasted them in my big roaster. Then I deboned/deskinned it and put it in baggies for our lunch meat. Sometimes I would do this with chicken too.

    I stopped buying high sodium veggies in the can. Now I buy low sodium or frozen or fresh!

    I have also lowered the amount of table salt. Onion powder is a good low sodium salt substitute believe it or not and it seems to add that salt like flavor.
  • oats4breakfast
    oats4breakfast Posts: 225
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    I've also noticed some diaries that don't track sodium. Even better, I've seen where people are tracking sodium, but there's a lean cuisine or something on their diary that has 0 sodium listed. Wow!!! Unfortunately, as with all databases, MFP and our diaries can fall prey to this highly accurate formula that can be applied to almost anything. Garbage in = Garbage out.

    It's like a full time job tracking the sodium. Way harder than tracking calories. (then combining the two increases difficulty exponentially) You have to be a hawk with the labels and 2 or 3 steps ahead of you current meal while maintaining a memory on what you've had lately too.
    As others have mentioned, you have to stay away from things that will have preservatives in them. Look for items like fresh veges and "fresh" meats. That also drives your $$$ up so it's all one big trade off too. We can't do without items, like canned tomatoes etc because they are just so handy to have. But obviously, read the labels to get the "low sodium" versions - don't rust the little marketing banner that says "low or lower sodium" either, actually look at teh nutrion label. The marketers could simply be referencing another brand or product line. So both will be high, except one is "lower"
    It also helps to be aware of the canned goods when making a meal/recipe, don't gather up all the low sodium items, then dump can after can into them because it will taste better and is still low calorie. The sodium is increasing with each can and undoing all the hard work it took to figure out where you can reduce sodium.
    It's just like eating lots of meals with low sodium items. Eat enough of them and the levels will increase. Eating 10-15+ items with lower sodium content, will be the same as eating 5 with medium levels. Quite frustrating sometimes.

    I have trouble with sodium levels. I typically have to eat around 1900-2400 cals depending on workout etc. Eating 1900 cals is easy enough to get my goal or under of the 2500mg per day intake (after months of perseverance and trial/error though). But when I eat those extra 3-400 cals, It becomes harder. MFP doesn't increase the sodium level like it does for the other macronutrients.

    Unfortunately, it's often one item in my diet, that perhaps I didn't think fully through (the moment of weakness perhaps .... shoot me) where it just bombs my sodium levels for the day. It's often not even the most unhealthiest thing either, it could simply be something quick for a snack. Where everything appeared fine ..... except that sodium !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not eat that cake, or that chocolate bar or whatever else that will blow my calorie diet - but that sodium is always there ready to smash you daily allowance to pieces. I can't think of anything right now as an example, but it definitely happens and drives me crazy when it does.

    Also, Salt is made up of sodium, but it isn't necessarily the big evil either. Our bodies need salt but the "sodium" that is always 460mg or 580mg or whatever in most processed foods, is not "table salt" - it's more like "sodium unpronounceable combination" rather than just pure sodium chloride. So although Salt is made up of sodium, and sodium is the big evil. It's not always the same thing .... although eliminating table salt will go a long way to reducing your sodium intake.
  • SweatinSammie
    SweatinSammie Posts: 126
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    Great suggestions guys! It seems like the theme is to stay with fresh foods and avoid processed. This takes a lot of dedication and work because it's sooo easy to eat prepackaged foods. But like mentioned above it only takes a few weeks for something to become routine and it's so worth it to have home made meat, starch and veggies instead of a boxed meal.

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